Eat Me: Treats & Sweets in Kahului

By Kristin Hashimoto

Chow fun and fries, photo by Kristin Hashimoto

You’ve probably passed by this place hundreds of times on the way to and from town. Treats & Sweets in Kahului is a stop for local food and cold sweets. If you’re not pressed for time on a lunch hour, a few menu items may be worth checking out.

At around noon, service was slow. There weren’t a lot of customers waiting for their food, but wait staff were scarce. This is an order-up-at-the-window type of place, with large pictures of an incredible array of plate lunches, bento items, ice cream and drinks colorfully plastered on any given space available.

A large order of fries and a small Korean-style spicy chow fun took about 15 minutes to process, and amounted to just under $10. The fries were not abundant. The large size was small. The small size was tiny. The crinkle-cut nicely seasoned, crispy fries were better than what one might expect out of the frozen section at the grocery store.

Ordering their sweets or treats, photo By Kristin Hashimoto

However, when paired with the ketchup and mustard mix, the fries became something else entirely. It became a total yum moment. It’s not just a regular yellow mustard added as a dollop to the ketchup in the clear plastic container. It’s sort of like a whipped mustard mayo mix. It’s light, airy and creamy. The mustard is a muted yellow without the harsh flavor or bite of a straight from the bottle, racer yellow mustard like “French’s.”

The Korean-style chow fun was a mistake. While an order for the “spicy” Korean-style was made, a heat-less, spice-free chow fun was received. Still, the noodles were OK, the flavor was fine, but a repeated order will not be made. The noodles weren’t soggy-mushy, but they had an overcooked quality to it.

Still, according to the staff at Treats & Sweets, many patrons order the chow fun, fries and curry chicken. Plate lunches are $8 to $14 and ice creams are had for around $4. They are open Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and are located at 70 Lono Avenue. Call 877-5142 for more information.