Merriman’s in Maui

Once again we arrive at a Merriman’s as a second choice, and this one was even better!

We had intended to go to the Sea House restaurant at the Napili Kai Resort, despite it’s mixed reviews, because they claimed to have authentic Hawaiian music every night. We even called a half hour before to confirm the music. When we arrived, about 15 minutes after the music should have been playing, we found out that the musicians were a no-show!

Consulting the trusty map function on my iPhone, we found that Merriman’s of Maui was 2 blocks away. Amazingly, we got a table, because they looked full, and happily ordered cocktails.

We both started with the soup of the night, which was lobster and roasted pepper bisque, with lobster shreds and roasted corn. It had great spice and depth of flavor.

I opted for two appetizers as my second course: the grilled prawns (local) over house-made shrimp and cheese ravioli, with a fish and pineapple nage sauce. It was divine. I also tried, but couldn’t finish, the Kalua pig and Maui onion Quesadilla, served with a green pepper dipping sauce, and house-made kimchee. Also really great! Susi chose the nightly fish special, grilled ginger crusted Onaga, served over vegetable barley with jalapeño sauce. Hard to articulate how well harmonized all these flavors were. Again, really good.

We thought the Maui Merriman’s was even better than the one in Kauai. It is a stand alone building on the water at the Kapalua resort, and is larger. The decor is more upscale. Our server told us that each executive chef at Merriman’s has his/her own interpretation of the company’s Farm-to-table concept. The menus were completely different too.

I would highly recommend Merriman’s to any Hawaii traveler. You can read about the bio of the founder, Peter Merrimans, on their web page. Fascinating guy!

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