Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Chocolate Haupia Pie


The Chocolate Haupia Pie at Liliha Bakery

Today, Christine had a hankering for the Chocolate Haupia Pie from Ted's Bakery. The only problem is that Sunset Beach is far away. But never fear, a quick phone call to Ted's revealed that we could find there pie at area outlets like Long's Drugs, Safeway and Foodland. As I enjoyed a coffee and hung out with Charles Nelson at his Downtown Coffee on Fort Street Mall, Christine and DJ Un-G ran off to Long's to find her pie.

No luck.

No problem, we'll just head over to my old neighborhood Safeway. Again, no luck. Frick. Now we were stuck. Sunset Beach was still too far away so after a bit of thinking and consternation, we decided to check out and see if the famous Liliha Bakery had what we were looking for.

Liliha Bakery. It warms the heart. But it's weird because whenever I think of bakeries (or pancakes, for that matter) Liliha Bakery doesn't normally come to mind as quick as other places, but the food is always good and comfortable.


Leftover Pie.

While the rest of Honolulu lines up for coco puffs, rolls and other assorted goodies, the three of us take a seat at the long coffeeshop counter. Happily, Liliha Bakery offers their own version of the Chocolate Haupia Pie and they offer a pie of the day by the slice at the counter. The problem? Today is not the day for the Chocolate Haupia Pie by the slice.

As we chat with our waitress we're able to order a whole pie that she'll cut up in slices for us. The whole pie is nine dollars. It seems like a lot, but there's five slices per pie and the by the slice price is $2.50. That's $7.50 for three slices or nine dollars for the whole thing - not bad.

This pie is good. Pretty darn good. It's fluffy as all hell though, and that's a bit unnerving, but it is good. However, if you're looking for the Ted's Bakery version, this one is vastly different. Liliha's version has just a thin layer of chocolate sauce (I'm betting it's Hershey's) under a thick layer of a haupia cream of sorts, topped with whipped topping. It's delightful but quite different than the equal layers of chocolate pudding and haupia that Ted's makes.

In spite of the difference, this pie is good enough for small second slices and lots of coffee. In fact, it's great with coffee. Not to mention the really good looking food that's being made by the short order cook. It's been years since I ate at Liliha Bakery but the pancakes and french toast deserve further investigation.


Liliha Bakery
515 N Kuakini St
Honolulu, HI 96817
808-531-1651

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