Updated July 1, 2021.
Today’s the day… it’s all about the food! Our recent anniversary trip to Molokai was amazing, largely due to the truly authentic Hawaiian food! Molokai is said to be the “most Hawaiian” island, so it stands to reason that this is the place to get the “most Hawaiian” food. Service was friendly everywhere we went, and most places took a credit card (but not all, so bring cash!).
Much to our delight and a little to our amazement, everything we ate on Molokai was fabulous! I mean, there aren’t that many options, and you’re kind of a captive audience, so you’d have to eat at the restaurants around whether they were good or bad. But the restauranteurs on Molokai take great pride in their food, and it shows! Have a look and then plan your trip to get your own!
Breakfast
Kanemitsu’s Bakery
It’s the most important meal of the day! Molokai has a few restaurants that are open for breakfast, the most notable of which is Kanemitsu’s Bakery, where we ate on two occasions! Their daily specials (which were the same both days we went!) come with 1/2 fresh papaya, choice of breakfast meat (bacon, ham, spam, or sausage), eggs, and coffee. What’s making that things purple? It’s taro!
Mana’e Goods n’ Grindz
Most of the restaurants on Molokai are in the town of Kaunakakai, but there are a couple of others scattered around the island. The one and only option we found on the east side was Mana’e Goods n’ Grindz on the way to our Halawa Valley Hike. We both got the same sandwich, and we both agreed it was one of the best we’d ever had!
Hula Bean Cafe
One morning we grabbed a quick bite at Hula Bean Cafe on the way to the airport for our flight to Kalaupapa. We both got the same sandwich, and we both agreed it was incredible! I promise we don’t always get the same food, we just like a lot of the same things!
Lunch
Okay, so we were having a little too much fun to stop for lunch most days. Did you see the size of those breakfast options?! We keep Cliff Bars and a variety of jerky with us when we travel so we don’t always have to stop for lunch, but we did have a proper lunch on our tour of Kalaupapa, since it was included in our tour. The sandwich was wrapped up in an ingenious way: two slices of bread wrapped in cling wrap, continuing with cheese wrapped on top, lettuce wrapped on top, and turkey slices on top of that, all wrapped up in one. Mustard and mayo packets were available, too.
Supper
Molokai Pizza Cafe
This was so good, we ate there twice and got the same pizza! Pizza is Steve’s favorite food, and we like a lot of the same things on our pizza, so it was an easy choice! And we were usually quite hungry after skipping lunch, so we ate around 4:00pm like the old married couple we are!
Molokai Burger
Steve’s second favorite food? Hamburgers! But ironically enough, we did not get burgers at Molokai Burger. They had quite a variety on their menu, and a choice of regular fries or waffle fries to boot.
Taste of Molokai
This little food truck came highly recommended, and I’ll be honest, everything sounded so good we had a hard time deciding! But I’m a sucker for raw fish, and it’s never as fresh as it is on an island. Steve had a dessert item and some leftovers back at the hotel. I might have made him share the dessert item!
Sweets and Snacks
Kanemitsu’s Bakery
Okay, so I should have gotten baked goods at the bakery, but each time we were there I was already too full from the meal! As I mentioned before, their breakfast specials come with a side of fresh fruit, and luck for us it was papaya season! I will always eat the fresh fruit in Hawaii when it’s offered.
Purdy’s Macadamia Nut Farm
Unfortunately, our timing was way off when trying to make the rounds at the local farms on Molokai (more on that and how you can avoid making the same mistake in What to Know Before You Visit Molokai), but I did get a crash course in macadamia nut cracking and a quick look around in the gift shop as they were closing!
Taste of Molokai
This is the dessert item I made Steve share. In my defense, he offered! If you’ve never had an açaí bowl, I have to recommend one when you go to Hawaii. It’s like a thick smoothie topped with granola and fruit, and other toppings as you like. The açaí berry is a purple fruit with loads of antioxidents, so you can know you’re doing something great for your body and feel like you’re eating ice cream at the same time!
Kamoi Snack-N-Go
When the sign says “#1 Ice Cream in Hawaii” you have to try it out! And you can try however many flavors you want inside Kamoi Snack-N-Go. I tried several, and Steve tried a few as well. They had a ton of unique flavors!
Whitney: Hawaiian Mud Pie and Azuki Bean
Hungry yet?! Comment below with your favorite from the list!
Want more? Check out my World Foods Page for all things foodie all around the world, and my Hawaiian Islands Page for all things Hawaiian!!
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Thank you for all your research, edpevoallybon the food!😉 I want to take my husband to Molokai for his 60th. We are easy going, and like to see everything. I looked, yet couldntnl9vate any lodging advice. Any recommendations there? I like to give my money to people that live there. Thank you.
Everyone who works there, also lives there! So no matter where you stay, you’re supporting locals. We stayed at the Hotel Molokai, and it was great!