The only remaining fish paste vendor in Honolulu Chinatown! Located at Kekaulike Market, they make and sell multiple types of fresh fish paste. It's sold by the pound and delicious. Here's how to get there and what to order.

We have many recipes that use fish paste as the main ingredient.
Fish paste is what it sounds like. It's raw fish (usually dace fish) that's chopped and cut and mixed into a seasoned paste. It's like ground pork, but ground fish.
There are two ways to get fresh fish paste: make it or buy it.
Where can you buy fish paste?
Honolulu's Chinatown!
Fish Paste In Chinatown
There were multiple fish paste vendors in the 1980s and 1990s.
Everyone had a favorite vendor. My grandma preferred a lady in Oahu Market. I joined her on frequent Chinatown trips. We got good pork, fresh chow fun noodles, vegetables and fruit...and fish paste! She said that vendor's fish paste made the bounciest fish balls. A true compliment.
Grandma purchased fresh fish paste for decades, one pound at at time. I believe that vendor closed shop around 2020.
It was a sad surprise when my mom and I (we do the fish paste shopping these days) went to buy fish paste one day and saw her stall was closed for good.
The Vendor At Kekaulike Market
These days there is just one fish paste vendor in Chinatown remaining. We are beyond grateful for her.
The vendor is located inside Kekaulike Market.
I don't know the owner but there are usually 2-3 women there and I think one of them (or maybe all of them) own the business.
Chow's Seafood and Meat Market, Stall 121.
If you enter the market from Kekaulike Street, the vendor is located in the back row, on the left side. Look for the red sign that says, Chow's Seafood and Meat Market, Stall 121.
Note: I don't know if the fish paste stall is actually called, Chow's Seafood and Meat Market. Or if Chow's is another vendor that closed and left their sign hanging there. An online search for Chow's says it's closed. It's not clear.
But anyways, once you see that red sign, you'll see the fish paste vendor. And that's what we are here for!
Fish paste is for sale by the pound. And it is fresh, fresh, fresh.
It is so fresh that you can see the ladies cutting the meat off the bones right in front of you (first photo at the top of this post). It's a lot of work and seeing it in action makes you really appreciate fish paste.
They have two types of fish paste, both sold by the pound.
One is $6/pound. The other is $8/pound.
What's the difference?
Types of Fish Paste
Depends who you ask.
A friend went and a lady told her the $6/pound is local fish from Hawaii and the $8/pound is mainland fish. The mainland fish is more expensive, but apparently more bouncy (aka more tasty).
But when I went last week, the lady told me that both were mainland fish! She also said, yes, the $8/pound fish paste is more bouncy.
You can see in the photo above: the $8/pound fish paste (left) is more red in color, and the $6/pound (right) is a little lighter color.
$6 versus $8 Fish Paste
We bought a pound of each. Might as well try both to see!
If you think two pounds of fish paste is a lot. It is not. Our family finished all the fish paste within a day haha.
We tasted them side by side (though prepared in different dishes) and there was not a big difference in flavor. The $8/pound was maybe a little more bouncy, but they were both good.
$6 or $8 a pound is extremely fair for fresh fish paste. I already mentioned this earlier, but you can see how much work goes into preparing fish paste. Not to mention the cleanup! Working with this much fish, especially getting every bit of meat off the bones, is messy.
The fish paste is seasoned so once you take it home, you can cook the fish paste without having to add anything else.
What To Make With Fish Paste?
We use the fish paste to make fish balls to add to noodle soups. This is when being "bouncy" is important.
The higher quality the fish paste, the more bouncy the fish ball. I think of this as the original way of using fish paste haha.
We stuff the fish paste into tofu and pan fry. Fish and tofu is an excellent combo.
We mix the fish paste with a lot of fresh herbs and turn them into fish paste patties. Kids especially love this dish!
And if you have a little extra time, make fish paste stuffed peppers. This was my grandma's speciality ^_^
Fish Paste Outside Of Honolulu?
P.S. If you don't have a source for fresh fish paste or aren't located within driving distance to Honolulu Chinatown, and you don't want to make fish paste at home....what to do?
You can buy fish paste from most large Chinese supermarkets! The fish paste is stored in the refrigerated or freezer section. I haven't personally bought fish paste from the supermarket before, but it's good to know the option is there.
This posting brings back many fond memories. Back in the day, when I used to catch or spear my own awa-awa, I would make this myself. If I didn't have the fish, I would buy at in Chinatown. My favorite way to use this fish cake paste was to steam it -- I would season it with salt, and add chopped green onions, water chestnuts, and sometimes even chopped char siu. Then I would fry some sheets of thin scrambled eggs and use it as wrappers for the fish paste. Then I would steam it in my steamer until cooked. Sliced and served with cilantro was my go-to dish! Lol! Good memories!
Hi Alan! This sounds super delicious!!! I've wrapped fish paste in tofu skin before but haven't tried it with eggs. Will make this next week and update with a new recipe post inspired by you 🙂
Kathy