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Highway Inn, a closer look
Aloha!
3/16/09 - Before we move on-out to Waipahu Town and some great Hawaiian food, the other night I went down to Marukai looking for a few slabs of ahi, hamachi, and salmon to make sushi, but instead changed course and decided to go with a couple of medium-sized moi. Also called Pacific Threadfin, this small reef fish is revered for its soft, tender-white flesh. It's other name, "Fish of King's," is no cliche or fluke, as it was so sought-after in ancient Hawaii that noone except Royalty was even permitted to eat it! Commoner's found partaking of kapu, or banned items like moi, did so at risk to their own life, literally.
My grandpa on Kauai was the envy of his plantation camp town for sneaking off to his secret moi hole and consistently bringing a fresh bag home, never telling anyone where it was, not even in his last breath. Fast-forward to only a few years ago, and you'd still be the talk of the town if you brought even one or two of these prized fishes home! These days, however, they've actually become reasonably plentiful because of the huge underwater cages that grow-out hundreds of thousands of fish in a single harvest! Lucky us!
I wanted to deep-fry one and steam the other, but in the end, just got lazy and threw 'em both in the steamer! While steaming with just a touch of salt and lots of ginger, I readied a shallow pan with a layer of whatever I could find in the fridge, which happened to be onions and regular head cabbage, thin-sliced.
Not a bottom normally used in this dish, but hey, what can I say? Just never took the time to think deep enough to go and grab some won bok, kai choi, choi sum, or other suitable greens to lay out, is all! Heck, I didn't even have any Chinese parsley to sprinkle on, either! No worries - was still ono!
After steaming, I placed the two fish in a pan and sprinkled them with a very generous portion of chopped green onion, a healthy pour of shoyu all-over, and then a final dousing of super-hot oil. Peanut oil is optimum for this particularly lovely dish because it burns at a higher temperature than most oils, but me, I always like to add-in a bit of sesame oil, too, so I can't crank the temperature up too high, anyway.
Lots of people like to throw-in lup cheong or other sausages, as well, but me, I'd rather just enjoy the fish, itself without cheating with pork fat! Don't know what's the deal with the eyeballs - maybe over-cooked?
Maybe it doesn't look so good here, but it sure was ono! I don't know what it is about the combination of fish with shoyu, hot oil, and green onion, but it sure is a winner when eaten over a hot bowl of steaming white rice, and is my all-time favorite way of preparing a good-quality fish. Can you imagine presenting this pan to a commoner back in ancient Hawaii? Actually, maybe not - he'd probably scream and run for his life after one look!
And on the subject of ancient Hawaii, we move on to Highway Inn in Waipahu, the place to be on the West-side for authentic Hawaiian food and more. I say more because they also have an American/Local-themed menu, as well, with dishes like pork chops, hamburger steak, corned beef cabbage, burgers, sandwiches, and full breakfasts like Portuguese sausage, Vienna sausage, and Spam with eggs.
As with most Hawaiian food restaurants, they also carry the adopted son of Hawaiian food, the now-popular staple of every party, big or small, anywhere in the 50th State - poke. Though raw was not the preferred means of fish consumption in ancient Hawaii, poke has, in the last several decades, grown to become one of the most widely-recognized and well-loved of the uniquely local food products created here (For a list and description of some of the other's, check out the Specialty Local Products section of this site).
The large glass display is actually accessed through a separate entrance right next-door, and features a wide variety of poke, along with all the other, mostly savory pupu items normally found alongside. For those around the world who've never seen a poke case before, I can only imagine the sense of wonder you'd find here, with so many unique and different combinations of raw or smoked fish, fish eggs, octopus, crab, abalone, topshell, clams, mussels, seaweeds, and so much more...
The inside of the actual restaurant itself is very casual, with a simple, yet pleasant decor and an array of interesting pictures hanging, including shots of old Hawaii, autographed posters of local artists and celebrities, and newspaper articles and awards the restaurant has generated.
The only down-side about this place is that you can't really mix-and-match everything, but are instead given a choice of four different mixed plates. Certain items like squid luau, chicken long rice, and poke all come ala carte instead of in a complete combination plate. Each mixed plate, however, does come with several different items, mine coming with a mix of, clockwise from front and center - kalua pig, lomi salmon, pipikaula, haupia, and white rice.
Why, I haven't seen these trays since, what, Elementary School? Geez, I can't even remember if we had plastic trays or not! I believe by High School, we had paper plates, but I'm not so sure...
Anyways, I was a bit surprised at the relatively small portions, as most Hawaiian food places are really generous in this department. Everything here has a real, old-school nature to it, coming not with a whole lot of flavoring but with a simple, natural taste that reminds me of home-cooked meals served with lots and lots of love! This fact struck me as different from most other places (the flavoring, not the love, necessarily!), who often use noticeably more Hawaiian salt.
Here's a closer shot of the pipikaula, which doesn't much look like the red-tinted, traditional variety of pipikaula. Even so, Highway Inn is quite renowned for their version, which is basically more like regular smoked meat, flash-fried after smoking for an even stronger flavor and an added tenderness.
Wifey's plate was a lau-lau combo, with the same side-dishes as mine except that she went with poi instead of white rice.
Like other dishes here, this already-peeled lau lau, meaning without the large ti-leaf wrapper they are steamed in, was a bit on the small side and flavored a bit on the light side. Here's a shot showing the tender, steaming-hot pork inside.
Though I can't handle it, wifey loves the purple, sticky, very bland taste of poi, and straight, too - not with added sugar or shoyu! Hard-core, if you ask me! Actually, I wish I did love poi, as it is super-good for you and acts as a potent pro-biotic, creating all kinds of helpful bacteria in your gut to aid in digestion, just like acidophilus and yogurt.
Sorry for the blurry pic! The sensor couldn't find anything to latch onto - shoulda went with manual focus!
As I state in the description of Hawaiian food varieties in the main pages, there is no big three main dishes (kalua pig, lau lau, and chicken long rice), only big four! You won't find squid luau at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Paradise Cove, Germaine's luau, and other tourist destinations, but as far as real Hawaiian food outlets go, none had better be without it!
This delicacy comes with either squid or octopus, all swimming in a cooked-down luau leaf stew and a healthy addition of sweet, creamy, rich coconut milk. Doesn't look like the most appetizing of dishes, but like the saag shrimp in our last closer look at TajMahal, looks can be deceiving!
With every item here under ten bucks except for the super-combo plate, which consists of simply adding kalua pig to any of the other combo plates, Highway Inn is a very affordable, comfortable place to dine. Of course, add-in an ala carte item, and the price does go higher, but still...
The family-owned restaurant has been in operation since 1947, and the old-time, home-style taste and presentation is highly apparent, which is a positive thing, of course! They have long-since become a bustling institution out there in Waipahu and a favorite for many generations of hungry islanders, so check 'em out if you happen to be out there on the West-side.
And with that, hope you're having a wonderful first day of the week!
Take care and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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