ADELA’S COUNTRY EATERY
ADDRESS: 45-1151 Kamehameha Highway #2, Kaneohe, HI 96744
WEBSITE: https://www.adelascountryeatery.com/
After a morning excursion doing some off-road driving at Kualoa Ranch on the northeast side of Oahu, my wife Cami and I decided to stop by Adela’s Country Eatery in the town of Kaneohe. The location was convenient as a pit stop along our drive back down into the Honolulu area. Adela’s made it onto our research list initially because it was on the 2024 Yelp Top 100 at the #7 spot in the country. This year, Adela’s made it back onto the list again at the #6 spot.
Located in a very unassuming small shopping plaza, this restaurant is set up as takeout only, with a line of people pretty consistently out the door waiting to order. I think we ended up being lucky that the line was only maybe 10 people ahead of us, since I’ve seen photos where it might have been double that or more. Be prepared to wait for your food, however, since we were quoted about a half hour for our food to be ready after we ordered.
The calling card for Adela’s is the various types of noodles that they make in-house with produce sourced from local farms in Hawaii. Pasta made from Okinawan sweet potato / ube, breadfruit, taro, avocado, or moringa leaves are on the menu, along with angel hair capellini. You construct your own pasta dish by choosing the types of pasta and sauce, along with any other toppings you’d like to include. When looking at the menu the first time, it was a lot of information to take in to try and make a decision, since everything sounded good. I’d definitely recommend taking a look ahead of time, if you can.
After much deliberation, I decided to go for the moringa pasta paired with the moringa pasta sauce (which was Adela’s secret recipe), topped with lechon (crispy pork belly). Cami went for the angel hair capellini with lemon caper sauce, also topped with lechon. We also decided to go with a side order of the pork lumpia, and then a lilikoi cheesecake for dessert.
I tell you what, we massively underestimated just how much food comes with each order of pasta. After our 30 minute wait, we opened up each box of noodles to find that they had probably 1.5 to 2 pounds of food. In addition to the sizeable portion of pasta, there were hefty pieces of the crispy lechon as well. We drove the food back to our Airbnb to eat, since we didn’t want to make a mess attempting inside the car. (The 30-minute drive while smelling the food and being pretty hungry was definitely rough to wait.)
I wouldn’t be exaggerating when I say that this was probably one of the best pasta dishes that I’ve ever eaten. Everything about it felt complete, from the flavors of the pasta itself to how the sauce paired just right with this style of noodle to the fantastic crispiness of the lechon, while the meat remained flavorful and moist. Having never tried moringa before, I felt that there was an earthy flavor to the pasta, while also being cooked to al dente. I’m sure the moringa pasta sauce was named that for a reason, because the acidity and savory flavors from the sauce complemented the pasta really well. Add in the raw diced tomatoes, red onions, and scallions to the mix, and there was definitely a sharp contrast to the heaviness from the lechon.
But that lechon though. Easily the best lechon that I’ve ever had. Crispy skin on the outside and perfectly moist pork, the umami and savory flavors really helped to add another dimension to the overall dish. Somehow, eating the dish as a whole didn’t end up feeling too heavy. But no way that I could finish the whole plate; Cami and I both ended up saving about half of our portions for another meal the next day.
I got the chance to sample Cami’s lemon caper capellini pasta as well, and even though the flavor profile leaned more Italian, it was easily just as delicious. A strong savory flavor from the cream sauce with the additional punch from the capers, along with the acid from the lemon juice, really complemented well with the capellini. The lechon dipped into the cream sauce also made for a nice mix of flavors as well.
Sometimes, I can be skeptical when it comes to these Yelp Top 100 listings, but after eating at Adela’s, I can absolutely see why they are ranked so high on the list. The restaurant has now become one of those places that Cami and I will absolutely visit whenever we are back on the island. We still talk about the meal that we had there even now, so we are definitely eager to be able to visit again to try something else from them. Even if you’re on the other side of the island, I can promise you that the drive to check out Adela’s Country Eatery will be absolutely worth it.
Let’s now take a look at the Adela’s Country Eatery Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** Moringa Pasta with Lechon **
Moringa noodles tossed with Adela’s secret recipe moringa sauce, diced tomatoes, and red onions, topped with crispy lechon.
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** Lemon Caper Capellini **
Capellini noodles tossed in a lemon caper cream sauce, with added spinach, mushrooms and carrots.
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** Pork Lumpia **
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And finally, here are my rankings for Adela’s Country Eatery:
Food: 5 / 5
What more can I say about how fantastic this pasta was? The different types of housemade pasta with local ingredients, along with the combinations of the sauces and toppings, really provide some delicious options to choose from. Not only are the flavors diverse but the quality is also top notch as well.
Atmosphere: N/A
It’s a takeout only spot with no dining area to sit in, along with a small parking lot to contend with as well. Just be ready for a small wait for your food to get prepared.
Service: 5 / 5
The team in the kitchen seemed to be very efficient to handle the large number of orders for the lunchtime crowd. I think the line we waited in might have been considered relatively short, but the 30 minutes we waited for our food still seemed pretty quick overall.
Price: 5 / 5
The $30 price point for one order of pasta initially made me a bit skeptical if it would be worth it, but after tasting the quality of the food, seeing the uniqueness of the pasta type, along with the quantity of food you receive, it is 100% worth it.
Overall:
15 / 15
(100%)
Categories: Hawaii, Restaurants
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