Flavors of Hawaii [Special Eats]

It’s hard to imagine that just weeks ago I was wearing sunglasses and flip flops in beautiful Hawaii. I’ll be honest, before I went to Hawaii my expectation was that I would be surrounded by old tourists wearing socks with sandals and eating at Outback Steakhouse. However, I’m happy to say Hawaii is amazing even with the tourist culture! Also, thanks to Yelp! and recommendations from friends, we ate great meals everyday on the islands. Below are just some of my favorite highlights from our trip.

Our first stop was the peaceful, sunny town of Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. You can’t go to Kona without having Kona coffee which is cultivated on the coffee farms of the Big Island. Our first morning we went to Splasher’s Grill and ordered a 100% Kona Coffee French Press to share. I’m not a regular coffee drinker but this coffee was fantastic and I didn’t need to add a ton of sugar and milk like I usually do. My husband, who I consider a coffee connoisseur, was in heaven!

I’m a savory breakfast girl so my breakfasts, although very delicious, consisted of pretty standard egg dishes every morning. Mr. Bake What Your Mama Gave Ya! (Mr. BWYMGY, for short), on the other hand, ordered Island Pancakes every single morning we were in Kona. We didn’t even go to the same restaurant every day! Island Pancakes are served with bananas, macadamia nuts (Hawaii grown), and a coconut syrup, instead of maple. They were so good! The subtlely sweet coconut syrup really took the pancakes to the next level.

Snacks

I love going to grocery stores while on vacation, mostly because I’m a weirdo, but also because I like to see the snacks that differ from region to region, and country to country. While in Hawaii, we stocked up on Maui Style Onion Photo Chips and Maui Shrimp Chips.

Ride that wave Mr. Onion!

I ate these non-stop because I’m disgusting and apparently don’t care what I look like in a bathing suit. But you know what?, it was so worth it! The potato chips were thick and crunchy!

The shrimp chips were excellent too and I pretty much ate them by myself because Mr. BWYMGY did not like the shrimp flavoring on them. MORE FOR ME!!

Seafood Lover’s Dream

I’m Bengali and my husband comes from a family of sailors – needless to say we love fish! We had seafood almost every day we were in Hawaii. Ono was a fish common on many menus in Hawaii. Below you see it grilled a top a salad, and also in fish ‘n’ chip form.

Grilled Ono Salad

Fish n’ Chips

After I moved to Astoria almost four years ago, I learned from the delicious Greek eateries that you never say no to octopus. So while in Hawaii, we went to Lemongrass Bistro where we enjoyed Tako (or Octopus) Kimchee. The dish was made with succulent grilled octopus, green papaya salad, and a lemon kimchee sauce. Divine!

Octopus Kimchee with Green Papaya

We also had this beautiful Ahi Poke at Jackie Rey’s Ohana Grill.

Ahi Poke Tower

However, my most favorite seafood meal (or meal in general) was at Paia Fish Market. If you are in Maui and you plan to do the Road to Hana (which you definitely should), you will start your journey in a quaint town called Paia where this gem of a restaurant is located. I ordered the charbroiled fish which came with cajun rice and home fries. Mr. BWYMGY ordered fish tacos (always his favorite no matter where we are!).

Hipster Asian

My first thought while at Star Noodle was that this restaurant would fit perfectly in New York City’s culinary landscape. They serve what I like to call Hipster Asian, a nuanced, high-brow version of new Asian Fusion: buns, ramen, udon, yakitori, etc. And it’s no wonder because Star Noodle Chef Sheldon Simeon took a tasting trip to New York City, sampling the noodle bars of Manhattan, before coming back to take on the role of head chef at Star Noodle. We loved this place so much, we went TWICE!

Brussel Sprouts with Kimchee Puree

It’s hard for me to think that a brussel sprout can get much better than some roasting but the kimchee elevated the flavors of this noble vegetable beautifully.

Garlic Noodles – Fresh & Fried Garlic, Dashi, Green Onion

The Garlic Noodle dish was as simple as it sounds. I’d be happy eating this dish every day of my life: REAL TALK!

Malasadas – Chocolate and Butterscotch Caramel Sauces, Peanuts

You know how I feel about all kinds of doughnuts, so despite being uncomfortably full, we ordered these beautiful Portuguese doughnuts, also known as malasadas. Our waiter smartly advised us against taking this dish to go as we had originally planned. These bad boys were served warm and smothered with a chocolate, butterscotch, caramel sauce of your dreams.

NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!

They gave you a little spoon to scoop up the sauce onto your doughnut. HEAVEN.

Sweet Tooth

Speaking of delicious sweets, you can’t go to sunny Hawaii without having ice cream and sampling some tropical fruits. First stop, a fruit stand along the highway to the hotel. Definitely a overpriced tourist trap, but we couldn’t say no to this passion fruit banana smoothie!

When in Paia, stop by the Ono Gelato Company, where they have flavors like Kona Coffee, Sandy Beach (peanut butter and coconut), and Sea Mist (tea, mint, fruit).

We went with the Sandy Beach which was served with pieces of warm chocolate brownie.

Sandy Beach Sundae

We strolled along the docks of Lahaina after our whale watching tour where we found Lappert’s Homemade Hawaiian Ice Cream. We tried Heavenly Hana which is the Hawaiian version of Rocky Road – Chocolate ice cream with marshmallow cream swirls, chocolate chunks, almonds, chocolate covered almonds & white chocolate covered macadamia nuts.

Isn’t my husband a hunky hand model?

Packing your bags already? I don’t blame you, I’m ready to go back too! Now you know where you must eat while you are in Hawaii!

Bengali Foodie [Special Eats]

I recently returned from an AMAZING trip to Bangladesh.  Although, I visited the country many times as a child, this was my first trip after 10 years.  I had a blast seeing all my wonderful family members, visiting various sites, shopping, and of course, eating delicious foods.  Here is a snapshot of some of the great things I ate!

Fresh cut guava or pyaara with salt and chilipowder.

My trip was in March so unfortunately I didn’t get the usual selection of fruits that I remember from my summers trip like mangoes, jack fruit, june plums, etc. But I’m really happy that I got to have some delicious guava!

Bengali Style Pizza from Shawarma House

This “pizza” was covered with chicken, tuna, beef, shrimp, and veggies. It didn’t taste anything like what we would consider pizza, but it was scrumptious. It was one of the first things I ate out and I was really sad not to have another slice before I left Dhaka.

Burger and Fries at a new restraurant/lounge named Exit.

This was from a meal in new restaurant in Gulshan called Exit.  It was a hip lounge/hookah-bar/restaurant.

Fresh Coconut Water and Coconut Pulp.

We had fresh coconut water all the time. These were picked off of a coconut tree during our trip to Sonargaon and they were cut on the spot so that we could enjoy the refreshing water and yummy coconut pulp.

Buying fresh vegetables.

This is better than Fresh Direct! All the grocery shopping is literally done right at your front door. All the vendors are roaming streets early morning until midday shouting out what they are selling. The vegetable seller would shout Torkariiiiiiiii! So if you need vegetables, you just shout out your window or verandah and they come to your front door. AMAZING!

Bengali Sweets (Mishti)

This was a store that was right near my Grandmother’s house called Vikrampur and they had a vast selection of every type of sweet (or mishti) you could ever want. My favorite was the sweet yogurt (or mishti doi) and the sondesh.

Feast at My Grandmother's House in Kalabagan

This was a meal that was cooked by our wonderful house-staff under guidance and direction from my mom during our visit. My mom wanted to have all of my extended family over for a dinner. We had beef (or goat?) biryani, chicken roast, fried tamarind eggplants, naan, salad, and kabobs. It was apparently a great meal that I didn’t get to enjoy because I was still jet-lagged at that point and passed-out before the night even started! Ooops!

Jelabi

On the way to my maternal grandfather’s village in Shujapur – we stopped at a local market to buy some sweets. This man was making jelabi which is sort of like a Bengali funnelcake – if that funnelcake was on a crack high…. It is crispy on the outside, and sticky with sugar, and super super sweet. Yum-o!

Meal at my Nanabari (Maternal Grandfather's House) in Shujapur

Our trip to Shujapur was hands-down my most favorite part of visiting Bangladesh. There I had an Aunt who was a fantastic cook. This meal was my favorite.  We had a spicy shrimp curry, a soft beef stew, three different kinds of rice, roast chicken, and a variety of great vegetable dishes.

This chicken was served at Nando’s which is a popular South African chain restaurant. It’s BBQ that is served with spicy peri-peri sauce. Chicken was cooked to perfection!

We also had “Chinese” food in Bangladesh which is different than the Chinese food we have in the States. I guess it’s really like an Indian-Chinese fusion. The soup was my favorite dish at the Chinese restaurant – it was a spiced up Tom Yum.

Fuchka

Finally, the thing I still dream about.  You haven’t lived until you’ve had fuchka. This is a quintessential Bengali street-food. It consists of a fried crisp that is filled with a mixture of tamarind, chili spices, potato, onions, chickpeas, and this one here is topped off with a tamarind and yogurt sauce. Each piece is just the perfect size to pop in your mouth. Loved this. I could have eaten it every day!

So there it is, my Bengali eating overview!  I was looking up Bengali phrases to maybe end this blog post with a cute saying, and on this website called Useful Bengali Phrases I found a translation for “My hovercraft is full of eels.” I mean, I don’t know why that would be useful, but I’m glad I now know how to say it!

Anyway, aamar hovercraft eel a vorti hoye gache! Hope you all enjoyed!