Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
If you're not cooking for yourself, favorite budget eating picks include island bakeries,
diners, sandwich shops, food trucks and plate-lunch take-out joints. At top-end dining
rooms, like those found inside oceanfront resorts and golf-course clubhouses, stop by the
bar during
pau hana
(happy hour), when
pupu
(appetizers) and drinks are often discoun-
ted.
Food Glossary
Hawaii cuisine is multi-ethnic and so is the lingo.
adobo
Filipino chicken or pork cooked in vinegar,
shōyu
, garlic and spices
ʻawa
kava, a Polynesian plant used to make a mildly intoxicating drink
bentō
Japanese-style box lunch
broke da
mout
delicious; literally 'broke the mouth'
char siu
Chinese barbecued pork
chirashizushi
assorted sashimi served over rice
crack seed
Chinese-style preserved fruit; a salty, sweet and/or sour snack
donburi
Japanese-style large bowl of rice topped with a protein (eg pork
katsu
)
catch-all Japanese seasoning or condiment, usually dry and sprinkled
atop rice; in Hawaii, sometimes mixed into
poke
furikake
grind
to eat
grinds
food (usually local); see
ʻono kine grinds
guava
fruit with green or yellow rind, moist pink flesh and lots of edible seeds
haupia
coconut-cream custard, often thickened with arrowroot or cornstarch
hulihuli
chicken
rotisserie-cooked chicken with island-style barbecue sauce
imu
underground earthen oven used to cook
kalua
pig and other luau food
roasted, ground
kukui
(candlenut), used as a condiment (eg mixed into
poke
)
ʻinamona
izakaya
a Japanese pub serving tapas-style dishes
kalbi
Korean-style grilled dishes, typically marinated short ribs
kalo
Hawaiian word for taro, often pounded into
poi
