After a beautiful morning at the beach yesterday my husband & I were in search for lunch. Puerto Rican food to be exact. We've been watching a lot of FoodNetwork's Tripple D with Guy Fieri and he's been featuring a lot of Latin food lately. So that was the reason for our quest to find an authentic Puerto Rican eatery. I searched for places on Yelp, and since we were hanging at the Lagoons at Ko'olina I decided to see if there were places near by that served authentic Latin cuisine. This is when I stumbled upon Coquito's.
I actually remember my girlfriend posting things about this place on her Facebook page. She is also married to a wonderful man who is of Puerto Rican decent. So naturally, if they go there... It must be
good! Right?!
Coquito's is located on the west side of Oahu deep in the heart of Waianae. There's is only one way in and one way out of this town, so you can't miss it. You'll find it towards the end of Waianae, diagonally across from the second McDonalds Restaurant on the right & Coquito's will be on the left coming In from town. It's a really cute place, and truly a hidden gem on the west coast.
As you walk up the stairs of this cute little place, you'll find a few tables for seating outside. Then when you get inside you're welcomed to a sunny place with yellow walls, and beautiful tropical art. I've never been to Puerto Rico, but if I did go, I'd imagine it would be a place that's warm and cozy like this.
We had our two children with us, so the first thing to order was their food. They have a very kid friendly menu, but not your typical French fries & chicken nugget type of deal. We order the keiki's grilled ham & cheese sandwiches. Not your ordinary grilled ham & cheese. They served it up on their specialty bread, pressed on the grill, panini style, & served with plantain chips. The kids tore that apart, they loved it!
There is a popular Puerto Rican dish here in Hawaii, which is Pastele's. It's plantains seasoned & mashed to almost a paste, mixed with seasoned pork, olives, wrapped in Ti leaves & steamed. My favorite by far! However being that my husband & I are total foodies we were in search of Mofongo! We've seen it on the FoodNetwork quit a few times and have always wanted to try it. And finally, we have!
Mofongo is made in a wooden mortar, they mash up plantains with Latin seasonings, ours had bacon in it too. They ball it up & serve it with your choice of meat. As you can see the Mofongo here has been made & shaped into a bowl with our choice of meat in it. My husband had the marinated steak, & I got the shrimp. The shrimp was sautéed in butter & garlic. Placed in the Mofongo bowl with some of that wonderful melted butter. OMG, my husband & I were in heaven!!!! We were so stuffed as we had ordered some appetizers too. We had the Colombian Empanadas. That was tasty as well. Even though we were stuffed, we couldn't leave with out dessert!
We had the Tres Leches cake. A vanilla cake soaked in three milks & topped with whipped cream. We also had, I'm not sure what it was called, I chose it from their dessert case up front. It was a strawberry cake with flan (custard) on the top. The kids loved it! The desserts were simple, yet so amazing!
Coquito's offers a wide arrange of things on their menu, like:
Caribbean Jerk Wings
Cuban Sandwiches
Pastele's
Argentinian Flank Steak
Just to name a few. Check out their website here to see their menu & hours of operation. My family & I will definitely be back for more! I encourage you to check it out, try something new. You won't be disappointed. Also note to self, they do not serve alcohol there, but we did see a couple next to us that brought their own. So I'm definitely bringing in a bottle of wine with me the next time I go!
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