Indian Food on Maui (update)

Whew!

I almost thought I was going to have to move off Maui. 

A while ago, I raved about and praised our new Indian restaurant here on the island.  Truly, it served some of the best food I have ever had.  A tad expensive, but so is all the other food to eat on this island. 

I called a couple of weeks ago to see if they were serving lunch and, horror of all horrors! was told the restaurant was closed indefinitely.  Wahhhhhhhh.  No more Indian food?  How could I cope?

Thankfully, I don’t have to worry.  There is still an Indian restaurant on the island.  It’s even in the exact same place – in the Menehune Shores complex on South Kihei Road in Kihei.  Yup.  Basically the same place.  Just a new owner and new name.  The new name is Monsoon India.  Website is here:  http://www.monsoonindiamaui.com/

And the food is just as good.  I made Sweetie go grab some takeout lunch for us this week just to make sure.   All is good.  I’ll hang out on Maui for a little while longer.  As you were.

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What’s a Girl Gotta do to get some Fried Food Around Here?!

Finally!

I finally made it to the Maui County Fair.  It seems I am away from the island every year around the beginning of October.  Ok, so last year I was getting ready for my wedding.  I was still bummed to miss the Fair. 

But yesterday, Sweetie and I made it!  Hooray.  We shelled out our 5 bucks for……uhhhhhh….  ummm.. … ………… ….errrrrrrrr………..what has to be the smallest County fair I have ever attended.  Even the Yolo County Fair – which was free at the time – was a little larger, I think.  But!  No matter.  We knew it was a small affair.  Ha ha.  It was very local and very quaint.  With prize-winning star fruit and bread fruit and lots and lots of roosters.  ‘Cause we got a LOT of roosters on Maui (though not nearly as many as Kauai, I found out). 

We walked around the cool Orchid show.  Saw the local art from elementary school through high school.  Walked through the small livestock and poultry area.  Watched as unsupervised kids tried to take swipes at the roosters.  Walked through the arts and crafts tent.  And we went in search of fried food.

Jeez! There was a serious lack of fried food at this fair.  Of course, they had the fried twinkie booth.  But I wanted lunch, not dessert.  Sweetie and I walked past every food booth.  Past the loco-moco plate, mochiko chicken, and poi mochi.  Past the pork adobo, Irish stew, BBQ pork, and nachos.  Past the dry mein, chow fun, lau lau, and chicken hekka.  Oohhh…..wait.  We stopped at the chicken hekka booth for some chicken hekka for Sweetie.  Finally, we ended up at the fried ice cream, fried cheese, and fried zucchini booth.  That was pretty much my only choice and I REALLY wanted some fried food at the fair.  So, since I love fried zucchini, I ordered up a plate and we settled down for lunch.  The fried zucchini was pretty good.  Not as good as the good ol’ days of fried zucchini at Sudwerk (*sigh*), but pretty good.   We also ended up getting some hot malasadas at the end of the day.  mmmm…..fried bread dough in sugar.  Wooo!  Can’t beat that. 

We walked past all the rides and I asked Sweetie if he wanted to try anything.  I said I was game, even though we all know I can get motion sick from riding a tricycle.  But the lines were long, the kids were screaming, and we both had work to finish before we leave for our trip.  So, we just walked around and then headed out.

All in all, it was a good quick trip to the fair.

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Maui’s Wine Bar

Sweetie and I discovered a new Maui restaurant this past week. In the middle of downtown Wailuku, sitting on North Market Street, is the Cafe Marc Aurel Wine Bar. Hey, I didn’t know there was a wine bar in Wailuku! Neither did my Sweetie.

So how did we find out about it? Well, that’s the sweetest part. One of my Sweetie’s good friends e-mailed him a while ago to say congratulations on our engagement. As part of his congratulations, he wanted to send an engagement gift. He found out about the place, contacted the owner, made arrangements to pay, and sent us the information. He told us to go have some wine and cheese, compliments of him. How great is THAT?! Totally out of the blue, very nice, and super easy for us. He told us to let him know how we liked it.

 

Well, we finally managed to hop over there this past week, and we loved it. The restaurant serves as a cafe from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with sandwiches, salads, and coffee/espresso drinks. Then, from 4:00 p.m. on, the restaurant becomes a wine bar, with a huge wine menu and, very often, live music with no cover charge. The wine list is large. The website says “over 80” different wines, and that sounds about right. The menu is divided by different types of red and white wine, with many selections available by the glass – from about $7.00 to over $20.00 a glass. The cafe food is available in the evening, and Sweetie and I shared an appetizer plate with pita bread, tzatziki, dolmas, hummus, and olives. We also shared a small salad and cheese plate with bread and triple cream Brie. Yummmmmmm. So much for South Beach. Let me repeat: Yummmmmm.

 

I had a glass of Duckhorn’s Paraduxx red wine. I can’t tell you how impressed you should be that I remembered the wine I ordered. I am not a very sophisticated wine drinker. I enjoy a good wine, but I immediately forget what I drink – to the point I can’t even always remember which reds I like better than others. No, not kidding. Anyway, the Paraduxx is a Zinfandel/Cabernet mix, and I enjoyed it. I really liked the aftertaste. No, I can’t describe it in wine terms. It was just good – slightly fruity. I liked that part. I can’t remember what my Sweetie ordered, but he really liked it. I think it was Australian. Or Italian. Or something like that. See how good I am at this?*

 

Anyway, we enjoyed good food and good wine. The service was awesome. The restaurant is fairly small, but they also have about three tables outside in a tiny patio that is somewhat screened from Market Street with planters. The crowd seemed very local, and I think a couple folks came in just to hear the music for that night. Who knew Wailuku had a night life?? You can check out upcoming performers at the wine bar HERE.

 

Around 7:30, the evening’s live music started. We were treated to the sounds of the “Hand Jive” Jazz Trio. Another unexpected treat. Very low key. Very good musicians. Sweetie is partial to jazz and blues (ok, along with a dozen other music genres), and he really enjoyed the music. We both did. It was so nice to just sit back after our meal, finishing our wine, and listening to the music. Very relaxing. Exactly the kind of thing you want to do in between traveling, and working, and wedding planning.

 

Much appreciation to our friend on the mainland and his thoughtfulness. We truly enjoyed our night out together!

 

Photo Credit: http://www.cafemarcaurel.com/aboutus.html

* ok -not so good. He ordered a Châteauneuf-du-Papefrom southern France.

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