The fastest, cheapest, frequently best food on Honolulu's streets.
Vendors, food trucks and stalls: the cheapest, fastest, frequently best food in Honolulu.
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.
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.
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.
Musubi Cafe Iyasume on Kuhio in Waikiki Honolulu has fed handheld spam musubi to Waikiki visitors since 2000, with handmade Koshihikari rice and a dozen rotating combinations.
Try: Spam musubi in a dozen styles
Tip: The teriyaki spam musubi is the bestseller; the avocado bacon egg pairs well with morning coffee.
Maguro Brothers Hawaii in Kekaulike Market in Chinatown Honolulu is the lunch poke counter brothers Junichiro and Ryojiro Tsuchiya stock from the Honolulu Fish Auction at dawn.
Try: Sashimi-grade poke bowl
Tip: Lunch-only counter inside the market; sells out by 13:00. Closed Sunday.
Ono Seafood in Kapahulu Honolulu is the takeout-only poke counter that sells shoyu ahi, spicy ahi and tako preparations from a refrigerated case, fed by the family fish operation.
Try: Two-scoop poke bowl
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday. Take it to Ala Wai Park; sells out by 16:00 weekends.
Rainbow Drive-In in Kapahulu Honolulu is the canonical Hawaii plate lunch counter since 1961, slinging loco moco, BBQ beef and boneless chicken plates from a window onto Kanaina.
Try: Loco moco and mix plate
Tip: No inside seating, eat at the picnic tables. Mix plate is the move for a first-timer.
Leonard's Malasadamobile on Kalanianaole Highway in Honolulu Kai is the mobile food truck arm of the 1952 Leonard's Bakery, frying the canonical Hawaii malasada on the side of the road.
Try: Sugar malasada straight from the fryer
Tip: Five-minute fryer-to-bag turnaround. Sugar plain is the move; haupia rotates.
Ted's Bakery at Sunset Beach on Oahu's North Shore, an hour from Honolulu, runs a plate lunch counter alongside the pie case with garlic shrimp, loco moco and fried rice.
Try: Chocolate haupia cream pie and garlic shrimp plate
Tip: The chocolate haupia pie is the canonical North Shore order; pies sell by the slice or whole.
Waiola Shave Ice in Kapahulu Honolulu has shaved the city's finest-grain shave ice since 1940, with house syrups and the canonical strawberry condensed milk over vanilla ice cream order.
Try: Strawberry condensed milk shave ice
Tip: Strawberry condensed milk is the move; cash and card. Mokihana Street relocation in 2013.