Kai's Pastele Shop

As I browsed to see which trucks I haven't tried at Taco'ako Tuesday, I came across Kai's Pastele Shop which I haven't seen before. I guess I'm the first to review this truck because I couldn't find any other posting on Yelp:Pastele stew - 4 stars - For $7.50 plus 20 cents tax (yes, this truck is one of the few that the tax is not included in their price) it pretty much tasted like the stew I make, but they had more ingredients in it. I like how they blended in cabbage, olives,. chunks of tomatoes and some other spices other than your basic carrot, potato, onion and celery in it. They gave a pretty big serving with two scoops of rice and watercress salad.Pastele - 3 stars - For $4 you can order the pastele ala carte. It's something I haven't eaten before, so I can't say if it's better or worse than other places, but it was something different to try - if you like spicy, it has a spicy after-bite to it. Goes well with the stew.My friend ordered the taco, and he said it was ok. However, I can't rate it since I didn't try it.Service - 5 stars - the man and woman were very friendly and answered my questions on what a pastele is, but more so because I didn't know what a pastele was or tasted like, he gave me a free sample to try, which is something not many lunch trucks would do.They also sell tacos and burritos, but I have to go back to try those too before being a fan of the truck.

I'm gonna be honest and say that this is the best Pastele place I've been to on the island. I can't say that i can compare it to an actual sit down puerto rican restaurant, since I'm not familiar with many around the island, but in comparison to all the Pastele trucks and stops Ive been to around the island, this one takes the cake! I've been to stops along the windward side, while heading down toward Koolau. There used to be (not sure if its still there) Pastele stops along the road. One of the guys that used to serve Pastele along with poke had decent Pastele, but his business was way sketchy. The dude would always "accidentally" miscount the money. He also inaccurately counted up the total of your order in his head. Not to mention his erasable white board was unreadable which made the prices even harder to determine. So don't go to that guy!Instead go to Kai's. Great prices (you don't have to worry about getting ripped off) and their Pastele ingredients are unique in texture. I'm really not even sure if they were made out of the traditional banana base. But i don't really care because they were just so awesome! They offer a a few different types Pastele with different types of meat all at different spice levels. Also several other peurto rican dishes which i still have yet to try are available.Next time I'm getting the seafood Pastele. I'm so bummed because they sold out the last time. I'm a huge fan of seafood and Pastele so when i saw it on the menu i just thought it was the coolest mix. (if you've never had poke with your Pastele you should def. give it a try)

I am no Puerto Rican cuisine expert, but I do know that the stuff I have been introduced to this year..this stuff is GOOD. Now the problem is, finding good, quality places to get your hands on this stuff. Aren't too many places at the moment, but I think we are heading in the right direction here in Hawaii.Fast forward to Takoako Tuesday, I was looking for something different to try. The lady in the truck was very friendly and patient, giving me advice on the dishes. Basically, I didn't know for sure what I was ordering (but that's half the fun right?) and I put my trust in the lady to advise me on something good. And what a pleasant surprise that was. PANDIJA was some fried goodness, with a side of gandule rice and salad. But I still didn't feel sick and heavy like after a plate lunch, I felt satisfied, and the flavors were intriguing, but not overpowering. Now if you haven't ever tried Puerto rican pasteles, gandule rice, and whatever else they have to offer, you have not fully lived.

I had no idea what I was about to eat and I must say... It was delicious! If you never had a Pastele ("Pa-tè-l") you need to get you some. 6 bucks wasn't enough!

I sampled several dishes at Kai's. First, a side order of their pastele ($4). The pastele is prepared similar to how it's made in the Dominican Republic: a tamale-style pastele consisting of masa (using green plantains or bananas), tomato paste, and more. A banana leaf on the bottom of the pastele added to the authentic preparation. A very delicious pastele with a strong tomato presence -- almost like incorporating marinara sauce into a tamale. The preparation made it feel like a Mexican-Italian hybrid.Next up, the Bacalao Salad ($3.50). While my understanding is for this to be a salted cod salad, I got zero cod in my portion. In fact, this looked more like a messy watercress salad with the pieces not cut small enough (needed a knife here so I didn't look like a moron trying to fit a huge chunk of watercress in my mouth). No flavor in here at all...just really watercress and onion. I'm assuming this was a misstep on what the order really was, because I can assure you I didn't get bacalao salad.I got a free scoop of gandule rice on the house. It's basically a Spanish rice, with diced cooked pork, capers and whole kalamata olives inside. A lovely color here. The capers and the olives added a little brininess. Unfortunately, other than that, this rice was largely bland.Kai's has taco sauce or a banana hot sauce for people to try. Perhaps I coulda used that on my rice and salad to get some flavor in there. An average experience here, at best (mainly for the delicious pastele).

As good as it gets was my vote! I've visited this truck for its pasteles, pastele stew and their GANDULE RICE,. Omgosh! Absolutely delicious! One thing I look for is freshness and their food is the freshest! I loved the flavor in the pastele and the size was larger than most pasteles I've bought. Also, the STEW was equally fresh and had added ingredients just melted in my mouth: all so good! It was so tasty and fresh! Next visit, I am going try their tacos and FRESH BACALHAU SALAD. The service was great and very friendly. I rate this truck 5 stars! I will be back. I seen them on Ward too. I'll be back Kai's Pastele Shop Truck!