I am fully aware that this post will be confusing. I title it Aloha Manapua (get online ordering!) but then the store front says Island Manapua. Please bear with me. It looks like Island Manapua was bought out by Honolulu Kitchen who is owned by Regal Foods (right?) and they brand themselves Aloha Manapua (per their website and sticker on the box) but still keep Island Manapua on their storefront (maybe they haven’t had time to change it yet).

In any case, my coworker brought in manapua from here to work twice and I liked it so I wanted to try some of the other food. In the end, I still think U-Choice In is the best baked manapua on island right now. I still have to re-try Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery’s version before I can make the ultimate decision. So much food so little time.

Ginger Fried Chicken w/White Rice | $14.95

Not my plate, but my friend enjoyed it! Nice crispy chicken with the cold ginger chicken sauce. How do you go wrong with that though? Not bad price for this big portion!

Roast Duck & Ginger Chicken w/White Rice Plate | $16.95

This was my plate and ehhh, it was just alright. The chicken is cold (which is expected) but the duck is also cold and I asked the very nice gentleman helping us if there is sauce for the roast duck. He apologized and said there isn’t but he could get me hoisin sauce if I wanted which I declined. I wanted to try the dish as is, how they serve it. I know the side sauce is usually just the drippings of the roast duck but I think it makes a difference. I definitely missed the sauce. The chicken was good, and I liked that I got all dark meat. Not bad but not great, but a good option to have in Manoa.

Pork Hash | $1.85 per piece
Shrimp Dumpling (Har Gow) | $1.85 per piece

Chan found a short hair stuck to one of the pork hash…haha? Groce. But its okay, we powered through The pork hash is your typical local style (meaning not dim sum style) pork hash. Good, Chan liked it! The har gow is a pass for us, mushy texture. Nothing great.

Half Moon | $1.85 per piece

This is one of my favorite dim sums of all time. I grew up eating the homemade version of it and this is very similar. I heard him telling another customer it’s vegetarian, main filling is wood ear mushroom and shiitake. I enjoyed this a lot and the skin is nice and soft. I would get this again!

Baked Char Siu Manapua | $3.00 per piece

Prices of manapua is no joke guys. This box of dim sum and my roast duck/chicken plate was $61. I had to do a double take! The char siu manapua is good, nice amount of filling inside. The bread is soft but it’s mushy although we did eat it after refrigeration. I did try it fresh before but it’s not as good at U-Choice. They actually make the manapua and dim sum out in the west side and bring it to the store to sell.

Here’s a legend of the different types of manapua they have. I did not see all these flavors at Aloha Manapua at all. I would say go check them out in person to see what they have, I don’t know if I would trust the inventory control in-person versus their online ordering system.

All in all, I think it’s a nice option to have in Manoa but it’s not the best Chinese food I’ve had.