Kauai Bakery — Restaurant in Kauai

Only a little salty that I discovered this bakery on the last day of my time in Kauai. But for the sake of my health, it was probably for the best.

Located in the open air shopping center of Garden Grove, there’s plenty of parking for all the stores. The closest entrance is through the back, so park there if you’re a vampire who dislikes walking or sunshine.

The policy is 4 customers inside at a time, which seems appropriate given the actual size of the sales floor. Companions can wait at the various tables in the walkway. The bakery behind the counter is busy and it’s no wonder as the malasadas are in hot demand. Like a puffy filled donut, malasadas are the local specialty, particularly when filled with local flavors like ube, lilikoi (passionfruit) and haupia (coconut). I thoroughly enjoyed all the flavors, but my favorites were the ube and haupia. The malasadas are each priced differently but you can purchase individually or in bulk. The friendly cashier told me they keep for about 4 hours outside; about a day if refrigerated right away. Confession: I saved some in the fridge and reheated them in a toaster oven up to 3 days later and was still very satisfied. No tummy aches yet.

The other baked goodies are delicious as well and definitely worth trying. The savory manapua buns are yum and pretty similar in flavor and texture to what you might get at a Chinese bakery, with different meats inside.

Not sure what to get? Don’t worry - you wouldn’t be the first to ask for one...

A must try treat: Portuguese Malasadas Hawaiian style!

The traditional malasadas are the plain sugar topped donuts type fry dough, but I preferred the cream-filled malasadas. We tried one of each with a cup of freshly brewed Kauai coffee. My favorite was the coconut cream malasada, but also enjoyed the purplish taro flavored malasada.

The quality and softness of the dough rivals anything I found back home in the Azores!

It’s amazing how after all these years the Portuguese influence can be felt all over the Hawaiian archipelago as a result of that first big wave of immigrants that start arriving in 1878, mainly from The Azores and Madeira where the Malasadas are a popular treat.

These were whole families that came with the intention to stay and when their contracts as plantation luna (supervisors) ended, most opened up businesses like bakeries and restaurants.

Today there are plenty of places where we can still enjoy the famous Portuguese Sweet bread (known in the mainland as Hawaiian sweet bread), Portuguese bean soup, Portuguese sausages, the love of pork (particularly the roasted piglets), and my favorite “malasadas”. Even katsu chicken is a Portuguese import by the way of Japanese influence.

In addition to their influence on the food, the Portuguese introduced the “ukulele,” a gift that is still heard today and will forever be associated with...

The malasadas were good, but… (2/5 green stars) Seeing that the bakery got pretty good ratings I dropped in to try something. I tried the malasadas (Portuguese donuts) and tupig (a Filipino confection made from glutinous rice mixed with coconut). Prices were pretty good and the malasadas were tasty. Didn’t much care for the tupig, but I’ve never had one before so I can’t tell if it was a good version of one or not. I would have liked to try more but didn’t like their packaging choices (more on that below).

I’m also giving them 2/5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, based on these reasons: • Their coffee cups were made of Styrofoam – the worst possible choice, especially for an island ecosystem like Kauai. Made of toxic materials, and prone to flying away and ending up in the ocean or parks. Because of toxicity and pollution concerns it has been banned in many US cities and many entire countries (India, China, and others). • Similarly, I wanted to try their cakes, but they were all packaged in plastic containers. • If the bakery would fix their packaging issues I think they’d be more popular. As it is, the materials they choose are disrespectful to the beautiful island of Kauai and the fragile...