Between its many restaurants and the popular food truck scene, there are lots of places to eat in Kaua’i that show off the local cuisine. However, when we visited, we discovered three unique ways to experience some of the best food in Kaua’i, Hawaii that may surprise you. Here’s another of our Editor’s Pick articles for Real Food Traveler readers, to help guide you to experiencing local food when you travel.

Save this article about experiencing the best food in Kaua’i to Pinterest to keep it handy. Photos and graphic by Courtney Drake-McDonough. for RealFoodTraveler.com.

3 Unique Ways to Have the Best Food in Kaua’i, Hawaii

Kaua’i Culinary Market (to discover new foods, learn how they grow, and meet the growers)

Located at The Shops at Kukuiula in Poipu, this was our first stop when we arrived in Kaua’i. Because we’d arrived late on a Wednesday afternoon and had been told we just had to visit the once-weekly Market while on the island, we made a b-line there. Turns out, that was a really smart move. Not only is the shopping/dining area lovely but, meandering throughout, there are chef demos, entertainment, and more than 30 purveyors selling produce you might not have ever seen before.

We got to talk to the growers of items including the mango-like Egg Fruit, sweet and slightly soft ruby red Mountain Apples, and bags of clusters of Longan Fruit, which we weren’t familiar with. They told us what to expect from the flavor and the best way to make the most of the items. The Longan Fruit became a favorite of ours over the course of our time in Kaua’i. They look like large yellow berries with a firm shell. You take a tiny bite snipping off the top to then peel it open, revealing a juicy, sweet, opaque fruit with a deep burgundy seed in the center. We only wish we’d bought more!

Scenes from the Kaua’i Culinary Market where some of the best food in Kaua’i is what’s grown locally.

When you go to a farmers market and see locals shopping there, chatting up vendors they see on a regular basis, that’s a good sign! The Kaua’i Culinary Market isn’t for tourists (although we were very welcome). It’s an authentic way for everyone in Kaua’i to experience locally-grown and -made food.

Bonus: We stopped in to Living Foods restaurant while there for dinner and loved it so much, we returned for breakfast later in our stay.

Hungry for more? Learn about Maui’s Kapalua Wine & Food Festival

Quick facts about the Kaua’i Culinary Market:

• Runs Wednesdays, 3:30-6pm
• Chef demos
• 30+ purveyors
• Bring a reusable bag to gather what you purchase
• Parking is free

Chocolate Farm Tours & Tasting at Lydgate Farms (to understand how local plants came to be on the island and how they are used to make other products)

The drive to Lydgate Farms was a perfect window into Kauai’s beauty – verdant and lush. The first step in a Chocolate Farm Tour and Tasting is outside of one of their buildings for the first tasting. We were given samples of different kinds of chocolate and were guided through things to be mindful of such as mouthfeel and different flavor notes all while learning about what chocolate is and isn’t including how it’s made. We also learned the history of Lydgate Farms and how it came to be devoted primarily to the making of amazing chocolate, aptly labelled as Lydgate Farms chocolate.

Next, we stopped by a cacao tree where our charming and engaging guide showed us what the pods look like in their various stages of maturity. After a brief walk through the densely forested property (a cart is available if the walk is an issue) to a grove of cacao trees and other greenery. There are many plants growing at Lydgate Farm and it’s wonderfully wild there.

Tours make several stops around the property to learn about and sample certain items like the weird and fascinating cacao bean itself which our guide revealed from a cacao pod. He let us each try one, giving us instructions to suck on it like a candy but to not eat the seed. He explained that cacao trees got propagated over time from animals eating the beans and depositing the seeds with their, uh, poop. We also got to try Langon Fruit, which we could see growing on trees and had seen at the Culinary Market – a full-circle moment for us. Our guide recommended chilling them first, then eating them for a delicious, cool treat.

Quick facts about the Lydgate Farms Chocolate Farm Tour & Tasting:
– Tours run approximately 3 hours
– They can be booked for Monday-Friday tours
– They are appropriate for age 7 and older
– Website: https://lydgatefarms.com/

Tour Lydgate Farms where they grow cacao which becomes some of the best food in Kaua’i – chocolate!

Hanapepe Food Tour (to put the above to use, seeing how restaurants use local ingredients for menu items)

We’re big fans of food tours because it’s a quick way to get acquainted with multiple restaurants in one shot, try a variety of things, and meet the restaurant owners and chefs. For RealFoodTraveler.com readers, we advocate doing this early in a visit to a destination because you can learn so much about the area during the tour and discover places you may want to go back to for a full meal.

Hanapepe (“Kauai’s Biggest Little Town”) has a walkable main area which is also historic and a little eccentric. On the tour we went on, we visited four eateries including Japanese Grandma’s Café, Midnight Bears Bread, Ku’uleis Gourmet, and Longie’s Shave Ice. At each stop, our guide told us a little about the business, the specialties, food traditions, ingredients and methods. Meeting the folks who run the restaurants was a real treat, getting to ask questions and receive personal attention. There was a lot of laughter and bonding. We finished the tour feeling much more connected to Hanapepe than we would have just being customers off the street in any of those restaurants.

We went on a tour led by a friendly guide from the Hanapepe Food Tour which also runs food tours in other areas of the island.

Quick facts about the Hanapepe Food Tour:
– Tours happen in various areas around the island but the Hanapepe Food Tour is on Friday
– Tours start at 2pm and run approximately 3 hours
– Appropriate for age 12 and up
– Coincide with the Friday Art Night in Hanapepe so plan to stick around afterword for art, live entertainment, crafts, more food and fun.
– Website: https://www.tastingkauai.com/hanapepe-walking-tour/

Sampling food on a food tour from local restaurants is a great way to experience some of the best food in Kaua’i.

Hungry for more? Get details of the Hanapepe Food Tour.

Where we stayed while experiencing the best food in Kaua’i Hawaii: Grand Hyatt Kaua’i Resort is large and beautiful. There are lush gardens, multiple pools including a saltwater lagoon with sandy bottom, waterfalls, dining huts and more. Read all about it a previous article we published.

To learn more about Kaua’i, visit their tourism website, here.

-Story and photos by Courtney Drake-McDonough, Publisher and Managing Editor, Real Food Traveler

Hungry for more? Read our Editor’s Pick article about things to do in Kaua’i

Please note, we were hosted guests of the Kaua’i Visitors Bureau for many of our activities to help facilitate this article. However, as is always our policy, that does not influence our opinion or focus on providing useful information for RealFoodTraveler.com readers.