A spontaneous date day materialized unexpectedly today when my mother-in-law offered to babysit.  Hubby and I jumped at the chance to spend a few hours out and about and decided to head out to Honolulu’s historic Chinatown for lunch and some shopping.  I’ll be posting three separate entries about our Chinatown outing, featuring highlights from our day: markets, dim sum, and boba.

Okinawan Goya (bittermelon)
Sells for $3.99/lb. in Chinatown
Markets range between $3 – $6/lb. (if you can find them)

Today’s quest was to find the elusive Okinawan bittermelon (goya) for a Goya Namashi recipe I have been meaning to try.  [Goya means bittermelon in Okinawan.  Namashi is similar to a namasu, which is basically a salad of vegetables in a sweet vinegar sauce.]  Arnold, who provided me with the recipe, also gave me precise instructions on where to find the vendor that sold this particular variety of bittermelon.  I have never seen the Okinawan goya sold in grocery stores and, according to Arnold, if you can find it, it’s quite expensive.  However, the Chinatown vendor sells these beauties at a good price, so it was worth the trip.

The vendor was located inside the Kekaulike Market (on Kekaulike Street, between King and Hotel Streets).  The end where the market is located, Kekaulike Street is more like a wide pedestrian walkway and is not open to vehicular traffic.  Enter through the door right under the Kekaulike Market sign and you’ll see this sign:

Right inside the doorway, look to your right and that’s the vendor that sells the Okinawan goya.  Of course, I’m sure the availability is subject to change, but today it was there.  For the record, there was also a vendor in the Maunakea Marketplace that sold the same variety of bittermelon.  I didn’t take the time to compare prices, so I can’t tell you which vendor was cheaper.  I was just happy to be able to find a nice bunch of goya to take home for my recipe.  I also found a good-looking nabera (cucumber-like gourd) to make miso nabera champuru with.

Browsing the markets in Chinatown always offers a wonderful variety of exotic foods.  Here are a few that caught my eye:

Tune in tomorrow for the next Chinatown installment: dim sum lunch at Mei Sum!