Sunday, October 9, 2011

Ted's Bakery


In the 8 years that I've been going and back and forth to Hawaii, I have always wanted to go to Ted's Bakery. I first heard about Ted's from an old co-worker of mine who raved about their haupia pie. She said you have to get to Ted's early in the day, or else they run out of the haupia pie. Okay, well what's haupia, I first thought. I came to learn, from one of the luaus we went to a few years ago, that its a coconut custard-like Hawaiian dessert. Not a huge fan of it, but when in Hawaii you gotta try it at least once. So, I had to try Ted's haupia pie at least once. However, we always seem to miss their shop when we drive up in the North Shore.

On this short trip, since we were staying in the North Shore, we had a chance to finally explore this part of the island and stopped by the famous Ted's Bakery for some lunch. Its pretty easy to miss this "mom & pop" shop because it has a small, hard-to-see store-front. But it was only a few blocks from the famous Sunset Beach.

As you enter this old school shop, you can't help but think that you just stepped into a liquor store. The interior was as drab as a corner liquor store. But when you look to the left of the store, you'll see a refrigerated case where they displayed their desserts. It was as if a ray of sunshine shined over this area.

Because our stay in Oahu was brief, we didn't want to buy a whole pie. But we did want to try as many varieties as possible. So we decided to pick up slices of a couple of pies. Then we proceeded to the counter to order our lunch. We ordered Ted's Bento, which consisted of fried chicken, fried mahi-mahi, teriyaki beef, a slice of spam and a few scoops of rice. Delicious. And huge. Enough to share. Which is what we did.

We also decided to order another plate lunch to eat for dinner later in the day. So we ordered the Combination #2, which included BBQ short rib, BBQ chicken, and breaded shrimp. This plate was equally delicious and huge.

Because we were full from both meals, we didn't get a chance to taste the slices of pie we bought until the next day. We ended up buying a slice of the Pineapple Macadamia nut cheesecake and their famous Chocolate Haupia Cream Pie.

The Pineapple Macadamia Nut cheesecake was pretty good, but my unexpected favorite was the Chocolate Haupia Cream Pie. Its a chocolate cream pie, with a hint of coconut flavor from the Haupia. It was a great flavor combination and pure genius.

I'm so glad we were finally able to find Ted's and stop by to try some of their specialties. Can't wait to stop by here again. Now that we know where it is.

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