It is around 26 degrees in Hawaii today, snorkels and surfboards are being unpacked at Kahalu’u Beach. Hach, the Polynesian archipelago is far away, in these times it is almost inaccessible anyway, so no happy aloha helps anymore. Rosa Marín therefore gathers friends around her in the Neuhauser branch of Hawaiian life and tries in this way to absorb the wanderlust.
The “Maui” restaurant looks like an island anyway, the distant noise from the Middle Ring could easily pass as the landing of great, perfect surfer waves. The promising lettering shines blue on Nymphenburger Strasse. Inside you are immediately embraced by warmth and cordiality, the only thing missing are the colorful flower chains, which, if you believe the clichés, are hung around you by the smiling island folk.
That is not the case here, although the waiters and waitresses in colorful, of course, Hawaiian shirts are also very friendly and very attentive. The flower chains hang here in fabric form from the ceiling, are decoration on the wooden tables, meander around the beautiful copper mug filled with Hanoi Mule (10 euros), a cocktail that you treat yourself to at the start. That is: the perfect South Sea feeling. Roku Gin, Lemon Juice, Ginger Beer, Lemongrass and shiny kaffir lime leaves create excitement at the table right from the start. And let us hope for the best.
A gigantic palm wallpaper, great patterned floor tiles
Green plants meander from the wooden walls, stylish velvet armchairs and benches stand in front of palm trees, in this case in front of a gigantic palm wallpaper, the light is nicely dimmed, but lets the view lucidly over great patterned floor tiles, bamboo shelves as room dividers, the nicely arranged table with embroidered napkins including the embedded table grill.
Lots of green, beautiful floor tiles and large wooden tables – the restaurant is immediately inviting.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
The “Maui, Hawasian Kitchen & Bar” aims to be a mixture of Asian and Hawaiian food culture. The restaurateurs have roots in Vietnam, the echoes from the Asian cookshops are clear. But what is Hawaiian cuisine now? To stick to the cliché, one could now look for fireplaces in which piglets are cooked. Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai and Maui are said to be teeming with that. The news of the famous luau, a pig that cooks for hours in the ground, has long since made it to Europe. And then of course there is poke, a kind of fish salad, the national dish, here Japanese elements merge with Californian ones – in general, a lot comes together in Hawaii from quite a few kitchens.
In order to keep an overview, Rosa Marín had teamed up with extremely knowledgeable culinary experts at the large wooden table. Well-traveled people are those who, for example, give each other Dutch ovens and other hot pots as the highest proof of friendship and can talk shop for hours about the most absurd methods of performing on the stove – when it’s “only” about cooking.
The light in the restaurant is nicely dimmed, but lets your gaze wander lucidly through the room.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
It was a great journey through the colorful, cheerfully designed menu, which brings together “specialties and similarities of the various exotic cuisines”, as it says: It started with mussels in coconut sauce (11.90 euros), a decent portion of well-cleaned dishes Mussels, with ginger, basil and lemongrass and a handful of kaffir leaves, the sauce reminded of Tom Ka Gai’s taste, a wonderful combination. The tuna tartare (13.90) with onions, sesame, dill and chilli-mayo sauce had a fine, harmonious spiciness.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung’s restaurant review “Tasting” has a long tradition: it has been published weekly in the local section since 1975, and for several years also online and with a rating scale. About a dozen editors with culinary experience from all departments – from Munich, knowledge to politics – take turns writing about the city’s gastronomy. The choice is endless, the Bavarian economy is just as important as the Greek fish restaurant, the American fast food chain, the special bratwurst stand or the gourmet restaurant decorated with stars. The special thing about the SZ tasting: The authors write under pseudonyms, often with a culinary touch. You go undetected to the restaurant to be tested about two or three times, depending on how long the budget set by the editorial team lasts. Iron basic rules: a hundred days grace period until the kitchen of a new restaurant has settled in. And: Never get caught working as a restaurant critic – so that you can describe food and drink, service and atmosphere in an unbiased manner. SZ
Other starters, all beautifully arranged on various ceramics or slates, were the Crispy Duck Roll (6.90), which combined duck, rice noodles, lettuce, carrots and coriander in the most beautiful way. All the ingredients could be tasted well, the large portion with extra hoisin sauce in a bowl was available at a fair price. Small drawback of the avocado roll (6.90) with mango, rocket and wasabi mayo: the green fruit wasn’t quite ripe, a problem that rarely occurs in Hawaii or Vietnam. The shrimp rolls (6.90) also flattened a little compared to the opulent overall impression, the casing wasn’t cleaned, and with two shrimp per roll it was also pretty clear. The Bao Taco with BBQ Pork (7.90) convinced with tender, forever braised meat, great fresh herbs, carrots and lots and lots of coriander. A dream.
The Maui Poke Bowl is full of tuna, salmon, avocado & Co.
The portions in Maui are very generous. Of course, Rosa Marín couldn’t resist the Maui Poke Bowl (17.90). This is a full program with rice, tuna, salmon, prawns, avocado, edamame, radishes, takuan radish, mango, cucumber and so on. Everything precisely chopped up, super fresh – a beautiful bowl that is hard to manage. When it came to the Mauis Wowies (BBQ), everyone knew why they were called, the Huli Huli Chicken (17.90) was really wow: the finely tuned, grilled, tenderly pickled chicken with pineapple, coriander and tamarind sauce comes along. In the “Woks from Grandma’s Kitchen” section, only the duck with ginger (16.90) left something to be desired, it looked like a dish from the 1980s, a bit unimaginative, and the ginger didn’t penetrate properly either.
Hawaiian and Asian, with a focus on Vietnam, also to go – that is the concept of “Maui”, which opened in early 2019 on Nymphenburger Straße.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
At the end there were coconut balls (6 euros), with raspberry sauce and coconut, pretty grated and Polynesian somehow. The Hawaiian evening was a bit like from another world, that’s really good right now.
Maui, Hawasian Kitchen & Bar, Nymphenburger Straße 151, 80634 Munich, phone 089/18923188, opening times: Monday to Friday 11.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m., Monday to Saturday 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. www.maui-restaurant.de.