THE MUSUBI TRUCK
ADDRESS: 4548 Kukui St, Kapaʻa, HI 96746
WEBSITE: https://www.themusubishop.com/
For me and my wife Cami, one of our favorite Hawaiian snacks has to be Spam musubi. So naturally, we had done some homework ahead of our trip to see if we could find places to get musubi on both Oahu and Kauai. This is how we ended up rolling up to The Musubi Truck.
During our time on Kauai, we were staying in Kapa’a on the east side of the island, where one of the three Musubi Truck locations was located. It was conveniently a short drive away from the Airbnb we were staying at, so we decided to take a quick stop over there for lunch on our way north to visit the Kilauea Lighthouse later that afternoon.
The location has its own lot that the truck is parked in, with a number of picnic benches that make up the seating area after you order. Parking is going to be right along the street, so if you spot a space closeby, that’s definitely one to grab. We happened to be there during the lunch rush, and it appears to get pretty busy.
As the name suggests, musubi makes up their primary offering for the food options, with several different types to choose from. Spam, chicken katsu, ahi katsu, kalbi, or tofu make up the variety, but they also have the deep-fried Spam musubi as well. In addition to the musubi, they also have poke there, along with some tater tot sides.
Being that this was our first real food for the day, we were both feeling especially hungry. Their Lifeguard Bento, which was a combo of their deep-fried Spam musubi, poke, and tater tots, sounded pretty appetizing. We decided to pair that along with a Chicken Katsu musubi for some extra variety.
We were fortunate that we got there right before it got really popular, since I think about five parties arrived after us. It took about 15 minutes before our food was ready, and it was relatively easy for us to snag a spot at one of the picnic tables while we waited for the food. Opening up both of the boxes, the smells coming out were fantastic. The Lifeguard Bento box had a nice visual contrast, with the ahi poke dividing up the deep-fried Spam musubi and the tater tots. The Chicken Katsu musubi, which was off of their double sized musubi section, resembled what I could best describe as a musubi burrito.
I didn’t know that deep-fried Spam musubi were what I was missing from my life until giving it a try. The crunchiness from being fried matched well with the Spam and sushi rice, while the topping of garlic Japanese mayo, furikake, and kabayaki sauce helped to punch up the flavor a little. The truffle tater tots offered a nice side dish, where the truffle Parmesan, roasted garlic mayo, and sweet soy sauce were nice toppings for another layer of flavor. As for the ahi poke, I thought it had a tasty shoyu flavor and also acted as a contrast from the other two fried foods. But it didn’t stand out enough to me that I’d ever order it on its own.
The Chicken Katsu musubi had sweet soy sauce and scallions that accompanied the chicken on the inside, while also being served with a side container of the rich katsu sauce that you could either dip or pour over each bite. It was definitely an interesting take, with the crunch coming from the panko and your main flavor driver coming from the katsu sauce. It was something I definitely enjoyed, but I’d say that I preferred the Lifeguard Bento collectively over just the other musubi.
Our stop at The Musubi Truck ended up leaving such an impression that we returned for another visit the following day. The deep-fried Spam musubi was just really that good. We even stopped by the Kalapaki location on the day of our flight back to LA to see if we could get more musubi to-go, but unfortunately the line ended up being too long. If you are also a fan of musubi and looking for a very satisfying meal during your stay on Kauai, be sure to take a stop by The Musubi Truck. You might just ask yourself, “when can we come back next?” like we did.
Let’s now take a look at the The Musubi Truck Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** Lifeguard Bento **
Truffle tater tots (pictured left), Hawaiian style ahi poke over sushi rice (pictured center), deep-fried Spam musubi topped with garlic Japanese mayo, furikake, and kabayaki sauce (pictured right).
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** Chicken Katsu Musubi **
Crispy chicken katsu pieces wrapped with sweet soy sauce and scallions, served with katsu sauce on the side.
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** Ahi Katsu Musubi **
Pan-seared ahi katsu wrapped with soy sauce, furikake, scallions, and garlic sauce, served with spicy mayo on the side.
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** Deep-Fried Spam Musubi **
Deep-fried musubi cut into four pieces, topped with garlic Japanese mayo, furikake, and kabayaki sauce. Two orders pictured above.
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And finally, here are my rankings for The Musubi Truck:
Food: 5 / 5
The deep-fried Spam musubi is a gamechanger. Their other musubi offerings are also tasty, and the variety is nice if you want to branch out from Spam. The food is absolutely delicious and leaves you wanting another helping.
Atmosphere: N/A
They definitely have a nice setup with the different picnic tables you can eat your food at. Taking your musubi to-go and enjoying them out by the beach is a pretty good idea, too.
Service: 4.25 / 5
Despite the stack-up of orders that came in right around when we got there, the team inside the truck seemed to be able to handle it with ease, cranking out the food at a pretty good pace.
Price: 4.75 / 5
All of the pricing on the food felt pretty reasonable for what you got, along with the quality of the food itself. The Lifeguard Bento being priced at $20 seemed to offer a nice spectrum of different flavor profiles of what the truck offers.
Overall:
14 / 15
(93%)
Categories: Hawaii, Restaurants
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