Travel Tips: Must-Try Dishes When Visiting Hawaii

Hawaii is not just its big waves and magnificent beaches. It is also about the best traditional and unique food. From grilled to Japanese-influenced dishes, the volcanic archipelago offers you a lot of variety. Check out these Hawaiian dishes that you must not miss when you're here.

Try out Huli-Huli chicken, a grilled Hawaiian dish that is marinated in soy sauce, pineapple juice, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and wine. After mixing all the ingredients, the chicken is grilled for over 40 minutes or until meat is tender and cooked. Try this meat at the Mike's Huli Chicken at Honolulu for the best firsthand experience of grilled chicken.

Eat an imitation of a Japanese dish, the Spam Musubi. Spam Musubi is just basically spam on top of a block of rice. Both ingredient is wrapped with nori dried seaweed which is commonly used in Japanese dishes. It looks simple but the rice and spam are coated and soaked with sauce and flavorings that brings out an amazing flavor. Check out this dish at Musubi Cafe Iyasume at Honolulu.

Eat the widely popular raw fish dish, Ahi Poke, an appetizer salad dish that is raw and is mainly composed of yellowfin tuna, onion, chili, roasted kukui nut, sesame oil, and limu. Poke means "to slice or cut" in Hawaiian. All of the ingredients are cut into small pieces and then mixed together. Have your order of Poke to take out and munch it while walking the shores of Hawaii. Check out Ahi Assassins for the best Poke dish.

Try out this native traditional cuisine, Poi, the product of an underground plant called taro. Taro is mashed, cooked, and fermented to produce a starchy and sticky dish. The fermentation process affects the taste of the poi. Hawaiians love to eat this dish although some people who had a first time tasting it might not like its starchy feel. Check out how this traditional dish is made at Waiahole Poi Factory.

Eat pork in a leaf with Lau Lau. Lau Lau is another traditional Hawaiian dish that is never absent in any Hawaiian occasions. It is mainly made with pork, chicken, and various vegetable fillings sliced in strips. The ingredients are mixed and wrapped into taro leaves like a bun and steamed. Try out this dish at Ono Hawaiian Foods at Honolulu.