marukai

Marukai is a Japanese-American grocery store on Oahu. They import foods from Japan, Asia and also have some items which are "local" and imported from the mainland too.

I remember when my mom used to collect the Marukai arare bags to turn in for merchandise...boy, that was way back when.

It used to be that the best part about shopping there for me, was to to be able to buy the Japanese foods and condiments. Anyway, now that I live in Japan, the best part about shopping at Marukai are the bento (boxed meals).

For today's lunch, I got the mochiko chicken and musubi (US$2.29). Mochiko chicken is a local-style fried chicken but the batter is made from mochiko (sweet rice flour).

Just outside of the store you will also find these two ladies cooking up andagi. Andagi is the Okinawan donut (without a hole). They also make Andagi dogs, the Okinawan-American version of the corn dog. (US $2) Both, the bento and andagi dog really hit the spot.

This one looked quite burnt, but actually tasted good and not too oily either. The batter around the dog was sweet, so there was no need for ketchup.

In order to shop inside of Marukai, you need to be a member. (I'm not to sure if they have passes for the day which you can buy if you are just visiting the Islands.)

Marukai
2310 Kamehameha Highway
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.845.5051