Conveniently located in Kailua on the way to Lanakai Beach Kalapawai Market definitely isn’t hurting for business. As a matter of fact every time I come here this place always seems pretty packed for a local market.

Kalapawai stands apart from your average joe market because not only can one come here for basic necessities like milk, home pregnancy tests, condoms and alcohol but one can come and stay for lunch. There’s a fine deli in the back of the place and usually someone out front inducing you with tantalizing BBQ aromas. What’s one do to? Surrender you poor unfortunate soul, surrender.

This is the Yogurt Bowl, $4.99, with fruit yogurt, granola and fresh fruit. I thought this was a pretty good deal considering the bowl was a meal in it itself. I really like the generous amount of granola that was given and it stayed crunchy even though it was premade.

There was a lot of dried fruit and some fresh bananas at the bottom. It came with one strawberry that also served the purpose of a garnish.

This is the Italian Sub, $7.49, french baguette, ham, turkey, salami, provolone, lettuce, tomato, pepperoncini, Italian dressing and sun dried tomatoes pesto. This place has kick ass sandwiches but I gotta tell ya, there sandwiches are small as hell, which is why I don’t come here all the time.

On this day Ray and I didn’t have a very large appetite so as usual we shared and it was actually the perfect amount of food. I’m a fan of this place, regardless of their puny sandwiches. Come here for good sandwiches and if your hungry order two.

Here’s an older post on Kalapawai and their restaurant.

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Kalapawai Market
306 S Kalaheo Ave
Kailua, HI 96734

Get Directions(808) 262-4359

Oh mall food, where do I began. I’ve never been a fan of most mall food because most of the time it’s just seems as though it’s a clutter of fast food, poor in quality with really horrible service all within an overcrowded food court. Unless of course it’s a restaurant all on it’s own and, well, that’s a different story. We were turned on to Gourmet Express by a close friend of ours, who chooses to remain anonymous, Amber. She said it wasn’t really expensive, the portions were pretty big and it was surprisingly good. Also, they have vegetarian items, which is a good thing since she’s one of those people. While shopping at Kahala Mall one day Ray and I happen to stumble upon Gourmet Express and decided to give it a whirl.

It’s Christmas time at Kahala Mall so pick a seat around their festively large tree.

I didn’t mind the mall food court on this side of the mall because it didn’t give me that mall food court vibe. As you can see although all the tables are taken up there’s not a lot of hyperactive energy going on. Did I mention it was Christmas time?

Since we weren’t ridiculously hungry we decided to share something. I know I mentioned this before but I highly recommend sharing. Ray and I do it almost every time. It prevents us from overeating and allows us to try anything on the menu without worrying about how expensive it is since we save money on the extra meal we can splurge on anything we want so long as we agree on it. On this day we decided on a Quesadilla. Ray goes, “We’re gonna get a Chicken Quesadilla. Is there a difference on the Chicken or Checken.” And the lady behinds the counter goes, “Huh?” looks up at the sign and goes, “Oh, it’s just spelt wrong.” I have one word for you, Retards. They have to be. I mean if both of them were spelled, “checken,” well then that’s a different story. I spell words wrong all the time but the first one was correctly spelled so how is it that they couldn’t manage to correctly spell the second one. I mean, really it’s right there in front of them. It baffles me. This person had to be highly confused and in a moment of despair decided to play the odds game. At least this way one of them would be correct. Great, now I’m a little worried about the turnout of my food.

Here it is, Checken Pesto Quesadilla, $6.99. As you can see the presentation is pretty basic. Our quesadilla came in four cut pieces in a styrofoam container inside a plastic bag with a small side of salsa. You can see Rays arm to the side so hopefully you guys can have an idea of how nice the portions were.

The quesadillas were fully packed with chicken, cheese, pesto sauce, tomatoes and even corn. Wow, it was really good. The pesto sauce was mixed with olive oil so even though it seemed a little greasy it was the good grease. The chicken didn’t once taste fatty or too dry. I told Ray I wouldn’t question this dish the least bit if it were served at a gourmet restaurant on a fancy plate with lovely garnish and a lovely price to match. The salsa was nothing spectacular, tasted like the can stuff you get at the grocery stores.

This might not look very enticing but I opened up the last bit of my quesadilla so you guys have an idea of what’s on the inside. No surprises.

There you have it folks. I was happy, Ray was happy and we have Amber to thank for it and now you do too. Thanks Amber, now just go over there, show them which chicken is correct and everyone will be happy.

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Gourmet Express
4211 Waialae Ave
Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 732-7700

Grocery shopping in Hawaii is heartbreaking. You see, growing up as a child my sister and I would wake up early in the mornings with our mother just to go grocery shopping. I know it’s weird, but it was like quality time for us with our coupons in hand. We would memorize the prices of each item and compare it to other grocery stores. To this day, I have a habit of memorizing prices on produce because of my mother and I thank her for it. Cartons of strawberries here can easily go for $6.00 on this island. That’s why when I saw in the streets of Chinatown for the special rate of $1.00, I had to buy at least two baskets and write about my new find.

I went home to make a strawberry spinach salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing but my spinach at home went bad so I ate them as is. Delicious!

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(Around) N King St & Kekaulike St
Honolulu HI 96817