Broth Cafe at Alive and Well Market – Kahului

This is the kind of place that, if you blink, you’ll miss it. It’s just down the street from Tight Tacos at the corner of Hana Highway, located in a health food store. It’s worth finding.

Broth Cafe does, like the store around it, basically serve health food. It’s not vegan – it’s not even vegetarian – but it does try to pack a lot of healthy, local veggies into each item on its menu. And they also pack those items with some good flavor.

Broth offers take-out (which is how I generally use it) or you can eat there at their small counter, which is pleasant enough too.

They serve a huge variety of fruit and veg smoothies, but also more traditional fare like breakfast burritos, rice bowls, and ramen. I personally think their take on tofu poke is the best around (although Foodland in Pukalani comes in as a close second).

And if you’re looking for a really easy lunch to eat on the go, check out their banh mi sandwiches. All the flavor you’d expect from a Vietnamese restaurant but packed with veggies and overall, probably a little healthier given their great quality meats and mostly organic produce.

Don’t forget to grab a kombucha on tap!

Website: Broth Cafe

Address: 340 Hana Hwy, Kahului, HI 96732

Tasaka Gudi Gudi

Here’s a quick little spot for a snack that actually has a small place in Hawaii history. It’s been around for over 100 years (clearly not in this mall anchored by Whole Foods) and they keep their recipe secret.

Cash only. VERY inexpensive. Basically two items.

And I’ll go even further to whittle that down and say I’m not a big fan of one of them.

But what they serve is a frozen treat that is something like ice cream or sorbet, but it’s definitely a bit different. It’s small and refreshing and worth a try.

They serve two flavors: pineapple and strawberry. I really think the pineapple is something – it just tastes like sweet pure pineapple frozen and whipped – but it’s clearly not. Somehow they amplify the pineapple to be even more pineapply than it is naturally – maybe they’re reducing down a syrup?

The other option is strawberry, and this one just doesn’t hit me the right way. I feel like it doesn’t taste like strawberry so much as it tastes like strawberry flavoring – like a strawberry Jolly Rancher does. You know how a watermelon Jolly Rancher has a unique flavor that basically isn’t watermelon? Same thing here.

Anyway, if you’re in Kahului looking for a very quick, very casual, very refreshing bite, this is the place.