Toronto Star

Stunning views, exotic meals await you in Oahu

Go beyond blue-green waters of Waikiki Beach to explore island while hanging loose

- LINDA BARNARD SPECIAL TO THE STAR

OAHU, HAWAII— Ken Hirata’s Hawaiian holiday came with a side of inspiratio­n: the native bright purple sweet potatoes would be ideal for producing shochu, the clear liquor that outsells sake in Japan.

Just one hitch — he’d never made shochu.

He went home to Australia, quit his job in finance and returned to his birthplace of Japan, spending three years training under a traditiona­l shochu “master,” who streamline­d the10-year apprentice­ship period for Hirata, who was nearing 40. He and wife Yumiko opened Hawaii’s first shochu distillery in rural Haleiwa in 2013, 55 kilometres from Honolulu on Oahu’s surfing-capitol North Shore. Why the radical mid-life switch? “Isn’t it nice to live in Hawaii and make shochu and go surf?” Hirata responded with a smile. He’s got a point. Not far from picturesqu­e Waimea Bay, a swimmers’ paradise in summer and a monster wave-churning surfers’ dream in winter, it’s just as fine to sip a glass of Hirata’s smooth, single-distilled Nami Hana shochu over ice in the modest work-live space of the Hawaiian Shochu Co.

There are no set times for tours. Customers email and Hirato invites them in to explain the traditiona­l process of making the liquor, including how it’s fermented in 100-yearold ceramic vats — a gift from his master — sunk into the shop floor.

He produces just 6,000 bottles a year and the distillery is the only place you can buy Nami Hana shochu (it’s $39 U.S.).

Honolulu’s famed (and busy) Waikiki Beach, with its gorgeous bluegreen water and Diamond Head backdrop, may be the primary focus for visitors, but do take at least one day to explore Oahu, the most-populated island of the Hawaiian chain.

The North Shore is perfect for an off-beach Oahu excursion. Figure an hour to drive cross-island to the Waimea Bay area, due to often-clogged traffic in and around Honolulu.

Once free of the city, the drive is stunning in spots, so it’s no hardship if it takes a while; all the better to sink into your laid-back Hawaiian attitude.

Start at the Pu’u Mahuka Heiau, a lava rock temple that’s now a state historic site. It overlooks a curving road and the blue-green shallows of Waimea Bay 90 metres below. The low-walled enclosures make up the largest heiau (temple) on Oahu, one that has been used for rituals for centuries.

But the priest who was expected to lead a ceremony and history lesson was a no-show.

Not a problem in hang-loose Hawaii. We enjoyed the view, took photos and then headed for the cluster of food trucks parked below at Shark’s Cove, getting there ahead of the lunch rush. There’s plenty of choice among the dozen trucks, but we opted for the most popular dish: plump, garlicky butter-fried shrimp with white rice. We washed it down by sipping fresh pineapple juice from the hollowed-out fruit — pricey at $10, but an Instagram star.

Nobody said a day off the beach couldn’t include a swim. We hit Waimea Bay in the late afternoon to bob in the warm, rolling waves and watch the brave (or foolish) jump off a 10metre rock into the ocean.

There’s also plenty to explore in the mid-sized city of Honolulu, which is celebratin­g a renewed focus on art and culture as the island distances itself from a Hollywood-created grass-skirt past that drew previous generation­s of tourists.

Part of that can be seen in Kaka’ako, where Honolulu-born public art initiative Pow! Wow! provides a backdrop for the revitaliza­tion of a downtown industrial area. Once a year and during a single week, murals are created by about 100 local and internatio­nal street artists for Pow! Wow!, which has expanded to more than a dozen cities worldwide.

Co-director and artist Kamea Hadar, 33, said he and founder Jasper Wong began Pow! Wow! seven years ago so people can watch public art being created. “The process is just as important as the final piece and collaborat­ion,” he said.

The following year, most are painted over by the next Pow! Wow! collective.

“You don’t get attached to it,” Hadar explained.

Discover the murals in unexpected places, including a parking garage in SALT, a new retail, restaurant and mixed-use space where you can wrap up a Kaka’ako mural walking tour with lunch at the Highway Inn.

Highway Inn provides a delicious lesson in traditiona­l Hawaiian fare with lau lau (pork and fish steamed in taro leaves) and poi (fermented mashed taro). I was crazy about smoky-salty kalua pig, a Hawaiian riff on Mexican carnitas.

As third-generation owner Monica Toguchi explained, “food is the easiest way to experience culture.”

At least one of your meals has to include poke (pronounced po-kay), Hawaii’s hot food export. Chefs make variations on the small cubes of very fresh, raw yellowfin tuna that’s dressed with sesame oil, shredded seaweed, Hawaiian salt and a splash of soy sauce, usually served with a small salad.

For dessert, try to find the paleyellow, super-sweet meli kalima (honey cream) pineapple that retails for $60 at creator Frankie’s Nursery in Honolulu. Sold with the crown cut off so nobody else can grow it, we had a taste on a dessert plate at Chai Chaowasare­e’s excellent contempora­ry Hawaiian fusion restaurant Chef Chai. It was delicious.

The Chinatown neighbourh­ood also reflects changes in Honolulu. It has a mix of hip boutiques and traditiona­l places, including Chinese medicine shops, florists where you can watch women stringing leis and some great dive bars to check out, including Smith’s Union, which claims to be the oldest watering hole in Honolulu.

New retailers include Ginger 13, (ginger13.com) where owner and jewelry designer Cindy Yokoyama makes her signature mismatched earrings from crystals and stones.

“I feel this is a bit more of a destinatio­n for finding something unique,” Yokoyama said.

Nearby, Roberta Oaks is revolution­izing one of Honolulu’s most popular symbols, the Aloha shirt.

“I would see guys walking by in boxy, poor-fitting, very blah Aloha shirts,” said the Missouri native, who started designing “a more youthful, tailored version” in 2004 and opened her store in 2009. Men’s Aloha shirts sell for $120 to $150.

Popular among young Hawaiians, who wear the sleeves cuffed to show off gym-groomed biceps, Oaks says her shirts have also found fans with “cool dads and cool grandpas.” Linda Barnard was hosted by the Oahu Visitors Bureau, which did not review or approve this story.

 ?? LINDA BARNARD ?? The views of the North Shore of Oahu and Waimea Bay are exquisite.
LINDA BARNARD The views of the North Shore of Oahu and Waimea Bay are exquisite.

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