After coming to Hawaii for 43 years, we finally had our first Hawaiian malasada. To tell you the truth, I'm glad we haven't been privy to the whole malasada situation. They are a little dangerous. Malasadas are Hawaiian pastries resembling donuts except no hole and they often include filling inside of custard, coconut, or fruit like pineapple, guava or other tropical fruits. And they go down really easy!
They are a lot like the paczki they sell at Bakery Nouveau for Fat Tuesday at home. Every year, I try to resist but it's hard. They only sell them about a week before Ash Wednesday, then you have to wait another year. Pacski are polish-style, pillowy soft, yeast doughnuts filled with jam, custard or lemon curd.
They are worth waiting a year for, believe me. Here in Hawaii, you can buy malasadas anytime if you can find a bakery that sells them. We've seen roadside stands that sell them but when we took a trip to the southern most point of the island, we decided to stop at a bakery called the Punalu’u Bake Shop that we'd heard about.
We had spent the day at South Point at Ka Lae which is a little over an hour drive.
It's a nice drive passing lots of coffee and macadamia nut farms. We stopped at our favorite coffee farm, Greenwell Coffee, to pick up some coffee. They have nice coffee tours of their family run business and Bruce even did work for them years ago on installing some of their equipment. In the past, we've subscribed to their coffee club and had our coffee shipped right to us every month. We will stop in there at least once each visit to Hawaii to see them.
The South Point of Ka Lae is southern most tip of the island and is a historic area. It's usually really windy there with strong currents but the beaches are very beautiful and it's fun hiking around and being able to say we were at the southern most tip of the United States.
This area is one of the first settlements of the Polynesians to Hawaii around 750 AD because the fishing was so plentiful. It is still a popular spot for fishing and we saw lots of Hawaiians fishing here. There are huge wooden hoists along the cliffs where they use to lower their boats into the water to fish. There really weren't many people here at all. It was very vast but peaceful.
That's why we were a little in shock when we drove by the Bake Shop and saw all the people.
It wasn't that far from the road to South Point. We were in a nice, tranquil mood after being there and then we pulled into a major people frenzy. We couldn't even figure out how to get into the place. There were actually two entrances, both with long lines.
It was mind boggling. Where did all these people come from? We heard someone say, "Did a bus just pull in?" There was no bus. A lady standing behind us had a armful of breads she was purchasing and said she came from Hilo to take some back to her family in Honolulu. What?! Why?! Bruce and I were thinking, "what are we missing here?" It was 3:00 in the afternoon so it wasn't really lunchtime and too early for dinner. They had a huge menu of all kinds of deli sandwiches and burgers, too. They had espresso drinks and smoothies and their menu was on a bright screen that would change so you could see everything they offered. It was very organized. We ended up getting in a line that went passed the bakery section of malasadas so that's what we ordered.
The line moved pretty quickly (just like at Bakery Nouveau) so we started to panic a little trying to make our minds up what to order. We could feel that the frantic atmosphere was starting to effect us, too. We kept changing our minds about what to get.
We watched them bringing out more and more malasadas and in all the confusion, we kept changing our minds.
We finally got up to the front and ordered six malasadas. We thought we would have one and then get some for breakfast the next day.
That didn't happen. We ate all of them right then and there. The first ones went down so fast I thought I better take a photo before they were all gone!
I got a traditional one with just sugar and cinnamon, a fruit-filled one and then another one with a topping of lilikoi fruit which is a Hawaiian passion fruit. Then we just sat there and wondered about the whole experience. We didn't feel full or anything, like we hadn't eaten anything. We could have eaten more. They had a really nice courtyard with tables where you could eat and even had very lovely live music playing.
It was mind boggling. Where did all these people come from? We heard someone say, "Did a bus just pull in?" There was no bus. A lady standing behind us had a armful of breads she was purchasing and said she came from Hilo to take some back to her family in Honolulu. What?! Why?! Bruce and I were thinking, "what are we missing here?" It was 3:00 in the afternoon so it wasn't really lunchtime and too early for dinner. They had a huge menu of all kinds of deli sandwiches and burgers, too. They had espresso drinks and smoothies and their menu was on a bright screen that would change so you could see everything they offered. It was very organized. We ended up getting in a line that went passed the bakery section of malasadas so that's what we ordered.
The line moved pretty quickly (just like at Bakery Nouveau) so we started to panic a little trying to make our minds up what to order. We could feel that the frantic atmosphere was starting to effect us, too. We kept changing our minds about what to get.
We watched them bringing out more and more malasadas and in all the confusion, we kept changing our minds.
We finally got up to the front and ordered six malasadas. We thought we would have one and then get some for breakfast the next day.
That didn't happen. We ate all of them right then and there. The first ones went down so fast I thought I better take a photo before they were all gone!
I got a traditional one with just sugar and cinnamon, a fruit-filled one and then another one with a topping of lilikoi fruit which is a Hawaiian passion fruit. Then we just sat there and wondered about the whole experience. We didn't feel full or anything, like we hadn't eaten anything. We could have eaten more. They had a really nice courtyard with tables where you could eat and even had very lovely live music playing.
It was all very pleasant but we were still just amazed watching all the people and wondering where they all came from out in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, this bakery is very well known. We walked around more and found a plaque on the wall that said the Punalu'u Bake Shop Hawaiian sweet bread is a local favorite. It is baked according to a secret, generations-old recipe. I guess that is why people travel near and far for their bread. The bakery is built on the site of an old sugar plantation manger's home. There were windows around the rather large building where you could peer in and watch the bread being made. Bruce and I are not really into sweet bread like the Hawaiians are and I don't even eat that much bread so we didn't buy any but we sure ate those malasadas fast! It's about 1-1/2 hours away from where we stay so thank goodness we won't be traveling down there to pick up more malasadas. They were very light and airy and easy to eat, for sure. We admitted that it was good to get back to familiar territory in good old little Kailua-Kona after our day trip down south. But we will remember our experience at the Punalu'u Bake Shop for a long time.
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