This week we continue our recurring feature in 5 Things We Love spotlighting stuff you have got to do, see, hear, wear, use or eat in Oahu neighborhoods. Today: Waipahu. Coming up: Waikiki, Downtown Honolulu, Mililani, Keeaumoku and Kailua. Send your suggestions to features@staradvertiser.com.
Memories of childhood days make Waipahu a special site
What I love about Waipahu is nothing you can buy, but memories of an idyllic childhood with time spent with family and "Indiana Jones"-style adventures with good friends. They are part of a Waipahu now gone. I could walk to the heart of Waipahu town from our home in Waipahu Gardens, and my friends and I would often take a shortcut, climbing the rocky ledge leading up to Cane Haul Road. We would pop our heads up over the top, aware that at any moment one of the hulking trucks might come down the narrow road and run us down.
There were days the whole family would drive down to the water from Waipahu Depot Road, where we would spend a leisurely afternoon crabbing for dinner from a bridge over the waters of West Loch, now closed off. From there, with the gray ships of Pearl Harbor so close, I had a sense of history and the expanse of the island.
Today you can still drive down Waipio Access Road behind Waipahu High School and see the gray ships so close you could swim to them. But, for those who might consider trying, entry to the water is now gated.
If you’re in the area, continue down Farrington Highway for Filipino food at Thelma’s Restaurant in Westgate Center, 94-366 Pupupani St., or fried chicken or smelt at Pacific Market, 94-300 Farrington Highway. — Nadine Kam
Polynesian shop offers coconut-infused treats
A quick trip down the road from my Waikele home is all it takes to get my hands on some of my family’s favorite baked goods — Polynesian bread and panipopo (Samoan coconut rolls) — fresh out of the oven at Tammy’s Polynesian Market. My mother loves the bread, fortified with coconut milk that lends it sweetness. She eats it toasted and topped with butter. The panipopo, glazed with a coconut sauce, is so delicious customers buy it by the pan for $18.99. It’s also available individually for $1.59, while the bread is sold by the loaf for $3.99. Tammy’s also sells an array of prepared Samoan and Tongan dishes, kept in a lineup of warmers. The store is at 94-839 Farrington Highway. Call 671-3441. — Jo Ann Kimura, Waikele
Fulfill that sweet tooth at Manny’s bakery
Have a sweet tooth? Then try the Chantilly Cream Puffs from Manny’s Bake Shop & Restaurant, 94-226 Leoku St. They are only $1 each and filled with delicious custard. You can also find them at the Windward Mall farmers market from 2:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays and 9:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. The bakery also has manapua, Spanish rolls, Portuguese sausage and hot dog rolls, onion and red bean rolls, macaroons, turnovers and many other yummy pastries. Call 686-9898. — Jane Marcum, Kailua
Hefty turnovers come in variety of flavors
A co-worker told me she really liked the shoyu chicken at Leeward Drive Inn. So I ventured out to the west side to buy the tasty dish. While waiting for my order, I noticed a bunch of golden-brown turnovers under hot lights on the back counter. I’d never seen turnovers being sold at a plate lunch place, so I had to try one. I settled on the Okinawan sweet potato. (Other flavors are apple, coconut, peach, pineapple and a combination coconut and pineapple.)
The 6-inch pie was pretty hefty, and the crust is not the buttery, flaky type, but heavier and a little sweet. The filling was delicious, too. Each turnover costs $2.29, and if you buy 10 you get one free. Leeward Drive Inn is at 94-209 Pupukahi St. Call 671-7323. — Michelle Ramos
Festival Marketplace a trove of ethnic food
The Filipino dish chicken papaya is a favorite of mine for its squashlike papaya seasoned with ginger and fish sauce — so homey and satisfying. I’m told it’s not easy to find green papaya or marungay leaves, a vital ingredient in the dish, in supermarkets. Thankfully, I never have that problem. I live near Waipahu Festival Marketplace, where these products are always fresh and readily available at great prices. I recently found green papaya for 79 cents a pound and a huge bunch of marungay for $2. Then the lady at the register shaved off a dollar, saying the bunch was "kinda old" because the leaves were falling from the stems. That wasn’t a problem. It saved me the step of removing the leaves myself. I even shared my unused marungay — some two-thirds of the bunch — with two friends who made their own chicken papaya dishes days later. Check out the marketplace, off of Waipahu Depot Road in the old Big Way Supermarket space, for an array of Asian produce and products rarely found outside Chinatown or ethnic markets. — Joleen Oshiro
