Farmacy restaurant and juice bar, now open at the Pukalani Terrace Center. Photo by Kiaora Bohlool.

Popular health food restaurant, The Farmacy, has opened a new site at the Pukalani Terrace Center. With the health bar’s success in Wailuku, chef and owner Christopher Malik Cousins decided to expand upcountry.

“We believe the people upcountry want and appreciate the fresh organic food we prepare. My mom inspired me to eat healthy and although I didn’t appreciate it as a youth, she is why I have the healthy menus I do today,” says Cousins. “The big difference between us and everyone else is that we are using fresh-squeezed juices for everything, which makes our products almost all alkaline. Most every other place is using granulated sugar or organic sugar; all of those things are not alkaline.”

Cousins says his business buys 1,500 pounds of organic sugar cane a week, which is “not easy to get, but it’s worth it.”  He adds that sugar cane juice is an integral ingredient in many of The Farmacy’s juices and smoothies.

“Sugar cane juice is considered an alkaline-forming food because of the high concentration of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, and manganese,” he explains. “Diseases like cancer cannot survive in an alkaline environment and studies show its effective in fighting cancer.”

The most popular items at the Pukalani Terrace Center Farmacy Restaurant include the Açaí Bowl, a thick smoothie parfait in a bowl layered with granola and chunks of fruit; and the Pono Burger, which features onion, zucchini, egg, quinoa, buckwheat and seasoning.

“We can’t make them fast enough and we are proud to be helping people be healthy,” says Cousins.