Something famous in Hawaii is the plate lunch. Traditional plate lunches consists of two scoops of white rice, some kind of meat and macaroni salad. Why macaroni salad? I have no idea. Growing up, I would go to buy a plate lunch based on the taste of the macaroni salad though…..Ask a person from Hawaii living outside Hawaii what they miss the most. I’ll bet “Plate Lunch” is in the top 10. Top 5 even…..

The plate lunch has evolved where the buyer can create their own individual plate lunch. Brown rice, white rice, a scoop of each? It’s up to you. Macaroni salad, potato salad, pasta salad, tossed green salad? It’s up to you! I guess because people are getting more health conscious, vendors are giving more healthy choices in their menu selection.

I might eat a plate lunch maybe once a month so for me it’s “two scoops of white rice, mac salad, teriyaki beef with gravy all over!” The pinnacle of local calorie indulgence! No holding back when ordering a plate lunch!

Saying that, for lunch the other day I had a mini teryiaki beef plate lunch from Yummy’s and substituted the mac salad for Choi Sum!! : ) I was working so I didn’t want to feel too full so I chose the substitute. The photo above is a mini plate from Yummy’s. For the regular plate at Yummy’s, you can choose 4 side orders among about 12 different choices of veggies and salads along with two scoops of rice and a main meat dish.

Some of my favorite plate lunch places are Rainbow’s Drive Inn right outside of Waikiki, Yummy’s Korean Barbecue, L&L Drive Inn and Diner’s Drive Inn. Diner’s in my opinion has the best mac salad out of all of them. These places are brick and mortar places where you can sit down and eat. There are lunch wagons that serve some pretty good plate lunches as well. These are frequented most by workers without a place to eat nearby or if near the beach, by surfers, picnickers or random people just driving by.

 Any way I decide to eat it, I still crave it from time to time and probably cannot live without it!!