I’ve been wanting to try this place out for some time now. Back in February when we were here on vacation we went to China Town for Chinese New Year. For dinner we went to this crowded restaurant where they sat you with strangers in order to accommodate everyone. The people that sat with us were totally friendly and suggested we try The Green Papaya if we get a chance. Well we didn’t get the chance to then but I made it a point to remember the name just in case we came back. One month later, we’re back and I finally got around to experiencing it for myself.

We ordered the seafood spring rolls to start, $9.95. It came with vermicelli noodles, lettuce cucumbers and mint leaves. They were really tasty and a perfect dish to start out with. It came with 7 so each of us were able to have a few. I suggest putting some of the rooster hot sauce in with the sauce that it comes with. It gives it a nice kick. After the egg rolls I mixed the rest of the stuff together and made a tasty salad with it.

For my entree I had a shrimp papaya salad, $8.95. I’m a sucker for papaya salads. They’re just really filling, light and scrumptious. Also, it’s the only salad that’s worth taking home for left overs because it doesn’t get soggy from all the dressing. I love that it came with plenty of basil. Basil is the best herb ever and not used enough. I added some rooster hot sauce to this plate as well. I love that stuff.

Shane got the Curry with Chicken, $8.95. Shane’s a curry whore. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him order anything else when we eat Vietnamese or Thai. It’s just too good to pass up. He was very pleased with his decision.

Ray ordered Chow Fun with Chicken, $8.95. This dish I saved for last because it was the reject dish. This would probably rank up there as one of the worst chow fun dishes that we have come across. First off, this isn’t chow fun. I don’t know who they think they’re fooling, maybe they ran out of chow fun noodles and tried to play it off with some other type of noodle. Perhaps they’re having a shortage on noodles all together because there was way more bean sprouts than noodles. The noodles that were there were over cooked and mushy. It was so disappointing. Now, when it comes to credentials, Ray and I are covered. Chow Fun is like Shane’s curry to Ray, he hardly orders anything else. As for me, I’m Chinese, not knowing what chow fun is is like not knowing what rice is. If you want good chow fun go to The Golden Eagle.

If your driving here there’s parking in the back, you could also enter the restaurant from there.

Overall, since the chow fun dish was not my order I’m quite pleased with this place. The prices aren’t super cheap, but still in the affordable range. I most definitely will come back, just not anytime soon. There’s just so much of Oahu I still need to see.

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Green Papaya
629 Keeaumoku St.
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 953-2340

Kalapawai Cafe & Deli is the offspring of Kalapawai Market. Apparently business is doing well at the market so what else to do but venture out into the dining business.

This is seared marlin fish plate. The menu had a better description, but I didn’t memorize it and they don’t have to go menus because apparently it always changes.

Salmon Papaya Salad.

Roasted Potatoes

Salmon Bruschetta

This trip was taken a while back so I can’t go into too much detail about it. What I can tell you is that we all loved this place. From the outside it looked like an affordable deli; perfect for a quick, affordable bite to satisfy our hunger after a long day at the beach before we head back home. However looks are deceiving as we all know, so once we were inside we felt a little under dressed in our damp T-shirts, board shorts and left over sand that molded itself into the cushions of our tender, sun baked skin, so we sat outside in the patio. Service was great. The menu was, wow, really affordable. $8.00 for fish, sweet! I don’t have to force myself to order the cheapest thing on the menu. However, like I said, looks are deceiving, and when the food came out we were a little displeased with the inadequate portion size. I guess you get what you pay for, affordable, small, palatable dishes that left us wanting more. And that’s exactly what we did. It was so good, we order a bottle of cheap wine and another dish. Actually, we ordered this bottle because of its name, “Fat Bastard.”

Just like we ordered “Bitch” wine from, coincidently, its mother market Kalapawai Market because of its name.

Kalapawai Cafe & Deli is a great place, with good atmosphere, food and service at a decent price. One plate wasn’t enough for any of us, so come here with good company that makes taking of more interest than eating.

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Kalapawai Cafe & Deli
750 Kailua Rd
Kailua, HI 96734
(808) 262-3354

This is my new favorite place to go to in North Shore. It’s called the Grass Skirt. The only thing that they need improvement on is the service, but other than that everything is spectacular. I love the ambiance, decor, location and, most importantly, the food.

The Grass Skirt is a petite yet inviting place. The walls are polished with a chic, stylish, Hawaiian attitude. The menu is printed on a surf board and hung from the ceiling. We ordered, paid, then grabbed a table and waited. There’s a few tables inside, chairs next to a counter and more tables set up outside as well.

I ordered the BBQ Pulled Pork. I ordered this plate the last time I was here and I don’t usually order the same thing twice, but Oh My God. I do make exceptions when the food was really, really cheap or really really good. In this case the food was really, really a gift from the Heavens above. The BBQ Pulled Pork is roasted and shredded mixed with a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce. It was $8.95. They were generous with their portions so $8.95 is totally worth it. I ended up taking half of this home.

This is the Grilled Ahi. It’s an 8 oz Ahi fillet grilled and topped with basil and lemon butter for $10.95. Not only do they give heaping portions, but you gotta admit the presentation is flawless, especially for being served on a paper plate. Ray has a healthy appetite and he was only able to eat 2/3 of his plate. We left the rest because he’s not a fan of left overs and I’m not a fan of left over seafood.

Shane couldn’t decide so he got two things. This Hot Dog was 1/4 lbs and cost $2.95. They split the weinner in half, grilled it and squeezed ketchep and mustard in the middle. I’ve never seen it serve this way and thought it was kinda different and cool. I asked him if it was better than Costco’s Hot Dog. The look on his face said, “by far.” Sorry Costco but there’s a new dog in town.

In addition to his hot dog Shane also got a Pulled Pork Sandwich. It was served with lettuce, tomato and onions for $6.95. Shane ate everything and we left totally blissed out of our minds. What a great find.

My only complaint was that there was no dessert on the menu.

Since this last post Grass Skirt Grill has become one of my favorite spots to visit. My little sister came over on vacation a couple weeks ago and of course I had to take her here.

Here she is, doesn’t she look excited to eat!

My sister, Selena, is one of those extremely picky and healthy eaters. It’s almost to the point where going out to eat could be a bit of a nuisance because she always orders everything on the side, and substitutes this for that and did I mention she makes her own lemonade at the table, not because she’s cheap, but because she prefers the fake sugar at the table and not the real stuff. Anyway, we decided to share the Grilled Fish Salad, $12.95. Selena orders the dressing on the side just in case she doesn’t like it. When she goes to the counter to pick up our salad it was covered in papaya dressing. Selena goes, “oh, I ordered the dressing on the side.” And the stupid bitch behind the counter goes, “oh, well, there’s not much of it, you’ll be alright.” Selena comes back to the table upset and disappointed.

Now does this look like a little dressing to anyone? There’s a pool of it gathering at the bottom of our plate. Now, it really didn’t bother me, since I know I like the dressing, and it turns out Selena did too, but had it been me that picked up the salad and that bitch would of said that to me I would of said, “well, I’m allergic to papaya dressing so I won’t be o.k. Will you guys be o.k. with a lawsuit on your hands?” Point is, it’s not cool to be talked down to, especially when your a loyal customer. Wow, this place really sucks bad when it comes to customer service. All I know is that next time I make it out this far to get some food, it wont be at the Grass Skirt Grill. But just to be completely honest, the salad was really good.

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Grass Skirt Grill
66-214 Kamehameha Hwy
Haleiwa, HI 96712

Get Directions(808) 637-4852