Every state there are a few Polynesian style restaurant that has some key elements to make it as authentic as it comes. This past week my niece's in laws and friends opened an Authentic Hawaiian food restaurant in Draper Utah. At first I was a bit unsure since I know so many Local Polynesian style food joints. But deep inside I'm a sucker to try any food place that at least come close to what I grew up in Hawaii. So today my husband Mika and my twin brother Henry went to Draper to check out this location. My sister in Law Jenny and her family also joined us as they wanted to have a simple birthday get together for their grand daughter, my grand niece Ava. Okay to start off with the location, i think its the best location to be. In Draper utah there are so many up and coming food joints and shopping that you can easily find it and enjoy hanging out.
The vibe of this restaurant has that open, calm and relaxing but fun environment to grab some food and chill. Seriously its very chill! As you walk in, you'll be welcomed in with friendly greetings from the staff and cashier. There are many seats both high and low to sit and enjoy your meal. I really love the tree style bark tables. It gave a nice outdoors, sitting by the beach style tables to sit. While you stand in line to order your food, you will enjoy the lovely food aroma that surrounds you like a big hug! There is a big chalk board wall paint menu to choose from. Theres a variety of fresh Ahi or Salmon Poké, other meat options like chicken or beef is on the menu. They have desserts, fun style lemonades and side dishes. My favorite side dish is their Kimchee cucumber. I grew up on it and I really wanted to try it out. Our time came to order, we got the Poké bowl with Olēna style poké, rice, potato salad and cucumber kimchee, a bowl of their popular Furikake chicken and their Poké nachos. We waited not too long for our food, so if you want it fresh it will be FRESH! Now it was time to give it a taste to see if it was good. Wow! Thats the first thing that came to my mind and it was so good. Like it brought me back home to Hawaii at one bite! the cucumber kimchee was spot on with the right texture to the korean spices and it was nicely chilled, which I love when its chilled. The rice had a nice smooth almost sweet taste to it which was nice. The Poké was phenomenal. Perfect balance of sweet and salty and fresh herbs. Chucky cuts of Poké filled my mouth and it was made to perfection. At that very moment, I was 10 years old again back home in Honolulu Hawaii, enjoying some FRESH Poké with my mom and siblings. Now thats when its really an authentic food style that takes you back to your childhood. Not many people can express that about tasting different familiar foods, but for me this place was the winner. Nothing was too dry or overly salty or too sweet or no flavor, it was PERFECT. Sorry if I'm not making sense of things but I can't help it but give this new authentic Hawaiian food restaurant a GOOD RATING! It's a 5 out of 5 in my book!
The vibe of this restaurant has that open, calm and relaxing but fun environment to grab some food and chill. Seriously its very chill! As you walk in, you'll be welcomed in with friendly greetings from the staff and cashier. There are many seats both high and low to sit and enjoy your meal. I really love the tree style bark tables. It gave a nice outdoors, sitting by the beach style tables to sit. While you stand in line to order your food, you will enjoy the lovely food aroma that surrounds you like a big hug! There is a big chalk board wall paint menu to choose from. Theres a variety of fresh Ahi or Salmon Poké, other meat options like chicken or beef is on the menu. They have desserts, fun style lemonades and side dishes. My favorite side dish is their Kimchee cucumber. I grew up on it and I really wanted to try it out. Our time came to order, we got the Poké bowl with Olēna style poké, rice, potato salad and cucumber kimchee, a bowl of their popular Furikake chicken and their Poké nachos. We waited not too long for our food, so if you want it fresh it will be FRESH! Now it was time to give it a taste to see if it was good. Wow! Thats the first thing that came to my mind and it was so good. Like it brought me back home to Hawaii at one bite! the cucumber kimchee was spot on with the right texture to the korean spices and it was nicely chilled, which I love when its chilled. The rice had a nice smooth almost sweet taste to it which was nice. The Poké was phenomenal. Perfect balance of sweet and salty and fresh herbs. Chucky cuts of Poké filled my mouth and it was made to perfection. At that very moment, I was 10 years old again back home in Honolulu Hawaii, enjoying some FRESH Poké with my mom and siblings. Now thats when its really an authentic food style that takes you back to your childhood. Not many people can express that about tasting different familiar foods, but for me this place was the winner. Nothing was too dry or overly salty or too sweet or no flavor, it was PERFECT. Sorry if I'm not making sense of things but I can't help it but give this new authentic Hawaiian food restaurant a GOOD RATING! It's a 5 out of 5 in my book!
If youre not a fish eating person, they do have other great for options too. You have to try their Furikake chick it delicious. Overall the food was DELICIOUS AND FANTASTIC! The customer service was wonderful & friendly. The Location and venue was nice and welcoming.
Great food and great location! A MUST VISIT!!
Great food and great location! A MUST VISIT!!
Thank you Uncle Rob, Aunty Rose, Cuzin Chaze & staff for the best Hawaiian hospitality today!
We will be back for some more good grinds!
We will be back for some more good grinds!
Tútú Poké Nachos and Olēna Poké Bowl with

Furikake Chicken with Rice, Mac salad and Kimchee Cucumber

Furikake Chicken with Rice, Mac salad and Kimchee Cucumber
Side Of Aloha
Address: 9263, 541 E 12300 S, Draper, UT 84020
Monday Closed
Tuesday 11AM–7PM
Wednesday 11AM–7PM
Thursday 11AM–7PM
Friday 11AM–7PM
Saturday 11AM–7PM
Sunday 12–3PM
Phone: (801) 251-0152
https://www.facebook.com/sideofaloha/
It was a nice little get away with my siblings this weekend. My brother slept over last night so we can go up to provo together in one car. Every time we want to hang out or try a new restaurant together as a family we would plan it and car pool in one car. So this weekend we wanted to try out this new little restaurant in Provo called Yummy's Korean BBQ Hawaiian style grill. The owners are local to Hawaii and they have some familiar dishes from hawaii that we wanted to try. We met up with nita and she had a seat for us. We got settled and began to order our meals. Henry and I got the Poke bowl and Nita and Mika got Kalbi and Meat Jun. We had side orders of rice, house salad, mac salad, japchae(sweet potatoes) and kimchee. Nita also ordered a Madasadas with Haupia filling. That little pastry was not my favorite but we all took a bite just to try it out. But the food was pretty good which was surprising since the price was affordable. I dont mind when the price is good but its usually the food that makes the main decision if its good to me or not. The Meat jun was crispy and yummy, the kalbi was a bit too chewy for me but it was ok. However the poke was on point, the only issue I had with it was that I had more big chances of onion than Ahi poke. I still ate it and was content. Overall it was a nice little small place to grab some yummy meal to stay or to go. I can't wait to try their all you can eat restaurant that will open next month in orem where Nita used to work at.
After eating lots of spicy and salty meat and all, we went to Waffle Love close to Nita's place to eat something nice and sweet. I usually would get their regular waffles with strawberries, biscoff and whipped cream, so I already knew what I wanted. Nita's got the same order as me and Henry tried the Sunshine special which has the waffle on the bottom with lemon glaze, whipped cream and raspberries . It was actually pretty yummy. Bit too sweet for me so I had Mika and Henry finish the rest of the waffle. Waffle love is a great place to go when you're craving something sweet or breakfast style. We had a fun time as always, laughing and talking about everything and anything. Good times i say! Until next family outing...see ya!
Yummy's BBQ
Address: 287 300 S, Provo, UT 84606
| Monday | 11AM–2:30PM, 5–9PM |
| Tuesday | 11AM–2:30PM, 5–9PM |
| Wednesday | 11AM–2:30PM, 5–9PM |
| Thursday | 11AM–2:30PM, 5–9PM |
| Friday | 11AM–2:30PM, 5–9PM |
| Saturday | 11AM–9PM |
| Sunday | Closed |
Phone: (801) 769-6614
Waffle Love - Provo
Address: 1831 N State St, Provo, UT 84604
| Monday | 8AM–10PM |
| Tuesday | 8AM–10PM |
| Wednesday | 8AM–10PM |
| Thursday | 8AM–10PM |
| Friday | 8AM–11PM |
| Saturday | 8AM–11PM |
| Sunday | Closed |
Made ribbon leis for my Temple sister's for our Christmas luncheon this Tuesday. Tis a season to be jolly. #christmasmood #hawaiianleis
Trying something new in lei making...well for me its new cause i wanted to try another way of making ribbon leis...gives me something to do on this winter day!! Stay warm and be safe everyone!!
My first attempt to make Hawaiian Chex Mix...it turned out ok since my hubby and twin bro ate a big portion of it...so I made more for them to have a sweet & salty snack this week. Gotta love making treats from memory but most importantly having Ginnie pigs (Mika & Henry) to eat it even just to make sure it tastes good!?! Hehehhee #familymoment — in South Salt Lake City.
Hawaiian Chex Mix
Ingredients
- 5 cups rice chex
- 5 cups corn chex
- 3 cups arare, optional
- ½ bottle nori furikake
- ½ stick of butter
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ¼ cup karo light corn syrup
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven 250 degrees.
- Use a large roasting pan, or use (2) 9 x 13-inch baking pans. Mix together rice and corn chex cereal with arare. In a medium sauce pan, add butter, sugar, oil, corn syrup, and soy sauce; cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
- Carefully drizzle mixture, a little at a time, over cereal and toss. Keep adding mixture until cereal is evenly coated. Then sprinkle furikake over mixture until coated; toss together.
- Bake for about 1 hour. Continue to toss mixture at least 3 times throughout, or every 20 minutes. Be sure to scrap bottom of pan when mixing to prevent burning.
















