Fairmont Kea Lani’s signature restaurant Kō features award-winning cuisine inspired by the vast collection of ethnicities brought together during Maui’s sugarcane plantation era. Kō’s new summer dinner menu includes expressions of plantation traditions with a focus on utilizing Hawai’i’s freshest ingredients. Each dish stays true to Kō’s concept of sharing Maui’s history and culture through recipes passed down for generations and infused with contemporary flavors and techniques.
New summer menu highlights include:
SOUPS
miso soup
kabocha pumpkin, upcountry baby spinach, aburage
STARTERS
five spiced duck steamed bao bun
duck confit, big island cucumber, mango compote
vegetable tempura
sweet kula onion, hon shimeiji mushroom,
kabocha pumpkin, bush beans
SALADS
avocado and spicy ahi poke
orange tobiko, kaiware sprouts, daikon, ogo, sushi rice
PLANTATION TRADITIONS
mauka and makai
teppan yaki maui cattle co. beef tenderloin, sustainably harvested
lobster tail, citrus-soy miso
grilled farm raised moi
kauai shrimp, tomato, spinach, kabocha pumpkin, bush beans
seared hokkaido scallops
yaki udon, shiitake mushroom, sugar snap peas, sweet pepper
pancit noodles
farmed kauai shrimp, upcountry vegetables
roasted coconut madras curry chicken breast
pineapple sweet chili, cilantro
“Our summer menu at Kō pays homage to the past and those who came before us by showcasing the recipes and techniques of our ancestors dating back to Maui’s plantation era. The dishes share the stories of the island by giving center stage to the bounty of the land and sea.” Explains Executive Chef Pang. “Our agricultural partners including ranchers, fishermen and farmers, are as influential in the flavors of our menu as the cooks are in preparing each dish.”
Kō, which translates to sugarcane in Hawaiian, is inspired by the sugarcane plantation era, a time when people from around the world came to the Hawaiian Islands to work in the sugarcane fields. The plantation workers brought recipes and cooking techniques from home while utilizing the ingredients available to them in the islands.
This culinary evolution eventually developed into what is now considered modern Hawaiian cuisine. Through these dishes and family recipes, Chef Pang and his team share traditions and stories of the island’s immigrants – including Hawaiian, Chinese, Filipino, Portuguese, Korean and Japanese. By utilizing the island’s fresh produce, meat and seafood, Chef Pang gives these authentic recipes a farm-fresh, contemporary twist. For more information, please visit KoRestaurant.com.
