Where to eat after golf: Devour these dining delights on Kauai
KOLOA, Kauai, Hawaii -- The front of the Beach House Restaurant looks nondescript from the road. The view out the back, however, is so good it's surreal.
Surfers ride the waves right up to the lawn of the restaurant. At sunset, diners gather around the shore to witness the beauty of the moment. The food inside one of the most romantic restaurants in the Hawaiian islands lives up to its glamorous surroundings.
The rest of my recent Garden Isle golf trip was spent eating at resort restaurants and inside golf clubhouses. These weren't your typical soulless hotel haunts and clubhouse hotdog stands, either.
Tidepools Restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa delivers an authentic Hawaiian ambience in an open-air thatched hut surrounded by lagoons filled with koi fish. The most expensive item on the menu, three Pacific prawns and the kona cold lobster tail, are certainly worth the splurge.
The Makana Terrace at the extravagant St. Regis Princeville Resort overlooks the Hanalei Bay and Makana Mountain. The favorite parts of my plate were the sushi appetizers and the Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Tart for dessert.
For a quicker casual bite to eat, the sliders at the St. Regis Bar will hit the spot. The food at the Kaua'i Marriott Resort ranges from casual dining -- like nachos -- at the Kalapaki Grill to more sophisticated menus at several other restaurants.
I tried to be creative when ordering lunch before and after golf. My Cobb salad at the Poipu Bar & Grill was so big I couldn't even finish it. The bowl of Big Wave Chili at the Ho'okipa Cafe inside the Pukea Golf Course clubhouse was deliciously different, spiced up with Portuguese sausage.
Both take a back seat, however, to The Tavern at Princeville, a restaurant run by one of Hawaii's premier chefs, Roy Yamaguchi, inside the impressive clubhouse of the Prince Course at Princeville Resort. The Tavern Meatloaf Sandwich might not sound like a marvelous meal in a tropical paradise, but trust me on this one.
