Leonard's Bakery

933 Kapahulu Ave
Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 737-5591
website

Vitals:
Sun-Thurs: 5:30 am - 9 pm
Fri-Sat: 6 am - 10 pm
$
****


On our way to Boots & Kimos, we decided to take a pit stop at Leonards (carbo loading, but loving it!). They just made these Portuguese doughnuts - we ordered the plain sugar and the cinnamon. They were warm, slightly crispy on the outside with a soft, slightly doughy but light and fluffy inside. Service is on the slow side (I was waiting behind a person who just couldn't decide what to order - they do have other pastries there). Awesome doughnuts - super yummy and bigger than I expected. There were pretty cheap too (around $0.8/doughnut, cheaper by the dozen).

Cheeseburger in Paradise

2500 Kalakaua Ave # A
Honolulu, HI 96815-3683
(808) 923-3731
website

Bleh. They claim to have the "best" burgers, and I have to disagree with their point here. I think watching birds fly freely throughout the restaurant just killed the mood for me (doesn't seem clean to me).

It is one of the more reasonably priced restaurants right across from the beach (not counting McDonald's but rents must be pretty high), but it's still no excuse for mediocre food. The burgers just seemed average. Although the menu says they use 1000 island dressing - it just doesn't work well in a burger. Maybe I'm a bit biased, and I generally compare burger joints with In-N-Out, and this didn't even come close.

I got the standard cheeseburger ($8.95), hubby got the Schrooms & Swiss ($9.95) and we ordered some sweet potato fries ($5.95) and chicken tenders for the kids ($10.95). We barely finished our meal (the bird helped with the crumbs my kids left). It was a bit unsettling to see 3-4 birds feed off of crumbs my kid left under his high chair. I would have rather gone to McDonald's just a block away....

Ted's Bakery

59-024 Kamehameha Hwy
Haleiwa, HI 96712
(808) 638-8207
website

Vitals:
Monday-Tuesday: 7 am - 6 pm
Wed-Sun: 7 am - 8 pm
***
$


Ted's Bakery is famous for its chocolate haupia cream pie (pictured). We stopped by this bakery (it's easy to miss, a small bakery in a blink and you miss it location by Sunset Beach) on our way to Romy's. The bakery isn't a destination in and of itself, but it makes some nice desserts that you can take with you (to the beach, to lunch, to any place really).

Since we were found this place, we got a slice of the chocolate haupia cream pie and a slice of the chocolate macadamia cream pie as well. The whipped cream frosting was light and slightly sweet, the coconut cream and the chocolate cream complemented each other nicely and the crust was slightly flaky, if a bit underdone. I was expecting the coconut layer to be a bit creamier (it had a slightly gel like consistency), but overall, it was good.

We preferred the chocolate macadamia cream pie. The chocolate cream was thick, decadent and had bits of macadamia nuts with the same whipped cream frosting. Either way, you can't go wrong with either of these choices, both were very good.

Romy's Kahuku Prawns & Shrimp

56-781 Kamehameha Hwy
Kahuku, HI 96731
(808) 232-2202
website

Vitals:
Open everyday from 10:00 am - 6 pm
Outdoor seating
outhouse facilities
can be kid-friendly (for older kids)
cash only
****
$$

Based on recommendations from locals, we went to Romy's. The highway in the North Shore is dotted with a lot of shrimp trucks. Romy's, I believe, has their own shrimp farm and they harvest their prawns and shrimp daily. You can tell that the prawns are really fresh. We ordered the butter and garlic sauteed prawns with white rice ($12.75, but you can order brown rice for $1 extra). It's not cheap, but the portions are reasonable, and there is a sign at the stand that says "it's not fast food, it's good food", and they are right.

You have to like garlic to order this dish, it was covered with sauteed garlic. We're not the shell eating type, and so we got a bit messy trying to peel the shells (thank goodness there is an outdoor sink with soap), but the prawns with the garlic sauce is outstanding. The prawns were meaty, succulent and fresh. I didn't even need the side soy sauce that came with our plates. We also ordered a Kahuku sweet corn ($3/ear), and we could have skipped it. The corn was dry, small and it wasn't sweet at all. A coke washed it all down and we were happy.

We actually stopped by Ted's bakery to get some of their famous chocolate haupia cream pie on the way to this shrimp truck and it was a nice ending to a good meal (a bit decadent after the meal we just had, but when you're on vacation......) We've been burning through cash on this trip (it seems like most places are cash only), but it was worth the trip.

Boots & Kimos

151 Hekili St
Kailua, HI 96734
(808) 263-7929

Vitals:
Mon-Fri: 7 am - 2 pm
Sat & Sun: 6:30 am - 2:30 pm
kid-friendly
cash only
*****

Try to get here early (we got there by around 7:30 am each time). The mac nut pancakes here are famous and this reputation is definitely earned. The mac nut sauce is amazing, heavenly, scrumptious, and mouth-wateringly delicious. Creamy, slightly nutty, sweet, but not too sweet, with just a touch of salt YUMMMMMM. It's almost like melted ice cream. It was so good that we came back two more times during out trip (it was just that good).

You can order pancakes, banana pancakes or french toast with this mac nut sauce (prices were around $8.95). Pictured above is an order of pancakes with mac nut sauce. I ate all of the sauce and dipped each piece of pancake in the sauce. What's great is that the pancakes are also really good - they were fluffy and light (it would be a travesty to have heavy and doughy pancakes with this amazing sauce). The french toast is also pretty good.

I've tried the omelettes and the fried rice, and they were just o.k. If you don't get here early and have to wait, it's only worth it if you get the mac nut pancakes. One of the kids likes salty foods, so the side of fried rice was good (if a little peppery).

Note that this is a cash only place. We burned through a lot of cash during our vacation because it seemed like a lot of places were cash only. Breakfast wasn't cheap each time, but it was worth it. I was always a happy camper afterward, ready to bask in the sun at the beach.

Aloha

Aloha! Vacation time. A time to try to relax and eat and eat and eat! We were in Oahu for a week and stayed at a condo at Waikiki beach.

Whenever I travel, I want to view some sites, relax a bit, try to become a local and taste the local food. I'm stuffed, full of aloha and ready to write about my favorite places to eat and explore.

I knew that I had to go to a few places - North Shore for some shrimp trucks, Kailua for some mac nut pancakes, and surprisingly, a bowling alley for some cake.