Kahuku Farms is a must stop on your drive to the North Shore. This is a beautiful farm and excellent cafe with onolicious food...most of it grown fresh on the farm! Get the acai bowls, butter mochi with lilikoi butter, smoothies, and grilled haupia banana bread.
Kahuku Farms
Welcome to Kahuku Farms! This is a working farm on the North Shore that has a very popular cafe.
Order at the counter then walk around and explore the farm (or just sit and enjoy the sunshine) while you wait for your food to be prepared.
Food and Farm
Kahuku Farms grow all sorts of fruits and vegetables (and even chocolate and vanilla) on the farm. Most of those items are featured on the cafe menu. Super neat!
The menu consists of smoothies, acai bowls, sweets like butter mochi, and sandwiches. It's light and fresh food, perfect for our Hawaii weather.
Location
Kahuku Farms is located in...Kahuku ^_^
You'll likely pass through Kahuku when you do one of those "around the island" drives. Most visitors love to do this drive and I can understand why! Locals do it every now and then (our family tries to do this drive once a month...it really makes you feel like you're on vacation).
Kahuku is about an hour drive from town, depending on which route you take. It's part of the North Shore and there's a lot of good food here! Directly across the street from Kahuku Farms is the famous Romy's Kahuku Prawns and Shrimp.
I'm often torn because a garlic shrimp plate lunch from Romy's is a full meal...so how can you eat that and all the treats from Kahuku Farms? Best solution is to bring a friend. Split everything so you can taste it all!
Drive a little further into the North Shore and then you'll come across Ted's Bakery in Sunset Beach (get the chocolate haupia pie) and many little gems in Haleiwa (like Kula Shave Ice) and Waialua (like Wicked HI Cafe). You can make a whole day out of just eating around Oahu's North Shore.
What To Order
Acai Bowl
The acai bowl is the main thing we order here. It's super refreshing and makes a great breakfast or (very) light lunch.
I know you can find acai bowls everywhere these days but this acai is extra special. How come?
Because they grow the acai right here at Kahuku Farms. Most of the acai bowls on the mainland (and even in Hawaii) use frozen acai that was grown elsewhere. But this is super fresh local Hawaii acai. Love it!
The acai is a beautiful, natural purple shade. It's blended with berries and topped with sliced apple-bananas and homemade haupia sauce. Also comes with granola, lilikoi butter and a neat graham-mac nut crumble.
Lilikoi Butter Butter Mochi
It's miniature butter mochi rounds topped with a dollop of fresh lilikoi butter! Go early for these, they often sell out by end of day.
They make the lilikoi butter at the farm and you can also buy it by the jar. We eat a lot of lilikoi butter in Hawaii. It's super ono with toast and butter for breakfast.
Smoothies
They have several smoothies on the menu and they are all so refreshing!
I usually order the Tropi-Kale Smoothie which has kale, apple-banana, pineapple juice, and homemade haupia sauce. Equal parts health and dessert heheh. The kale and apple-bananas are grown on the farm.
Note from a local: We LOVE apple-bananas in Hawaii. It's one of the key ingredients for making Banana Tapioca (Che Chuoi).
Also look out for seasonal smoothies like the Liliko’i Joy which has apple-bananas and lilikoi.
Grilled Banana Bread
Two big wedges of homemade banana bread! They're grilled to order and the exterior is a little crisp and caramelized.
It's drizzled with the homemade haupia sauce (it's the same sauce that goes in the smoothie and acai bowl) and served hot.
It's a generous portion so bring a friend and split it...that way you have room to eat everything else.
Insider Tips
They have a bunch of free parking right in front of the farm entrance. Definitely no worries about finding parking here.
They are currently open only on the weekends (Friday - Sunday), so plan your visit accordingly.
Many people stop by here when they do an "around the island / North Shore drives." Those who like to avoid traffic try to do the drive on Monday - Thursday...but that means you'll miss the Farm! Best bet is to go as early on a weekend.
There's not really much seating (for now) but there is a lot of parking. Most people just open their car doors and eat in the car. There are a few random places near the waiting area where you can perch and eat.
People come mainly for the food and smoothie menu, but don't forget that you can also buy the fresh fruit that they grow right on the farm. I always bring an extra bag and load up on dragon fruit, lilikoi (passion fruit), and avocado.
They also have other specials items like Kahuku honey, lilikoi butter, a pineapple-papaya spread, and vanilla-caramel (yes, the farm grows vanilla). All these jarred butters and spreads are so good for omiyage...or as a treat for yourself ^_^
Info
- Kahuku Farms | 56-800 Kamehameha Hwy, Kahuku, HI 96731 | (808) 628-0639 | kahukufarms.com
- Price (approximate): Acai Bowl $11; Smoothies $5.75 - $6.25; Grilled Banana Bread $6.50; Other iced drinks (Plantation Iced Tea, Ginger Cooler, etc) $3 - $4.25.
- Hours: Friday-Sunday (11am-4pm)
LOVE LOVE LOVE the lilikoi butter...and really all of their jellies/jams. I order them for delivery on a regular basis. I just ran out of their lilikoi butter so I sense an order in my near future. Their pineapple papaya jam is also really fantastic.
A faux-laminated buttermilk biscuit with one of their butters/jams is heaven.
Hi Brent! Wow that is impressive ahaha. I've only had the lilikoi butter on top of their butter mochi, but next time I'll make sure to pick up an entire jar! Warm biscuit + lilkoi butter sounds AMAZING 🙂
- Kathy
I love these posts. It's a little bit of traveling when we can't.
Thanks so much, Jeanne! Hope all is well 🙂
- Kathy