{"id":48116,"date":"2014-10-17T17:47:26","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T21:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/?p=48116"},"modified":"2016-04-20T14:51:12","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T18:51:12","slug":"best-places-eat-hilo-hawaiian-cruise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/2014\/10\/17\/best-places-eat-hilo-hawaiian-cruise\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Places to Eat in Hilo on a Hawaiian Cruise"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you pull into the port of\u00a0Hilo on the Big Island on a Hawaiian Cruise<\/a>, you\u2019ll have some key decisions to make.\u00a0 The first is, \u201cDo I skip breakfast to make room for the amazing cuisine of Hilo?\u201d And, the second is, \u201cWhat type of cuisine will I be in the mood for today?\u201d You see, the Big Island is finally coming into its as a foodie destination with renowned chefs, savvy restaurateurs and access to a vast array of interesting ingredients. Furthermore, its Pacific Rim location means that in addition to traditional American fare, you\u2019ll have to choose from Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese and of course, South Pacific cuisine. Then, there is the option of local Hawaiian specialties, and here Spam is a delicacy and not an annoying email promising big bucks for working from home.<\/p>\n

The beautiful waterfront Hilo Bay Caf\u00e9<\/strong> <\/a>boasts \u201clocally inspired dishes, artisan sushi and hand-crafted cocktails while gazing out at tropical blue waters and majestic Mauna Kea.\u201d Let\u2019s hope the rest of your fellow cruise passengers don\u2019t get wind of this or you\u2019ll lose your opportunity to feast on local sushi, the local grass-fed Blue Bay burger or homemade hamakua mushroom curry pot pie.<\/p>\n

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Photo of Sushi courtesy of Hilo Bay Cafe<\/p><\/div>\n

If American and Asian fusion seafood tickles your taste buds, check out Full Moon Caf\u00e9<\/strong>,<\/a> a casual establishment owned by two brothers with hefty culinary resumes. Menu items include a heavy Pacific influence in their fresh, raw (and cooked) fish dishes and grass fed Big Island beef. Full Moon Cafe will soon be changing their name to Moon and Turtle Cafe.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Full Moon Cafe<\/p><\/div>\n

Not only is Caf\u00e9 Pesto\u2019s<\/strong><\/a> setting remarkable in its carefully preserved setting surrounded by rattan chairs, exhibition kitchen, tall ceilings and ohia wood-fired pizza oven, but the Hawaiian Regional food is award-winning and innovative. Lunch menu highlights include gourmet pizzas, various calzones, Asian-inspired stir-fry and curries, a few Italian specialties and fresh, mouthwatering organic salads.<\/p>\n

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Gourmet Pizza. Photo Courtesy of Cafe-Pesto<\/p><\/div>\n

Let\u2019s dig right in with \u201ca little bit of Europe in Downtown Hilo\u201d at Moonstruck Patisserie<\/strong>.\u00a0 Try owner Jackie Tan-De Witt\u2019s Soprano creation with layers of chocolate cake, dark chocolate mousse, chocolate truffle and Bailey\u2019s Irish Cream mousse all enveloped in chocolate ganache and topped with fresh whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Short N Sweet Bakery Market Cafe <\/strong><\/a>offers up the finest, tastiest, made-from-scratch artisan breads, croissants, cookies and bagels and is definitely worth a stop. \u00a0Your mouth won\u2019t regret it!<\/p>\n

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Tasty Desserts. Photo Courtesy of Short N Sweet Bakery Market Cafe.<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s mocha-in-the-making at Two Ladies Kitchen<\/strong> where the strawberry mocha is the absolute, hands-down favorite and often sells out. This Japanese delicacy features a fresh strawberry encased in hand-mashed sweet adzuki bean paste and pounded sticky rice\u2014a great souvenir, if you can resist the temptation!<\/p>\n

Family owned and operated Pineapples Island Fresh Cuisine<\/strong> gets fresh with their customers, fresh ingredients, that is, in their menu items that include a wide variety of pupus<\/em> (appetizers), pineapple burger, barbecue Kalua pork sandwich, fresh catch of the day and Hilo Homemade Ice Cream for dessert. The restaurant located in a historic building is open air and features the works of local artists.<\/p>\n

Ken\u2019s House of Pancakes<\/strong> is one of those local institutions that serve breakfast 24 hours a day, in addition to burgers, prime rib, tacos, sandwiches, dinner plates and local favorites. So if you did skip that breakfast on the ship, belly up to Ken\u2019s 11 choices of pancakes, in addition to French toast and Belgian waffles! If you\u2019re of the exploratory mindset, try the Loco Moco with hamburger patty, gravy and eggs on top (or chili and cheese).<\/p>\n

Another 24-hour local favorite is Verna\u2019s<\/strong>, known for its window service, great prices and scrumptious home cooking of Hawaiian specialties like laulau<\/em> (meat wrapped in a taro leaf), lomilomi<\/em> tomato and salmon salad or the smoked meat plate covered in onions and served up with a side of rice and macaroni salad.<\/p>\n

In case you needed one more reason beyond phenomenal cuisine to visit Hawaii\u00a0on a cruise, we\u2019ve offered up our top reasons on why they\u2019re so popular.<\/a>\u00a0 Our travel advisors\u00a0are ready to feed you the information you need to book today. Call 1-888-804-CRUISE (2784) or visit our website www.CruiseExperts.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you pull into the port of\u00a0Hilo on the Big Island on a Hawaiian Cruise, you\u2019ll have some key decisions to make.\u00a0 The first is, \u201cDo I skip breakfast to make room for the amazing cuisine of Hilo?\u201d And, the second is, \u201cWhat type of cuisine will I be in the mood for today?\u201d You … Best Places to Eat in Hilo on a Hawaiian Cruise<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":48240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[334,333,76,332,336,335,72],"class_list":["post-48116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawaii","tag-cafe-pestos","tag-full-moon-cafe","tag-hawaiian-cruise","tag-hilo-bay-cafe","tag-our-top-reasons-on-why-theyre-so-popular","tag-short-n-sweet-bakery-market-cafe","tag-www-cruiseexperts-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruiseexperts.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}