The best things I ate in Waikiki, Hawaii

Ok so of course the best food I had in Hawaii was all of the fresh fruit. But since that is available in almost every convenience store on the island, here is a list of my recommendations of specific places to go.

Banán for banana soft serve . This was best thing I have ever had. My aunt and I went almost every day. Their all-plant-based menu features soft serve made from pure bananas or bananas, Hawaiian chocolate, and macadamia nuts. The banana is served in decadent bowls, over natural shave ice, or in house made vanilla cones. I can‘t decide what to recommend. Get it all.

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Foodland Farms poke bar. Wow, talk about overwhelming choices. We came back twice to get poke here, the options were endless and deliciously fresh. Not to mention the selection of local pastries, snacks, fruit, tap kombucha and more. I took the chance to try the kimchi cucumbers (a staple) with the shrimp poke (not anything special but so fresh, great if you love shrimp). My favorite meal from here, however, was the regular ahi limu poke with seaweed salad. not only was this delicious, It was fresh from the sea and you can tell. Oh and it’s a local chain, great to support!

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Açaí bowls and green smoothies. Pretty much every café on the Waikiki strip has these on their menu. The best I had was from the café at the base of our hotel, Hawaiian Aroma Cafe. So wonderfully fresh and thickly blended.

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Sunrise Shack smoothie bowls. A Oahu staple, the Sunrise Shack has delicious smoothie bowls. I tried to blue bowl while my aunt had the tropical pineapple, but of course we shared. The best part of these was the granola, which they don’t sell in bulk. But they let me buy a smoothie bowl of plain granola for much less than the regular price of a bag of granola, and so much better!

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Big Italian salads. Feeling European, we opted for a late dinner one night at Il Lupino just off the beachside. Neither of us could decide between two of their large salads, so we ordered them both to share. The octopus tentacle salad was... interesting. Well, it was very good, but being served a giant octopus tentacle on a bed of lettuce was a bit unexpected. The pear and almond arugula salad, however, was top-tier. With a balsamic glaze and still warm roasted pears and almonds, this is now a go-to meal to try to recreate.