Kauai- Eating GF

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone!

My husband and I just returned from our honeymoon on Kauai and we had a fabulous time. I thought I would send you all an update on GF options on the island in case you plan to visit Kauai in the future.

The posts about Kauai on this list (from a few months back) helped so much in our planning so thank you to everyone that contributed to that discussion. I also Googled “GF, Kauai” before we left and I was thrilled to find Sweet Marie’s Bakery, an entirely GF bakery located on the east side of the island near Ka’paa. We made our first stop here and I’m glad we did- Marie is super friendly and was very helpful in giving us ideas of where to dine and buy GF food on the island.

We also bought muffins and 2 slices of coffee cake from Marie while we were there. Everything was fantastic (my husband is not GF and he especially loved the coffee cake). She is at the beginning stages of selling her mixes online and wants to have her product sold in grocery stores in CA. We gave her some ideas of good stores to approach.

Her products were NOT cheap but they were well worth the money to me- it was nice to wake up and have muffins available for breakfast. We stopped at the bakery one more time before we left the island so that we could have muffins for the trip home.

http://www.sweetmarieskauai.com/pressreleases.htm

In addition, we had great meals at the following places:

Hukilau Lanai, in Ka’paa- Staff is knowledgeable about GF and went out of their way to modify the dish I wanted to ensure it was GF.

Duke’s Canoe Club at the Marriott in Poipu- The waitress talked with the chef about GF options and they were very helpful in giving me ideas about what was GF on the menu. The food here was the best we had on the island. They have a huge salad bar if you’re not into steak or fish.

Pho Kauai- a Vietnamese restaurant in a strip mall near Lihue. The owner is very knowledgeable about GF dining and made me a special stir-fry without soy sauce. This is the place to check out if you like spicy food- we were thrilled with our dinner and the low prices.

Marie also suggested the following restaurants but we didn’t have a chance to try them out: The Bullshed, Sabellas in Princeville, and Verdi.

We bought a bunch of GF snacks at Papayas in Ka’paa. Marie recommended Hoko Whole Foods for a bigger selection of GF foods but we didn’t make it there.

We took several full day trips while we were on the island that included lunch. The kayak/hike/zipline/swim trip we took with Outfitters Kauai was a lot of fun and they were VERY accommodating of the GF diet by providing me with turkey and cheese (not pre-made sandwiches like everyone else got) and a whole host of optional topping so that I could make a very filling wrap for lunch. They also gave me fruit salad instead of the pasta salad everyone else got.

The people at Napali Tours were also very accommodating; the woman even called my husband back to ensure that the substitution they were planning to make for me would work (a salad with turkey instead of a turkey wrap) and that the dressing was acceptable.

The people on the boat were a lot fun and made sure to keep my GF food completely separate from everyone else’s.

One restaurant I might suggest staying away from is the Beach House in Poipu. It’s a gorgeous place with gorgeous views but they were pretty upfront in telling me that they couldn’t really accommodate me and there was nothing they could do about it. Granted, I didn’t call before we went and the waiter finally did go to talk to the chef about whether there was anything they could do. I ended up ordering a vegan risotto dish that was very, very good but I probably wouldn’t go back. If you do decide to try it out, I would definitely call first.

Hope this helps anyone planning to visit Kauai in the future. We had a wonderful time and can’t wait to go back!

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