Travel To Hawaii

[andyd81]

I will be traveling to Hawaii with my family at the end of June for two weeks. We are spending a majority of our time on The Big Island, but will also spend five days in Oahu, and a few days in Maui. Does anyone know of any gluten free restaurants? I have researched some chain restaurants that I know will be safe , but any local/regional restaurants anyone can offer. Also any good grocery stores on the Big Island that specialize in Health foods/Gluten-free foods?

I am also thinking of any native foods that would be safe to eat. I know fruit will be plentiful, but any other ideas?

THanks

[jerseyangel]

Hi Andy and welcome to the board!

You're in luck--we have a resident expert on Hawaii here I'll bet Ken will be along shortly.

[kenlove]

HI,

Jerseyangel was right, Im in South Kona and will be glad to help. There have been a number of previous messages that outline a number of the restaurants and shops in Kona and Kohala. You can find these by searching Hawaii in the travel section.

I'll give you a quick run down here and feel free to ask anything. Somethings depend on where your staying but basically all the resort hotels are aware of what it takes to serve a gluten free mail. Some more than others. I'm on the board of the american culinary federation here and work with the chefs. The one thing to be sure of is to call first before you plan to go just to make sure they are aware and have some extra time to prepare something special. My son Rob is a chef at the Manta Ray restaurant at Mauna Kea Hotel. The other restaurant at the hotel is chef Peter Albacar. At the Fairmont the chef is Steve Roulle, Four Seasons Chef Jim Babian --= The chefs at Merrimans, Roys and other places have also prepared gluten-free meals.

At Royal Kona Resort chefs Mikal lamb and Zach are have turned out some great gluten-free meals.

FOr stores there is a 2 story Island Naturals in downtown Kona as well as 1 out South. Kona Naturals also has two stores.

Many of the grocery stores also carry gluten-free tortillas, pastas, breads and other items too.

Most local foods are ok but it does depend on where and how they are prepared. If you go to a Luau you need to let them know

so they dont dump soy sauce on everything. Many of the small alii dirve places do cook with it on everything. You can buy the wheat free soy sauce (San J) at any grocery here and bring it with you if you go to the Japanese places.

When you say native foods, poi and breadfruit are ok but you have to ask about lau lau, kalua pig as they are sometimes basted in light soy prior to cooking.

Not sure I'll be back by the end of the june but you can usually find me at the keauhou farmers market on saturdays which is a great place to pick up all local, mostly organic fruit and veggies direct from farmers. The sunday green market across from manago hotel is good too. The other markets downtown are often not local and come from questionable sources.

At buffets be careful of cross contamination.

Hope this helps

Ken

I will be traveling to Hawaii with my family at the end of June for two weeks. We are spending a majority of our time on The Big Island, but will also spend five days in Oahu, and a few days in Maui. Does anyone know of any gluten free restaurants? I have researched some chain restaurants that I know will be safe , but any local/regional restaurants anyone can offer. Also any good grocery stores on the Big Island that specialize in Health foods/Gluten-free foods?

I am also thinking of any native foods that would be safe to eat. I know fruit will be plentiful, but any other ideas?

THanks

[andyd81]

Thank you for all the information Ken!! Thank you for taking the time to answer all my questions. You have given me a lot to work with. Take care and maybe I will run into you along the way.

Andy

HI,

Jerseyangel was right, Im in South Kona and will be glad to help. There have been a number of previous messages that outline a number of the restaurants and shops in Kona and Kohala. You can find these by searching Hawaii in the travel section.

I'll give you a quick run down here and feel free to ask anything. Somethings depend on where your staying but basically all the resort hotels are aware of what it takes to serve a gluten free mail. Some more than others. I'm on the board of the american culinary federation here and work with the chefs. The one thing to be sure of is to call first before you plan to go just to make sure they are aware and have some extra time to prepare something special. My son Rob is a chef at the Manta Ray restaurant at Mauna Kea Hotel. The other restaurant at the hotel is chef Peter Albacar. At the Fairmont the chef is Steve Roulle, Four Seasons Chef Jim Babian --= The chefs at Merrimans, Roys and other places have also prepared gluten-free meals.

At Royal Kona Resort chefs Mikal lamb and Zach are have turned out some great gluten-free meals.

FOr stores there is a 2 story Island Naturals in downtown Kona as well as 1 out South. Kona Naturals also has two stores.

Many of the grocery stores also carry gluten-free tortillas, pastas, breads and other items too.

Most local foods are ok but it does depend on where and how they are prepared. If you go to a Luau you need to let them know

so they dont dump soy sauce on everything. Many of the small alii dirve places do cook with it on everything. You can buy the wheat free soy sauce (San J) at any grocery here and bring it with you if you go to the Japanese places.

When you say native foods, poi and breadfruit are ok but you have to ask about lau lau, kalua pig as they are sometimes basted in light soy prior to cooking.

Not sure I'll be back by the end of the june but you can usually find me at the keauhou farmers market on saturdays which is a great place to pick up all local, mostly organic fruit and veggies direct from farmers. The sunday green market across from manago hotel is good too. The other markets downtown are often not local and come from questionable sources.

At buffets be careful of cross contamination.

Hope this helps

Ken

[kenlove]

ANytime!

You can find us in the local phone book or on the forum!

Hope you have a great trip!

Ken

Thank you for all the information Ken!! Thank you for taking the time to answer all my questions. You have given me a lot to work with. Take care and maybe I will run into you along the way.

Andy

[jubilanthope]

I also am going to hawaii and need gluten free food plus i am finishing a week on hcg so i can't have sugar or carbs. I read that it is suggested to call the lua and tell them to not use soy on my meat.. How soon do we need to do this? How will they handle my food. Just make it separately and put it aside? This sounds kind of risky.I will be staying on the big island in a condo so I will not have acess to a hotel restaurant. It will be restaurants and fast food for a whole week

[Jungle]

I did a week in Honolulu this spring eating in restaurants and was amazed that almost every restaurant had a gluten-free menu or at least knew what was gluten-free on their menu. I am not sensitive so I don't know if CC was an issue but I was just so happy that they even knew what gluten was.

[kenlove]

Good to know your experience was positive. Although I'm based on the Big Island I've involved with the culinary schools and around the state and keep pushing for better education on celiac and other allergies for student chefs.

I did a week in Honolulu this spring eating in restaurants and was amazed that almost every restaurant had a gluten-free menu or at least knew what was gluten-free on their menu. I am not sensitive so I don't know if CC was an issue but I was just so happy that they even knew what gluten was.