Oahu, HI

Last week I got back from 9 days in Hawaii. Caleb was playing a show on the Oahu island and was going to stay afterwards before flying off to Japan, so I told him if he got to stay in Hawaii, I definitely was allowed to join in on the fun too. A few years ago me & Caleb actually got married on Shipwreck's Beach on the Kauai island, and it was magical. It was my first ever visit to Hawaii and it was just as I imagined it would be - volcanic, tropical, indescribable. This time, as I said, we were on Oahu and it had a very different feel to it when we first got there. The first couple of days we stayed in Waikiki as his show was in the area and there were tons of tourists. This Hawaii didn't feel as secluded, but the volcanoes were still everywhere, as were the beaches and it was still just as beautiful. After the show was done we left Waikiki and all stayed at an Air BnB in the Hawaii Kai area. This area was a lot quieter and felt more like the Hawaii I remembered. It was perfect.

Now, down to the food. For the most part we cooked at our Air BnB, grilling, light meals, breakfast etc. but there were a couple of times that we tasted a few local places and so, although this won't give fellow celiac sufferers a lot of ideas for Oahu, there's a great place for cake and one restaurant that you should definitely visit...

Island Brew Coffeehouse 

This was a local spot that we walked to from the house to grab some breakfast a couple of times. They offered GF options which I noticed when I walked in & instantly loved them. As a whole, Hawaii is quite behind when it comes to GF, so it was an exciting time for me. That morning I had their breakfast sandwich with GF bread, which was fine (not mind blowing), and a slice of their Lemon Poppyseed cake which was moist (terrible word) and super soft. It was delicious. I also had a "Summer Smoothie" which was so giant that I couldn't drink the whole thing, but was a great way to get some veggies in my system. Rowdy had an acai bowl, which also looked delicious.

When I was picking out my lemon cake, I noticed that most of the cakes they offered were GF, so when I had the chance over the next week, I tried a few other slices. Well, I was on holiday...

A couple of days later Caleb brought me back two more pieces of cake and I, of course, didn't refuse (in my defense it did take me a couple of days to eat them). This time it was a slice of Vanilla Lavender; which was beautiful (although sometimes a mouthful would taste a bit flower like), and once again soft as anything. Bread Pudding is actually something that I've never eaten in America before - is it your version of Bread & Butter Pudding? It was really tasty, but obviously not as soft as the cakes. I definitely preferred the Vanilla & Lavender.

 The last slice I tried on the trip was the Apple Cinnamon. Unfortunately, this slice was a bit stale and not as moist as the others; I'm not sure they list how long the cake has been in the display, so it could have been a few days old. It also needed a touch more frosting (in my world all cakes should be smothered in it), but I wish they had said something before we spent the money as it wasn't enjoyable. I also never got to try the chocolate cake, but at that point, I was sure I didn't need anymore cake in my veins. I think I put on a stone that week just from Island Brew! 

Roy's

For our last night together, Caleb & I decided to treat ourselves to something a bit fancier. On Miami & Rowdy's recommendation we went to Roy's. Now Roy's is more of an Asian style fish restaurant, but I saw they offered non-fish dishes & even had a GF menu. With Asian food I have to be very careful, cause as we know, soy sauce is not GF, but they were surprisingly on top of allergies!

As soon as I sat down I informed our waitress of my issue, and she brought me a form they give to people with allergies that you fill out for the chefs, so they can assure you are safe in your food choices. I've actually never had that happen before, and I thought it was great; it really put me at ease with my ordering.

Instead of bread, they gave us edamame for the table and our waitress was very knowledgeable about the menu and the wine; she suggested an amazing Red Zinfandel which was beautiful and far too easy to drink. Caleb ordered a sushi starter and loved his choice. Basically, if you love sushi, this is the place for you. Unfortunately, as I've said before, I do not, so I ordered from the "land" portion of the menu for my main. I hate being that person, but sushi is Caleb's favourite food & I like when we can go to places he wants to eat... and surely I can't be the only one who orders off that section...can I?

I ended up ordering the Lamb and it was incredibly tasty. I chose Scalloped Potatoes (slightly dry, but still very good) and asparagus as my sides. The jus on my food was citrusy with an asian twist and the lamb was cooked to perfection (medium rare). Caleb chose a rare tuna steak. When they gave us our mains, our waitress showed us the dessert menu as a couple of the choices can take 30 minutes to make. Obviously, we ordered the Hot Chocolate Souffle - being flourless it made it a GF dream of a choice.

When it arrived, it was even better than I imagined it would be. It was to die for. Hot, soft cake, with liquid chocolate oozing out with vanilla ice cream. I honestly wish we had ordered two (because apparently I hadn't had enough dessert already on this trip), but also because Caleb ate more of it than I thought he would, and I could have eaten three of them by myself. I love it when dessert is this good. In-fact the whole meal was so delicious, I wish it was down the road from my house; although it's probably a good thing for my waistline that it's not. You MUST visit this restaurant if you're even on Oahu. I promise you, you won't regret it.

Ps. Apologies for the dark images, it was as good as i could get in the restaurant as it was quite dimly lit.