North Kohala Cafe
 North Kohala Cafe |
Highway 270
Hawi, HI 96719
(808) 889-0208
The Big Island of Hawaii offers something most of the other islands don’t—long open roads. Whether you take a convertible, a Jeep, or a motorcycle, this island is worth cruising. Once you get away from the major towns of Kona and Hilo, the island is picturesque and stunning.
Eateries can be few and far between, but eventually there will be a café of some sort offering homemade chow in the Hawaiian style, meaning a combination of Asian, Hawaiian, and American cuisines. It makes for some fun menus!
Drive the island’s north coast and you’ll stumble onto the cute town of Hawi, once a booming sugar town. The North Kohala Café, on the eastern edge of town, offers a fun menu any time of day.
Very unusual for breakfast is the café’s katsu sushi roll ($4.95), which includes katsu (Korean style chicken cutlet), scrambled egg, Spam, and carrots, all rolled up in an inside-out sushi roll. Spam, the treasure of the Hawaiian Islands, is found throughout most menus. Here at the North Kohala Café, it is found in everything from musubi to loco moco ($8.00).
The curry ($5.75) comes loaded with big chunks of potato, carrots, and your choice of katsu chicken or beef ladled onto a pile of white rice. The curry broth is thick and spicy. Add a splash of soy and pepper sauce for a meal that lasts all day.
Every day, the North Kohala Café features homemade specials. While some—like the chicken and longrice—are common, the blood meat ($8.00) took some explaining. “It’s a really popular Filipino dish,” the waitress said. “Mostly pork sausage mixed with pork blood.” When asked if she liked it? “What are you crazy? I wouldn’t eat that!”
Just past the North Kohala Café, the road eventually dead ends at Pololu Lookout. You can sit on the stone wall and enjoy a staggering view of the vertical cliffs or take the half-mile trail and descend to the beach. And keep your eyes out for whales!
JGE © 2008
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