Category: Last Bite

Saturday Brunch at Mud Hen Water

 

WRITTEN BY JAMES CHARISMA
PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES CHARISMA

Sundays in Kaimukī are for lounging and relaxation. For enjoying a cup of cold brew at The Curb coffee shop, or sharing a slice of decadent liliko‘i or Key lime cheesecake at Otto Cake bakery. Saturdays are for fun, but Sundays are for chilling.

Which is precisely why, when local chef and restaurateur Ed Kenney decided to launch a new brunch program at his Kaimukī eatery, Mud Hen Water, he set it on Saturdays. The point isn’t being one day early, it’s about turning a conventional dining experience on its head. As owner of the wildly popular and inventive Town, Kaimuki Superette and the new Mahina & Sun’s restaurants, trying the unconventional is something Kenney knows best.

With dishes like waffle-fried chicken wings featuring spicy guava glaze and locally-sourced lacinato kale cole slaw on the side, Saturday brunch at Mud Hen Water weaves together classic dishes with a local or Pacific flair.

The star of the show is Mud Hen Water’s cava bar: purchase a 6 oz. carafe of Segura Viudas cava (Spanish wine) for $12, then mix flavors and ingredients to create build-your-own sangrias or mimosas. Begin with a few drops of syrups such as honey, hibiscus and lavender, then pop in fruits like sliced strawberries, papaya, champagne grapes, calamansi, dragon and star fruit. Finish with a splash of freshly squeezed orange, cranberry, liliko‘ i, pineapple or mango juice, and top it off with a few edible flowers. Why wait until Sunday to indulge?

Last Bite

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BRYNN FOSTER OF VOYAGING FOODS
PHOTOGRAPHED BY JYOTI MAU

In our test kitchen at edible Hawaiian Islands we appreciate unusual foods and different ingredients that showcase our island home. We were introduced to Brynn Foster of Voyaging Foods by a local chef and each time we use her taro flour we admire her creativity and the vision she has for Hawai’i. www.voyagingfoods.com

Last Bite

WRITTEN BY SINEAD BYRNE
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF SHERATON KAUAI RESORT

Not too long ago, the words “locally sourced ingredients” were enough to make a restaurant stand out on the discriminating diner’s ethical checklist. Happily, this buy/eat local concept has proven quite trendy and locally sourced menus are becoming downright common. Excellent. But what’s the next step in this progression? The folks at the Sheraton Kauai Resort’s RumFire Poipu Beach restau-rant seem to be figuring it out. Since October 2012, RumFire (which features a menu steeped in local ingredients) has been nurturing the Kauai community through its innovative fundraising program, Table 53. Each month the restaurant selects a different local charity to be the beneficiary of 100% of the food and drink sales accrued at Table #53. To date the program has raised over $115,000 for various medical, educational, and humanitarian organizations on the island. Using it’s platform as a fine dining establishment, RumFire helps pave the way to a future that is truly sustainable and supportive of the local community not only before the meal, but after it as well.