Kawehi Haug, often a cranky, contrarian voice in the Hawaii food scene, takes us on a tour of her fave manapua joints. For the unitiated, these are essentially Chinese-style bao buns but stuffed witha wider variety of localized fillings. In other words, lots of bad white flour and bad red meats. In even more words, super tasty and quite portable. Haug says Char Hung Sut in Chinatown, the reigning local foodie favorite, still rules. Personally, I prefer Island Manapua in Manoa, which has a greater selection. Haug also does not even mention Kwong On in Kaimuki (map), another manapua heavyweight.

Manapua Image via Scent of Green Bananas

—Alex, 06/28/07