Since Montreal summer isn’t what we were expecting this year, we’re all kind of itching to pack our bags and leave the country for somewhere more tropical. Well, no need! We’ve got all the sun and sand right here in Montreal. Kamehameha Snack-Bar is the newest Hawaiian restaurant to open in Montreal. This spot promises good vibes, fresh food, and awesome photo ops.
What can you eat at a snack bar, you ask? They’ve got pokés, smoothies, Hawaiian snacks, and ice cream. Really, you’ll be hard pressed to find anything but healthy food on this menu. And to make it better, it’s healthy Hawaiian food.
One menu item may make you look again and wonder, however. Kamehameha has Spam Musubi, which is a sushi-style slice of spam served with rice and seaweed. To most of us, Spam is synonymous with mystery meat, but Spam is actually very popular in Hawaii. The spiced ham was introduced to Hawaiians during World War II, when soldiers were served Spam because it didn’t need to be refrigerated. It’s been nicknamed the “Hawaiian steak” and is a huge part of their culture, with an annual Spam festival (Spam Jam). Even Barack Obama eats it!
If you’re not adventurous enough to try the Spam Musubi (you’d be missing out though), you can’t go wrong with their poké bowls. They offer 6 different kinds of pokés, with tuna, salmon, and veggie options.
We especially loved the Waikiki, with red tuna mature, onion, edamame, sesame seeds, wakame, avocado, radish, nori, and échalotes. Another winner was the Kailua, with flambéed bio salmon, avocado, échalotes, wakake, arugula, radish, edamame, tempura, massago, nuts, and nori.
If you want something light and vegan, the Waimanalo was a refreshing surprise, with watermelon, échalotes, mango, edamame, radish, avocado, nori, cucumber, and sesame.
The smoothies come in regular smoothie format or as a bowl, and we’d be hard pressed to choose a favourite. The Moana is delicious, with acaï, almond butter, cacao, matcha, and almond milk. For those of you who love to drink every thing green, you have to try the Kamala, with romaine, Swiss Chard, spinach, kale, almond milk, pineapple, and yogurt.
For the pièce de résistance and what your Instagram feed is craving, the Taiyaki Cone. The cones are a spin-off of a 100-year-old Japanese dessert called Taiyaki, which is a waffle-like dessert filled with sweet red bean paste. They’ve been modernized to act as an ice cream cone to fill up with sweet sweet soft serve ice cream. Honestly, who could go back to regular ice cream cones after eating ice cream out of a deliciously soft (but not too soft) fish-shaped cone?
For a little slice of Hawaii and to save your bank account from an expensive trip, we’d definitely recommend you heading out to Kamehameha Snack-Bar for a healthy, delicious, and quick meal!
1190 St Catherine St E, Montreal, QC H2L 2G7
(514) 303-0550
Photos by Dahlia Merlo (@dahllii) and Montreal Food Divas (@mtlfooddivas).
