Month: April 2026

I love Hawaiian food, and I had been excited to try Aloha Hawaiian Kitchen (https://alohahawaiiankitchen.com/) for a while.  Aloha is down near Orlando International Airport, so I don’t see it becoming part of my regular restaurant rotation, but when I finally made it there in December, it did not disappoint.  Hawaiian cuisine evolved from a combination of Native Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Portuguese, and mainland American ingredients and influences due to the diaspora, but it is very much its own thing.  It is one of my favorite regional American cuisines, up there with Ashkenazi Jewish delis and appetizing stores and the grand tradition of barbecue.  But while I’ve tried amazing delis in New York City, Los Angeles, and South Florida and barbecue in Texas, Memphis, and right here in Orlando, I have yet to visit Hawaii, so I take our local Hawaiian restaurants at their word.

Because I always love sampling multiple things, especially when I know I won’t be able to return to a restaurant often, I ordered the Surfside Sampler, which comes with three meats: marinated and grilled beef short ribs (kalbi), crispy marinated and fried ono shrimp, and marinated and pulled luau pig.  However, I asked if I could substitute the mochiko chicken instead of the luau pork, since it is the same price when they are sold separately.  They were kind enough to allow me to get that substitution.  This heaping tray came with scoops of white rice and Hawaiian macaroni salad, which I am a huge fan of.  It was probably more than enough calories for the full day, with more to spare.  I think the Hawaiians perfected mayonnaise-based macaroni salad, which I have recreated at home.  The secret, which I found in a few different recipes, is to let slightly underdone macaroni noodles absorb a lot of milk, and then stir in your mayo.  (They recommend Best Foods, which I think is the same stuff sold as Hellman’s in the eastern U.S., but I’m a Duke’s man.)

I first tried mochiko chicken at the first Hawaiian restaurant I ever visited, a place called Hawaiian Grindz that used to be on State Road 434 in Oviedo.  It didn’t last very long, perhaps in part because the laid-back owners didn’t always open on time… or at all, despite posted hours.  But I loved the little pieces of fried chicken thighs, which were lightly breaded and then tossed in a sweet sauce.  While these mochiko chicken pieces at Aloha look a bit dark, I can assure you they were fried to crispy perfection.  They weren’t overly sweet, either.  It was a nice blend of sweet and savory — much less sweet than the mochiko chicken at the old place that closed. 

Here’s a close-up of the kalbi, those wonderful marinated and grilled Korean-style beef short ribs, cut against the bone  These also had a savory-sweet marinade,  and the grilling process added some great flavor from caramelizing sugar on the surface.  The meat was tender, but not exactly falling apart or off the bone.  Kalbi (sometimes called galbi on Korean menus) always has a pleasant chew, and you can usually tear or bite the meat near the bone and pull it right out.  That area is even chewier, but the texture is nice. 

Here is an extreme close-up of one of the crispy, garlicky-fried shrimp.  It had such a nice flavor and crunch, and just like at my beloved Poke Hana, it is fried so well that you can eat it crunchy tail and all.  Look at all that garlic! 

While I wanted to try more, I limited myself to a Spam musubi, which I enjoyed later, back at home.  These are the ultimate in simple comfort food: a slice of fried Spam (which is actually delicious, snobs and skeptics!) on a bed of sushi rice, rolled tightly in a sheet of nori (seaweed, the same stuff in sushi rolls), and often served warm.  I’ve seen these musubi referred to as “Hawaiian protein bars,” and they do have just enough protein and carbs to give you a burst of energy when you need it.

By the way, Spam is a product of Minnesota, but it became closely associated with Hawaiian cuisine when the U.S. military used it to feed troops stationed in Hawaii in the 1940s.  That’s how it found its way into saimin (a Hawaiian take on ramen), Spam fried rice, and of course, the musubi.

We are lucky to have a few wonderful Hawaiian restaurants to choose from in Orlando, including the aforementioned Poke Hana, OverRice, the new Moa Kai Hawaiian Diner, and Hanalei Shave Ice for a cool, refreshing dessert.  Aloha Hawaiian Kitchen is in great company.  Sadly, Aloha is much further away from me, but even though I don’t foresee going back as often, it was very good, and I’m so glad I tried it.  If you find yourself down near the airport, or coming or going from the 528 or the Lake Nona area and you don’t feel like awesome seafood at High Tide Harry’s or Orlando’s best Cuban sandwich at Vicky Bakery, check it out.  Aloha features a large menu, including meat-centric combo meals like I ordered and customizable poke bowls, if you want something lighter than the smorgasbord of meats I enjoyed.  Nowadays, as I continue slowly losing weight from eating less and eating healthier, I would have gotten two or even three meals out of that Surfside Sampler, but I  housed it in one sitting at the time, thinking that dangerous thought of “Well, it won’t be as good heated back up later!”  I’ve come a long way over these past four months.