Leonard's Bakery - malasadas - Honolulu, Hawaii

[Sweet Willie]

do not miss getting malasadas from Leonard's Bakery, 933 Kapahulu Ave, Honolulu (close to Waikiki) phone: 808.737.5591 Open at 6am every morning.

Malasadas are a Portuguese donut w/o the hole, think warm and yummy. Leonard's serves 5 kinds: Original, Cinnamon, Custard filled (my fave), Chocolate filled, and Coconut Cream filled (my 2nd fave).

You will not see them in the bakery cases, you must ask for them. The malasadas are in the back, where I assume they are being kept warm. I ordered 15 for under $12 including tax. WELL WORTH IT.

[skchai]

Holy postapalooza SW! Very glad you're enjoying your vacation in the islands. Don't spend too much time hooked up to your computer!

Leonard's Malasadas are more or less fried constantly throughout the day. So there's no need to keep them warm, since they get bought up almost as soon as they're made. The reason the lady has to disappear into the back to get them is that often they're taken directly out of the fryer into your box.

There's some controversy here over who has the best Malasadas. Leonard's is the original, but several years ago one of their chefs (who is originally from Macau and hence had prior experience with Malasadas) left and started his own place called Champion Malasadas. Champion always fries their malasadas to order, sometimes they are literally sizzling in front of you - and they let their malasadas rise much longer, which gives them a slightly sour taste that some like and others dislike.

[Sweet Willie]

There's some controversy here over who has the best Malasadas. Leonard's is the original, but several years ago one of their chefs (who is originally from Macau and hence had prior experience with Malasadas) left and started his own place called Champion Malasadas. Champion always fries their malasadas to order, sometimes they are literally sizzling in front of you - and they let their malasadas rise much longer, which gives them a slightly sour taste that some like and others dislike.

Of course I'm going to try Champion, do you happen to have an address?

[skchai]

Here's the address:

Champion Malasadas

1926 South Beretania St. @McCully Street

Phone: 947-8778

It's on the mauka (north) - ewa (west) side of the street, in a nondescript rectangular building. . .

[The Little Blue House]

Perhaps directions in terms of Mavro would be easiest? Just remember that McCully is the street that runs along side Mavro, on the side where the door isn't. If you were driving up McCully from Waikiki, you would pass Mavro on your left. Then a couple of lights later, turn left onto Beretania at the funny rental place (they always have a sign up with some odd saying), and Champion is on your right. If they are open, there is a neon OPEN sign. Enjoy!

And after just thinking about how to get there, now I might have to walk over there and get some breakfast! They have a great breakfast plate.

-Emily

[Sweet Willie]

And after just thinking about how to get there, now I might have to walk over there and get some breakfast! They have a great breakfast plate.

-Emily

I will go here for breakfast on the morning of December 26th, What is on a breakfast plate?

[The Little Blue House]

I think that the combo is eggs, choice of meat, and a malasada. And it's cheap--I don't remember how much, but it's cheap.

December 26th, huh? If I were you, I'd call and make sure that they will be open. It is just a bakery counter, and while there are chairs to sit in while you wait, this isn't the sort of place where you eat. Of course, this being Hawaii, you can just step outside eat pretty much anywhere, even on December 26th.

Sadly, I will be missing the holidays in Hawaii! I hope that everyone else enjoys theirs here.

-Emily

[Sweet Willie]

Showed up at 6am before an interisland flight to Molokai. Champion was only serving "plain" malasadas. They were warm almost hot and wonderful.

Language was a barrier and I'm not sure if I understood correctly that Champion only serves plain malasadas. If so, I have to give the nod to Leonard's due to the delicious variety of filling possibilities.

[skchai]

That's right. Champion does only serve the plain type, regardless of the time of day. Malasada "Purists" tend to favor those, but you're right that it's nice to have some choices!

[alanamoana]

and speaking of malasadas...how do locals feel about the "big deal" punahou carnival malasada lines?! what a fiasco right? there is always a huge line at the malasada tent and people are buying literally hundreds of malasadas to take home. that carnival is such a money maker...

skchai, since you seem to be the local expert...do you know much about the history of malasadas and/or a recipe?! that would be great!

you're so attentive to eGullet and the hawaii forum! i appreciate the time you invest, even though i'm not always able to contribute too much to this forum...i'm from hawaii but live in new york...must keep up with fat guys postings .

aloha,

alana

[wesza]

and speaking of malasadas...how do locals feel about the "big deal" punahou carnival malasada lines?! what a fiasco right? there is always a huge line at the malasada tent and people are buying literally hundreds of malasadas to take home. that carnival is such a money maker...

skchai, since you seem to be the local expert...do you know much about the history of malasadas and/or a recipe?! that would be great!

you're so attentive to eGullet and the hawaii forum! i appreciate the time you invest, even though i'm not always able to contribute too much to this forum...i'm from hawaii but live in new york...must keep up with fat guys postings .

aloha,

alana

Unless the Concession has changed the Malasada sold a the Punahoe Carnival were supplied by Leonards Bakery's Malasada Trucks.

I had been advised that "Malasada's" were introduced to the Islans by the Catholic Church that the majority of the "Luna's" attended where there evolved a Portugese Ladies Group who initially prepared them after Church on Sunday's and eventually sold them at Fund Raisers.

It seemed that the Sundays after Church were generally social occassions since many worshippers traveled from the various Suger Plantations on the Island to attend Church whenever possable, especially for special occasions.

Some of the best Malasadas used to be made by Portugese Organization ladies for fun raisers at Waipahu when the Sugar Mill was still operating.

A lot of the lines at Fairs and Carnivals at the Maslasada Wagons are due to the fact that there are Coupons pre sold for fund Raising that are being redeemed for pretty large orders.

In Honolulu the Coupons of Choice are: Leonards Bakery for Malasadas, Zippy's for Chile and King Bakery for Sweet Bread as well as Huli Huli Chicken.

Leonards were preparing Malasadas for many years before the hired anyone from Macau. If i'm not mistaken most were fried and prepared by Portugese, Okinawaian and Purto Rican Ladies who were all from Hawaii.

The addition of any type of fillings has been a recent innovation.

Irwin

[skchai]

Alanamoana, thanks so much for the positive feedback. I have fun writing up these posts, so I guess I don't mind the time it takes . . .

Quickie history: Malassada (spelt properly with two "s"'s) literally means "badly cooked" in Portuguese. It is traditionally a pre-Lent dish and was brought her by the immigrants from the Azores and Madeira. Leonard Rego started his bakery in the early 1950s, and pretty much had the market to himself until the number of malasada bakeries began to multiply in the 1980s or so. Now we have Champion, Agnes, and many others. . . There are now so many new fillings available and numerous upscale versions, such as Chef Mavro's $10 lilikoi coulis-filled number.

Irwin, thanks for your observations about the role of the churches in spreading the Malasada - you seem to have information about everything!

The Punahou Carnival Malasada booth - in recent years it seems they make their own rather than get it from Leonard's. They're always looking for fry cook volunteers. There's even a "Punahou Carnival Malasada" recipe posted on Art Pollard's UH recipe site, though I can't prove that's the one they use. One thing that seems to fit is that they do use a LOT of nutmeg. IMHO, the main reason the line is so long at the Punahou Carnival is that they are still only one scrip apiece! So last time we waited patiently so we could use up our "spare change" scrip on malasadas, and ended up taking home about 40-50, almost filled a whole grocery bag!

[alanamoana]

thanks for the recipe link! i'll give them a try.