Maxs Of Manila Waipahu Hawaii
Posted on April 30, 2008 - Filed Under Food and Drink
Here in Hawaii I have lots of Filipino friends and neighbors. However, the extent of my knowledge of the Filipino community is pancit, lumpia, and neon-colored cars. To my delight, I learned a little bit more about the Filipino community while dining at Max’s of Manila located in Waipahu on the Island of Oahu.
I wanted to try a Filipino restaurant for a different change of pace, rather than the same ‘ol Italian or American joint that we always go to. Upon receiving the Menu at Max’s, I hadn’t the slightest clue of what to order. I had never seen pork belly made in so many different ways on one menu before (well, I take it back– it seems Chinese restaurants can make pork a million different ways with the same two ingredients). Our waiter was especially helpful– more like… excited! His eyes lit up when he found out that we hadn’t really had an authentic Filipino meal before. He was more than excited to share the food of his culture with my family.
We basically ordered everything that he recommended. He said that this is the only Hawaii Restaurant that serves five course filipino food. There was one dish in particular that appealed to me. For the life of me, I cannot remember the Filipino name of the dish, but it was fried pork belly covered in a coconut cream sauce with jalapeños served with garlic rice (a must!). Very different, but very delicious.
Now let’s not forget about dessert! Leche Flan and Buko Pandan were the sweets du jour. While I had had flan several times before, Buko Pandan was definitely something different. Buko Pandan looked something like a tall glass of milk with cubes of green jello and slices of fresh baby coconut— very refreshing. I looked up the recipe on the net and it was still a completely foreign concept to me—- I had never even heard of more than half of the ingredients before (Also, there was no English translation for the ingredients on the site that I looked up. I could have possibly known what the ingredients were had they been translated into English for me). However, I did find out that one of the main ingredients of the dessert is made from pandan-flavored gelatin. In case you didn’t know what pandan is— it’s a leaf from the Screwpine tree. Hawaiians call this a Lauhala tree. Not only can you make a delicious dessert from the essence of the pandan or Lauhala leaves, you can also weave those same leaves into hats and handbags! I wouldn’t eat the hats or bags if I were you but I would recommend Max’s of Manila Hawaii to anyone.
Tags: central, eat out, filipino food, hawaii, hawaii restaurants, waipahu
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