Have Aloha Will Travel EP127: Lunar New Year in Hawaiʻi

Kung Hee Fat Choy!

In Hawaiʻi, we say this Cantonese greeting to wish you a prosperous New Year.

Lunar New Year starts on Feb. 10 and runs through Feb. 28, ushering in the Year of the Wood Dragon. In Chinese culture, the dragon symbolizes power, nobleness, honor, luck and success. But it also means we’re entering a year of unpredictability and volatility and an imbalance in nature. (Yikes!)

Thankfully, we have Honolulu-based foodie Melissa Chang—a regular guest on our podcast—to help us navigate what this all means. Oh, and what to eat, too.

Chang—who’s has been on four previous podcasts!—shares her favorite places to eat Chinese food on New Year’s, which includes Hawaiʻi Dum Sum & Seafood Restaurant and Fook Lam Restaurant, both in Honolulu’s Chinatown.

We also talk—and eat—cake noodle, an only-in-Hawaiʻi Chinese dish that Chang writes about in our latest issue of HAWAIʻI Magazine, on newsstands now. (Or buy a copy here.)

Did you know? Cake noodle is a Hawaiʻi-only Chinese dish!
Photo: Catherine Toth Fox

Chang also talks about new food trends in Hawaiʻi, including menus boasting more luxe ingredients and way more sushi restaurants that before. Take notes!

If you want to try what we were eating on the podcast—cake noodle from U-Choice In and inari bombs from Inari Factory, both at Don Quijote Hawaiʻi. It’s also a great place for Hawaiʻi souvenirs and Japanese snacks and food.

Special shout-out to Ultimate Circle Island Tours, which offers an all-day tour of Oʻahu. Swim at North Shore beaches, visit a macadamia nut farm, eat Dole Whip at Dole Plantation and drink Hawaiʻi-grown coffee—all on one tour, in one day! Thanks for your support!

Check out our updated calendar for more Lunar New Year’s events.