Lau lau is the dish that tells you whether a Hawaiian restaurant is serious. It is technically simple — pork shoulder and a piece of butterfish wrapped in luau leaf (taro leaf), tied with a strip of ti leaf, and steamed for three to five hours — but the execution gap between a great lau lau and a mediocre one is enormous. Great lau lau: tender, unctuous, the luau leaf melted into the pork fat, the butterfish salt-cured and soft. Bad lau lau: dry pork, undercooked leaf with a bitter tannin edge, butterfish that tastes like nothing.

What to Look For

  • Luau leaf should be dark green and completely tender — any bitterness means undercooking
  • Pork should be pull-apart soft, not rubbery
  • Butterfish (black cod) should be rich and fatty, not dry
  • The bundle should be heavy for its size — a light lau lau has too much leaf, not enough filling
  • Steam-heat fresh is better than reheated — ask if it was made that morning

Helena's Hawaiian Food — The Standard (Oʻahu)

Helena's Hawaiian Food in Kalihi is the James Beard Award benchmark. The lau lau here has been made the same way since Helen Chock opened the restaurant in 1946. The luau leaf is always fully cooked, the pork is fatty and tender, and the butterfish is generous. Open Tuesday–Friday only. Worth planning your Oʻahu week around.

Highway Inn — Oʻahu

Highway Inn has two locations (Waipahu and Kakaʻako) and is the most accessible source of serious lau lau on Oʻahu. The Kakaʻako location operates in a modern space but the food is old-school. The lau lau plate comes with rice, poi, and lomi salmon — the full Hawaiian plate.

Waiahole Poi Factory — Oʻahu

Waiahole Poi Factory on the windward side makes lau lau alongside fresh-pounded poi. The windward side drive along Kamehameha Highway is part of the experience — the Ko'olau mountains on one side, Kaneohe Bay on the other. Order the lau lau plate with fresh poi and lomi salmon.

Big Island: The Deep Tradition

The Big Island has the strongest lau lau tradition outside Oʻahu — the Hilo farmers markets on Wednesday and Saturday often have vendors selling individually-wrapped lau lau made that morning. Eating a fresh lau lau at the Hilo Farmers Market at 8am, with coffee from a nearby stand, is one of the great simple pleasures of Hawaiian food.