Hawaii Day Two

So I am now in New York and have been falling behind with my blog – sorry, guys!
Things have been crazy busy as you can imagine. We had been going to bed after 2:30am each day in Hawaii due to the fact that we were running around doing last minute things for the wedding whilst searching for good food destinations around the area we were staying in.
Today we visited the venue of our ceremony for the first time for our rehearsal and it was just beautiful. It was everything I imagined and more. The décor was made up of lovely French provincial furniture. Those of you who know me would know I am a big fan of this style.
Our wedding planner, Julie, was just lovely and so much fun (not to mention she shares my love for all things designer so naturally we got along like a house on fire). She even drove us to a place called Panya Bistro after our rehearsal which she highly rated as having the best extra crispy chips in town.
When we get there, we can see that it is a trendy looking place with a nice garden view looking out at the shopfronts directly in front of it.
I opted to have a wonton soup with homemade dumplings which was delicious.

My friends ordered a double cheeseburger which was made up of two angus beef patties, mild cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, ketchup and mayo, with a side of extra crispy chips.

Another ordered a regular cheeseburger with extra bacon also with a side of extra crispy chips.

And the others, a bowl of spicy extra crispy chips.

I have to say that the food here was quite good and having tasted those extra crispy chips makes me want to order my chips extra crispy every time.
One thing that I found to be rather odd is when you order an iced coffee here, it’s not like what you expect it to be. It comes out black with ice which is exactly how it’s served in the Philippines. In Australia, you associate iced coffees as cold, sweet, milky goodness which is exactly the opposite here.

Anyway, lesson learnt! We will no longer be ordering those ahahaha. For dinner we were in for a treat! We went to watch the Chief’s luau in Waimanalo Beach.
We were greeted with shell leis and there were guys making plaited crows for the ladies out of leaves.

Now if you’re only going to do one touristy thing in Hawaii, this is the thing to do. The Chief was hilarious – we couldn’t stop laughing.

The guys definitely know how to put on a show and get the crowd involved.
There was a fire show and they even got people to get up on stage and dance their traditional dance.

The buffet was also really good. There was an array of meats, rice, salads and best of all, cake!

Definitely one to visit if you’re into laughs and watching shows.
After the show, we worked off the food by running around, looking for a last-minute bouquet to save myself some moolah.
Let me tell you, it’s hard to find a florist around Honolulu! But Walmart saved the day in the end.
After all of that running around, it was quarter to one in the morning and we were starving again. Lucky for us, the locals around the area were friendly and recommended the Harbour Pub which was serving food until 1am. Another bonus was it was located across the road from where we were staying. Win! It was super cosy inside too.

We ordered the Hawaiian gourmet pizza which was huge! It tasted great but unfortunately, we only got through half of it.

We also ordered the bratwurst dog with a side of island style potato chips. These chips reminded me of good old plain Kettle chips. Every time I am away from home and I find something which reminds me of a familiar place, I can’t help but take mental notes. It’s like a way for me to not feel homesick.