After spending the morning, filling up on sugary treats, it was time to switch gears. The plan for the afternoon was to leave Honolulu and head up to the North Shore for some road-side food truck fare and some amazing ocean views. For us this was also an opportunity to sample a few plates of garlic shrimp.
To start our extravaganza, we went with the garlic shrimp plate at Big Wave Shrimp. The plate came with rice, salad and pineapple. There is a wait from ordering to eating, but that’s because the shrimp is cooked as ordered. The shrimp were perfectly cooked, but we did want a little more garlic flavor in the dish. That being said out of the trucks we went to, Big Wave Shrimp was the best in look and balance of flavors.
Big Wave Shrimp is located at 66-521 Kamehameha Highway in Haleiwa.
Giovanni’s seems to be the heavy hitter when it comes to the North Shore food trucks. When asked where we should go, almost all of the locals only had words of praise and strong recommendations for us when it came to Giovanni’s. Based on the line when we got to the truck, it could be concluded everyone else received the same information as us.
Sonia and I shared the shrimp scampi, which came with rice and a lemon wedge. The first thing we noticed is that some of the shrimp looked freshly cooked while the rest of it looked like it had been cooked in a previous batch and then reheated. The shrimp that we thought had been reheated was tough and overcooked, but the rest of the shrimp was much better and easier to eat. The highlight from Giovanni’s plate for us was the garlic. We especially loved the added garlic served over the rice.
Givoanni’s has 2 locations, but we went to the truck at 66-472 Kamehameha Highway in Haleiwa.
Our last stop for the day was Shrimp Shack, which we opted for because we found a coupon for it in one of the magazines we picked up at the airport. The first thing we noticed was that Shrimp Shack had a good selection of items outside of the shrimp, so we added an order of the crab cakes to the pan-fried shrimp.
The shrimp came with rice and some melted butter on the side. No complaints on the dish, but I would note that Shrimp Shack gave the fewest number of shrimp while the amount of rice that came with it is substantial.
Shrimp Shack is located at 53-360 Kamehameha Highway in Hauula.
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