Post Last Modified – April 27, 2025 ¦ gr8traveltips.com
📖Certain products/services may have affiliate links where I may receive a commission.🍜
🏟There is no cost to you whatsoever.🏖
Hilo Food Tours On The Big Island Of Hawaii
One of the things we love to do when traveling to new destinations, is to take part in; 🚶 Walking Cultural Food Tours. These tours are great, for being able to sample and enjoy the local cuisine and culture. On our visit to the 🏝 The Big Island of Hawaii a few seasons back, we did just that with …
Hilo Food Tours Historical Walking Lunch Tour
This company was relatively new during our visit and they were definitely off to a great start!
Owned and operated by two brothers hailing from Hawaii, it’s quite evident they had a passion for; food, the local culture and its history. They were also committed to supporting other small local businesses on the 🏝 island.
“A Walking Culinary & Historical Journey!”
My wife and I have enjoyed a number of food tours on our travels and this one certainly ranked, very high on the list. For a relatively new business in Hawaii, these 2 brothers had done a great job!
Our guide for the tour and co-owner (Pono), greeted us promptly at our first restaurant, located in the original and very popular; Old Hilo town.
Today, this historical area is filled with; restaurants, gift shops, museums, markets and more. It’s now a favorite area for visitors, visiting this side of the island.
Ocean Sushi Japanese Restaurant
Hilo Food Tours – #1
This was an excellent introduction and start to our tour, beginning at an authentic; Japanese restaurant.
Back in 1868, Japanese immigrants flocked to Hawaii to work as contract laborers, on the many sugar plantations that were situated on the Islands. Today, there still remains a very strong Japanese influence in the region.
What a better way to start off this tour, sampling some wonderful Japanese cuisine!
Pono and his brother have meticulously worked with each establishment visited on the tour, in many cases, putting together a personalized sampler dish, for their guests.
This allows you an opportunity to sample some of the many items that may be available at that restaurant,
should you choose to return on your own once again.
Their entire tour supports local small businesses only in the community. They were happy to have the names of the restaurants we attended, mentioned in this post. Hilo Food Tours worked exclusively with these restaurants, putting together a variety of; sample dishes for you to taste.
These samplers, are ones that cannot be purchased on their menu alone.
This first Japanese Delight was Absolutely Delicious!
Puka Puka Kitchen
Hilo Food Tours – #2
Continuing on and just a short stroll away, our next stop was to a local favorite establishment.
Here, we were able to sample a Hawaiian traditional sushi dish. Not with fish, but centered with traditional and still very popular – Spam. 🙂
Referred to as –Spam Musubi, this is a very popular food staple in Hawaii.
Consisting of a slice of grilled Spam, wrapped together with rice and seaweed.
A very surprisingly tasty form of sushi, and would make a great snack!
I was always aware of the ongoing popularity of Spam in Hawaii, but never served in this form.
Very tasty!
Sugar Coast Candy
Hilo Food Tours – #3
A few steps down the sidewalk, we next tried some popular Hawaiian 🍬 Candy. Pono brought out a few sweet and very popular Hawaiian Style Gummies, for us to sample.
Excellent if you’re like me and need to satisfy that sweet tooth throughout the day!
Hilo Local Farmers Market
Hilo Food Tours – #4
It was then on to the very popular local farmers market, just around the corner in the heart of Old Town. This is a great place for locally grown 🍍 fresh fruits, 🍅 vegetables and much more. Pono grabbed a few local traditional favorites for us to try, freshly grown on the Island.
We sampled; Suman, a Filipino favorite dessert of sticky rice and 🥥 coconut milk, wrapped in 🍌 banana leaves. A really nice mixture offering a variety of flavors and easy to tell, Suman would make a wonderful small dessert, after a meal.
Next, we enjoyed a sample of Rambutan. This is a fruit native to Southeast Asia, but is now grown in many tropical climates, including Hawaii.
A nice sweet flavor to tantalize the taste buds and healthy at the same time!
Poke N Sides
Hilo Food Tours – #5
Next up, we made our way to a local favorite establishment called –Poke N Sides. We were able to sample a few of their most common dishes on the menu, including their signature Poke.
Lomi salmon (salted salmon with tomato and onion), kim chee cucumber, and ho’io (fiddlehead fern) salad.
Poke (pronounced poh-keh), is an increasingly popular Hawaiian marinated raw fish dish. This dish has become very trendy for locals and visitors. It’s much like having Japanese sushi for a snack or meal in itself. I particularly enjoyed the; Lomi Salmon mixture.
Delicious!
Hilo Bay Sugar Shack
Hilo Food Tours – #6
For something completely out of the ordinary and something you would never hear about or knew existed, unless on one of these excellent food tours is; purple sweet potato, condensed milk and mango Hawaiian ice cream.
Bursting with flavors, who would have ever dreamed outstanding ice cream could be made, with sweet potatoes!
Well, they’ve certainly figured it out here at the Hilo Bay Sugar Shack. 🙂
Cafe Pesto
Hilo Food Tours – #7
Last but not least, we ended up in the very trendy Cafe Pesto, situated on the edge of Hilo Bay. Pono finished the tour off with a mouth watering cheesecake with lilikoi (passionfruit) reduction, that was simply to die for!
Rich, creamy and smooth, it kept you wanting more and more.
This is a favorite dessert dish at this very well known establishment, and for very good reason.
Hilo Food tours centered around {Historical Old Town Hilo} down at the Bay, where today, it is slowly experiencing a; rebirth. Now teeming with shops, markets, restaurants, museums and more coming in, making it a perfect gathering place for locals and tourists alike.
View this post on Instagram
If you love food and experiencing local traditional dishes and eateries when traveling, then taking a food tour is a great introduction and experience. It’s the very first thing we look for when traveling to new destinations, anywhere around the 🌎 world.
If your travel plans have you visiting the 🏝 Big Island of Hawaii, then do check out a Cultural Food Tour.
You won’t be disappointed!
Unfortunately, Hilo Food Tours is no longer in operation at this time. I’m quite sure, as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
I’ve listed the 🏝 Official Hawaii Tourism link below to their website page. I’ve directed the link to their page on the Big Island. It’s filled with excellent information on everything this beautiful Island has to offer.
🗺 Take a look at the {Google Map} box at the bottom of this post for the Big Islands exact location. 🗺
🏝 The Hawaiian Islands – Big Island Hawaii
🛡 I Only Endorse Products/Services That Can Be Trusted & Verified &/Or That I’ve Personally Used! 🛡
😎 Safe and Healthy Travels! 😎
View this post on Instagram
Although our tour was in collaboration with Hilo Food Tours, rest assured, all content and opinions are mine and reflect my personal experience only.
All personal 📸 photographs on this post are the property of gr8traveltips.com and are copyright protected.
🚫 Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. 🚫
✨ Did You Know …
🚌 Discover Mauka Makai Adventures In Hawaii
⚓ Body Glove Cruise Adventures – Big Island of Hawaii
🌅 Bali House & Cottage – Kehena Beach Hawaii
© 2025, All Rights Reserved ¦ gr8traveltips.com