China Boat Maui Restaurant
Tucked away on Lower Honopi’ilani Road in Kahana, it would be easy to miss China Boat even when you are driving past. If you are in the mood for traditional Chinese this is the only place in West Maui, so it is definitely worth seeking out.
The menu offers a tremendous variety to choose from for appetizers, soups and entrees. You will find a wade variety of traditional dishes with poultry, seafood, beef or pork, as well as a huge list of vegetarian offerings. Some of the chef’s suggestions include crispy fish filet in butter garlic sauce, sweet and pungent shrimp, kung pao three flavor and sesame beef or chicken.
The decor at China Boat is your pretty standard Chinese restaurant setting, with a few Maui ocean pictures thrown in for good measure. The seating is comfortable and not too crowded in, and even with several diners around us the restaurant does not feel to busy.
For starters we ordered Hot and Sour soup for two. The soup arrived quickly and was nice and hot. Next we tried the appetizer sampler which includes an eggroll, crab lagoon, shrimp toast and BBQ ribs. This is a great starter giving you a chance to sample a variety of different tastes. The eggroll is crispy and fried hot, the shrimp toast is nice and fluffy with egg and shrimp goodness, I didn’t try the crab, but the dish also featured a surprisingly large serving of short ribs, which were a little fatty but still tasty.
For entrees we tried the sweet and pungent shrimp and the beef with broccoli. The sweet and pungent shrimp is one of my favorite dishes on the menu. It is similiar to sweet and sour shrimp, except that the shrimp are fried in a much lighter batter and the sauce is almost clear while being sweet and a little sour. The preparation is just a little lighter overall and not quite so candy sweet like the traditional sweet and sour sauce. The beef and broccoli was cooked just right with a nice slightly sweet brown sauce.
If you are in West Maui and craving good Chinese food, head on up to Kahana for Chinese done right.
China Boat
4474 Lower Honoapi’ilani Rd
808-669-5089