History

Garlic shrimp came out of the North Shore aquaculture boom in the 1990s. Kahuku's shrimp ponds (still operating today) gave nearby trucks the ingredient. Giovanni's Shrimp Truck started selling shrimp scampi from a mobile truck in 1993 and parked a permanent location in Kahuku in 1995. Romy's Kahuku Prawns runs its own pond next door to the lunch wagon. Jenny's Shrimp took over the Macky's spot in 2018 with the same butter-garlic recipe. The format: 12 shrimp, garlic butter, two scoops rice.

Common allergens: Shellfish, Dairy, Wheat

Make it at home

Yield Serves 2Hands-on 20 minTotal 25 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 500g large head-on shrimp, shells split lengthwise but shells left on
  • 1 whole head of garlic (about 12 cloves), finely minced
  • 100g unsalted butter
  • 30ml olive oil
  • 30g all-purpose flour
  • Sea salt, black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon Hawaiian paprika or cayenne (light heat)
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • Cooked short-grain rice, two scoops per plate

Method

  1. Pat the shrimp dry. Toss with the flour, paprika, salt and pepper until lightly coated.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the shrimp in a single layer; cook 90 seconds on one side and 60 seconds on the other. Remove to a warm plate.
  3. Lower the heat to medium. Add the butter to the same pan. When it foams, add the minced garlic. Cook 90 seconds, stirring constantly, until the garlic just starts to colour.
  4. Return the shrimp and all juices to the pan. Toss to coat in the garlic butter. Squeeze in the juice from half a lemon, cook 30 more seconds.
  5. Serve over two scoops of hot rice with the remaining lemon on the side. Pour any pan butter over the top.

Tip from the editors. Eat the shrimp shells; the canonical North Shore plate is shell-on for the crisp texture and the flavour. The garlic should be caramelized to the edge of burnt, not raw.

This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.

Where to eat north shore garlic shrimp

North Shore garlic shrimp in Honolulu

Giovanni's Shrimp Truck ★ 4.5

Daily 10:30 to 18:30

Giovanni's Shrimp Truck in Kahuku on Oahu's North Shore, an hour from Honolulu, has slung butter-garlic shrimp scampi since 1993 and parked its graffiti-tagged white truck in Kahuku in 1995.

Try: Garlic butter shrimp scampi over rice

Tip: Twelve shrimp over two scoops rice with caramelized garlic; queue 30 to 45 minutes. Bring cash for shorter lines.

56-505 Kamehameha Highway, Kahuku, HI 96731

Romy's Kahuku Prawns ★ 4.4

Daily 10:30 to 17:30

Romy's Kahuku Prawns on the North Shore an hour from Honolulu farms its own shrimp and prawns on the property and serves them butterfly-cut from the lunch wagon out front.

Try: Sweet shrimp and prawns from the farm next door

Tip: Order the spicy prawn plate over rice; the sweet shrimp size up larger than the truck competitors down the road.

56-1030 Kamehameha Highway, Kahuku, HI 96731

Jenny's Shrimp ★ 4.5

Daily 10:00 to 18:15

Jenny's Shrimp on Kamehameha Highway in Haleiwa, an hour from Honolulu, is the lunch wagon the former Macky's head chef opened after Macky's closed in 2018 with the same butterflied garlic shrimp.

Try: Garlic butter shrimp plate

Tip: Order the spicy garlic if you want heat; the coconut shrimp is a sleeper.

66-532 Kamehameha Highway, Haleiwa, HI 96712

More cities are in research. Want north shore garlic shrimp covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.

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