If it wasn’t for a forced landing of a refugee plane, bound for America’s southeast in the 1970s, Chef Andrew Le’s parents may never have settled in Hawaii. And it’s unlikely that he would have ever ended up creatively fusing the flavours of his two cultures in the confines of a Honolulu-based kitchen.
“My parents were escaping the Vietnam War and on their way to a refugee camp in Arkansas,” says Andrew Le, executive chef and owner of restaurant.
“Mum was nine months pregnant and her waters broke on the plane. They stopped in Hawaii for the plane to refuel and she went to the hospital to give birth. But the plane left without them. And that’s how my family ended up here: completely by luck.”
That fated plane trip pre-determined where Le would later be born and raised. It also cemented the 32-year-old chef’s menu at his three-year-old family restaurant in Downtown Chinatown, 15 minutes drive from Waikiki beach.
The Vietnamese and Hawaiian impressions of Le’s heritage are displayed in the venue’s signature dish, Pho French Dip and Manila Clams. It consists of a yuzu pho broth covering braised Manila clams served alongside a pimped-up brisket banh mi, injected with a Thai basil chimichurri with bean sprouts, onions and dehydrated mushrooms. The idea, he says, is for diners to dip the banh mi in the pho, as though it was a corn chip: “It’s messy fun”.
“We put something as humble as the banh mi, street food, with something that is very American, like the French dip,” says Le. “We combine those ideas and add our cooking style to it. The food represents my family. But it also represents the place we live: Hawaii.”
Manila clams at The Pig and the Lady.
The Pig & The Lady is but one example of the many varieties of fusion restaurants combining local chefs’ international food traditions with a Hawaiian tastes.
You only need to drive another 20 minutes from Le’s venue out into Honolulu’s suburbs to find another fusion destination, , a diner-themed brunch stop run by celebrity chef, Lee Anne Wong.
The second-generation Chinese-American’s menu fuses innovative blends of traditional Hawaiian meals with sustainably sourced produce and pan-Asian eats. For example, for the Eggs Haloa, the café poaches local eggs and serves it on a biscuit, made from traditional taro poi. On top is coconut luau, made from the taro top, sour poi hollandaise and local greens. Or how about the Chicky and Eggs? It’s Japanese-style fried jidori chicken and French-style scrambled eggs served with house-made pickles and maple Tabasco.
Who would’ve thought Hawaii’s eateries would be so ethnically diverse? According to the American state’s 2010 census, it’s almost a given: around 40 per cent of the state’s population is Asian, near 25 per cent is white, 10 per cent is Polynesian and nine per cent is Hispanic.
Thai-born restaurateur and one of Hawaii’s most celebrated chefs, ChaiChaowasaree, adds that in addition to cultural variety, Hawaiian fusion cuisine owns another edge that begs creativity: the island’s rich volcanic soil makes locally produced food taste unique.
“When you plant something in our soil, you will notice a different quality,” says the owner and chef of Singha Thai Cuisine in Waikiki and at Pacifica Honolulu. “The colours, textures and flavours are more intense.”
As one of the veteran chefs involved in pushing for the existence of Hawaii’s regional fusion cuisine with 11 other chefs back in the 1990s, Chaowasaree is proud of how the movement has spread to pockets of restaurants throughout Hawaii’s islands.
But it hasn’t always been this way. Chaowasaree recalls that few restaurateurs ever used local produce, as most imported ingredients from mainland America. The result was that many Hawaiian eateries sold meals that lacked taste, freshness and lustre.
Imported, processed Americana-style fare – think burgers, glazed ribs and cheese sticks – lining the key touristy strips of Maui and Waikiki also did little to convince tourists of a valued Hawaiian culinary experience.
“And if you wanted traditional Hawaiian food, you used to only get mahi-mahi fish with traditional poi, salt and soy sauce. So no-one used to think of Hawaii and expect good food. But Hawaiian food has changed so much.
“The farmer is now very willing to work with the chef. If we see something trendy or exciting, we work with the farmer to grow it and create what we want. That’s what makes it possible for us to create such a unique and exotic fusion cuisine.”
Global recognition needed
The truth of the matter is that although Hawaiian cuisine has shaped a unique identity around the local flavours of its islands and the food memories of its immigrants, Hawaii’s perceived drawcard is still shopping malls and surf. records that almost 70 per cent of all Australians tourists visit to shop.
“But Hawaii isn’t just a destination for beaches and family vacations,” says Chaowasaree. “Now we have world renowned chefs and cuisine.”
In a bid to change the tourist view, the famed cook has become the executive chef of Hawaiian airlines, as means to promote his home cuisine to a market of captive tourists, eating fusion food in the air.
“If no-one were willing to take a chance, then you’d never get anywhere. It’s a journey that someone had to start.”
With most of the fusion dishes concentrated within the mainland America and Asia flights, this method has proven partly successful. New York hosts at least 18 Hawaiian-themed eateries while there are only two Hawaiian food outlets in the whole of Australia.
This is despite the fact that, according to the Hawai’i Tourism Authority, Australia is Hawaii’s third biggest market for visitors, attracting nearly 334,000 of us last year.
The owner of one of those two restaurants, Candy Wu of , believes this is because Australian tourists stick to eating Americana fare on touristy strips lined with shopping malls.
“When Australians go to Hawaii, they usually go to Waikiki and that’s where they experience the yellow cheese, sloppy burgers and ribs,” says Wu.
“But this is where I give [Australians] an education about where and what to eat when they are in Hawaii: to get great food, you just have to get off the main strip. Go off the beaten track.”
It’s been Wu’s part-obsession with Hawaiian cuisine and part-disbelief in the fact that Hawaiian cuisine has not yet taken off in Australia that led her to launch Poke in Coogee, in Sydney’s east, one year ago.
Located a five minute walk from Coogee’s main drag, Poke is a specialist in the raw Hawaiian fish salad of the same name.
Poke, a cousin of South American ceviche and Japanese sushi, is traditionally prepared with tuna, shoyu (Japanese soy sauce), shallots and salt but can boast a range of other different seasonings.
Wu prepares her Australian adaptation, called ‘The Aloha Way’, using raw, locally sourced salmon, shoyu, sweet onions, cherry tomatoes and green shallots but also sells poke mixed with nuts, mustard, chilli or coconut milk. The dine-in and takeaway café serves black rice on the side instead of the traditional white rice, and uses only gluten-free products.
Raw Hawaiian fish salad The Aloha Way at Poke, Sydney.
Poke has been a hit with Sydneysiders, who come from all over town to sample Hawaiian–Australian fusion fare. But for those who haven’t yet tasted the flavours of NSW’s only Hawaiian eatery, Wu encourages a visit. “Be brave and try it”.
She also advises Australians to discover true Hawaiian fusion cuisine beyond the shopping mall-dense tourist strips. “Be adventurous and trust that, because Hawaii is a set of islands, they will have the most amazing cuisine to offer.”
Chef Le agrees and urges tourists to sample Honolulu’s Downtown Chinatown for a local holiday experience that tells of Hawaii’s real food vibe.
“Hawaii has a rich culinary diversity,” explains Le. “And it’s like a new frontier here: you dream up ideas and people respond to it… Food is changing in Hawaii and that’s undeniable.”
