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Travelling To Hawaii

wdavie

By wdavie
in Gluten-Free Restaurants

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wdavie Newbie
wdavie
Posted

Hi, we are coming to Maui in June from New Zealand. My daugher was recently diagnosed as Celiac and well I am worried about where we can eat etc.

This may be silly but after getting to know New Zealand products and food etc I am worried about travelling and having trouble finding products.

If anyone can suggest places to eat in Maui (Southshore and Paia) and Waikiki, also if there is a Gluten free product guide for the US and where I can get it from, I would really appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks Wendy :unsure:

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mannabbe Newbie
mannabbe
Posted

Wendy,

You are in luck! I am traveling to Maui in April with my 7 year old daughter (both of us have celiac), my husband - AND a friend and her daughter who are both gluten-free. I promise to take good notes on restaurants and food stores and get back to you. We will be there for 10 days, so I will be an expert by the time I"m done. Can't help you out with Wailkiki unfortunately.

The delphi forums celiac site (at delphiforums.com) is a very active forum that has food lists for US/Canada that are updated regularly. Also, Clan Thompson has a subscription service that you can download onto your PDA, if you are so inclined technically.

If this puts your mind at ease, I already know there are a couple health food stores on Maui that carry some of what I consider to be the "basic" gluten-free food products. I am also dairy free / soy free / corn free, so the info I gather for you will omit those foods as well.

cheers,

Laurie in Seattle

  • 3 years later...
Rubicon1954 Newbie
Rubicon1954
Posted

I am a regular visitor to Maui and have not had much luck finding gluten-free friendly restaurants there. I just returned from there last week and had a reasonably good trip because I rented a condo with a full equipped kitchen. I find that being able to prepare my own meals is essential to keeping me sane and healthy.

I also haunt the farmer's markets, and health food stores - the fresh fruit is a highlight on Maui, and we bought tons of it. There is also a great health food store on South Kihei - Hawaiian Moons Natural Foods. They have a great salad bar, and all the basic gluten-free foods in stock. The people there are real friendly.

There is an Outback Steakhouse in Kihei that doesn't make me sick, but otherwise, I ended up walking out of several restaurants when I found nothing but roadblocks on the menu. I tried Greek Bistro, and even though I made every attempt to order carefully, I ended up sick.

Laurie, I will also be watching for your notes when you return, as I am planning another trip there with my family next year. I am hoping to find some safe places to eat while on vacation.

Linda

Mini Newbie
Mini
Posted

Hello, I'm new to the boards but your topic caught my eye. I've been to maui a few times, and in fact last time I stayed in Pa'ia. You may luck out in Pa'ia because there are a couple of healthy/vegetarian/hippyish sort of places, as well as a really nice market to shop for groceries right in town, and it has a great selection of ready to eat foods as well. People are really friendly in Pa'ia, and I'm sure will be very understanding of your needs. I suggest trying out Cafe Mambo, an ecclectic cafe, or perhaps Fresh Mint, a vietnamese place - both are in town on the main street.

Additionally, I recommend you drive over to Makawao to do some shopping at Down to Earth. Makawao is just about a 10 or so minute drive from Pa'ia, and there are signs in Pa'ia town directing you to Makawao. (there is a down to earth down near the airport in kahului as well). Down to Earth is a great little health food store to stock up on a few items.

I am vegetarian as well as gluten intolerant, and restaurants on Maui are very touch and go. Finding vegetarian options was difficult and finding gluten free was much much harder.

The good news is, in such warm weather, you may find that your daughter may gravitate toward things like like bananas, mango, pineapple, coconut, and other yummy raw fruits and veggies - which are NOT hard to come by on maui (and are delicious!)

Oh, and as far as south shore...well, I had even more trouble finding good things to eat down there compared to north shore and upcountry.

My best advice is to get a little cooler and keep it in the car stocked with things your daughter can eat. I did this for both me and my partner (who is vegetarian but not gluten free). I stocked mine with yummy treats, some vietnamese style fresh rolls from Down to Earth, cold drinks, nuts, fruit, chocolate, rice crackers, nori sushi rolls (lots of japanese food on maui - most sushi rolls are ok as long as they dont have soy sauce), tamari rice crackers, dried tropical fruits - dried mango is like candy, etc. It's hard to find good food on the go in maui, especially if you do some of the glorious drives (up the mountain, to Hana, etc). Definitely keep lots of food on hand!

Have fun in maui!! :)

jkmunchkin Rising Star
jkmunchkin
Posted

I went to Maui on my honeymoon 4 months after being diagnosed, and did very well.

As someone previously mentioned, there is an Outback. In the same shopping center as Outback there is a restaurant named Roy's (which is actually owned by the same parent company as Outback). They don't have a gluten free menu, but they are very knowledgeable about gluten and bend over backwards to accomodate. Their menu changes daily, but they have a few signature dishes that I believe they have every day. They pretty much let me make my own entree. I wanted 1 type of fish they had that day, but I couldn't have the sauce that came on it, so they used a sauce that was typically for another dish, that sounded good that was safe for me. But best of all, their signature dessert, a flourless chocolate cake is out of this world and totally gluten free! I have to confess, we went there twice because of this cake. LOL!! (well we are on the Big Island also, so once on each if that makes it less lame).

There is also a Ruth Chris which has a gluten free menu.

In the same shopping are as Ruth Chris there is a Tommy Bahama restaurant, which was very good and also very diligent about checking the ingredients and accomodating.

The only place I almost had a problem was at a bar/grill type place in Lahaina. The waitress was extremely nice and completely understood what I needed. Unfortunately the kitchen staff didn't. Fortunately from where we were sitting I could see the kitchen and what was going on. I saw them put my burger on a bun and then remove it. When the waitress brought it over I very sympathetically explained that I needed a new burger. She completely understood, and while the guy behind the grill didn't look thrilled I was able to see my new safe burger being made.

Because I was so newly diagnosed at the time, I shipped a box of snacks to myself to the hotel, which came in handy but to be honest I don't think I really needed it. Even being new to the diet I found myself easily finding stuff that I could have picked up to snack on if need be.

Have a great time!!!

Oh and get this book, it is the best guide book.

Open Original Shared Link

Rubicon1954 Newbie
Rubicon1954
Posted

Oh! I just remembered - Maui Tacos! Let them know your gluten issues and they will make sure that yours is made with a corn tortilla. Not much help if you also have corn issues, but I enjoyed a great and inexpensive meal there since I am not sensitive to corn. I saw two locations - One was in the Piilani Shopping Center (the same one that has the Safeway and the Outback), and the other one was on South Kihei Road in the same shopping center as the Hawaiian Moons Health Food Store.

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