Kauai Sunshine Markets

I'm totally obsessed with the Kauai sunshine market (it's what they call the farmer's market here) where every day of the week, there is a small gathering of local vendors selling their fruits. Everyone lines up right at the start time, as you are not allowed to start buying beforehand to give everyone equal opportunity to get the best piece of fruit or veggie. I'm now on my third market and I've convinced myself that I'm going to be eating fruit for the rest of the week on this island. I may turn into a mango by the end of the week, but I'm going to keep going to every sunshine market I can. Besides the 6 mangos and 1 coconut I've already eaten, for the next few days, I am going to tackle 26 mangos, 3 chermoyas, 2 pineapples (1 gold, 1 honeyloaf), 2 papayas, 2 avocados, and 6 limes.

Loco Moco and Banana Pancakes

It's our first day in Kauai and we asked someone where the locals might go for breakfast and they sent us to Tip Top in Lihue for banana pancakes. As with a lot of locals do, their directions are not easy to follow. We ended up stopping to ask for directions at a 7-11 and one lady offered to take us over so we followed her in our car. She told us that Tip Top's banana pancakes alone are worth the trip! If this lady had not driven here with us, I would have never even given this place even a first look. It's a restaurant inside the Tip Top motel (seems similar to a Motel 6 but I've never stayed at a motel 6).

We walked in and the first thing you see is a rather empty "bakery" area with plastic toys and a small cash register for motel check in. The restaurant was to the right of that. There was a sign that said for you to seat yourself and as we looked around, the place was buzzing with locals, so we happily sat down and perused the menu. Waitresses walk around with carts to fill your water and coffee cups. We decided on getting the loco moco and banana pancakes. The banana pancakes were definitely fantastic. I wish I had room for more. The loco moco was fun to eat for breakfast, but the burger patty itself wasn't really seasoned so I wish I had brough a jar of the Lan Chi Chili Paste with me. That definitely would have made it better. They even serve ox tail soup for breakfast, which I wanted to get but did not have room. I might have to go back later to try that.

Tip Top is located at 3173 Akahi StLihue, HI 96766. Phone (808) 245-2333