I had seen an article on Facebook about a new Argentinean bakery, and as you know, I love bakeries and baked goods, and so, for the sake of the blog, a friend and I went and checked it out.
The new bakery, Momona, just opened a few months ago in Kahului, at the harbor end of Pu’unene Ave. A bit out of the way if you’re staying in Kihei, especially considering that they open at 6AM on weekdays, 7AM weekends. The article I had read stated that they often sold out of their most popular items by 8AM, so we went early. We went on a Saturday morning and arrived at 7:20AM. There was no parking left so we parked across the street. It’s this cute stand-alone house with a large front porch. The place has been beautifully refinished inside which is nice since we ended up standing in line for half hour, patiently waiting our turn. People were friendly, the lady in front of us is a regular and gave us suggestions for which things to try.
We ended up getting 3 pastries and two coffees. Momona’s specialty are Medialunas which are an Argentinean version of a croissant. The MauiNow article says they are a bit more doughy and sweeter than French croissants. I’ll defer to their wisdom on that one. They were great.
Our ranking is, #1 the coconut roll, omg. So good. #2 the ‘original’ Medialuna, and surprisingly, #3 the lilikoi. I love lilikoi, and it had a delicious lilikoi curd, but the other two were even better. By the time we got to order, they had already sold out of the berry-tart Medialuna which I’d been eyeing up. It is good we came early.
A cool detail
Momona’s building has had a varied history, most recently it was home to ‘Sip Me’ (a coffee shop), a realtor’s office, a furniture store and a bank. There is plenty of tastefully decorated seating, but by far the coolest seating option is the private table in the former bank vault. Wow.
Cara’s bakery recommendations on Maui
On the off chance you have a sweet tooth like me, here are some of my favorite Maui bakeries/dessert places. I’ve blogged about many of them.
- Fabiani’s ~ everything is great, but the lilikoi roulade is amazing
- Komoda’s ~ malasadas and dinner rolls
- La Provence ~ upcountry French bakery/restaurant
- Sugar Beach Bake Shop ~ everything! And fresh made to order malasadas (before 9AM)
- Maui Bread Co ~ great German and Hawaiian breads and treats
- Blue Door Bread & Pizza
- Kula Bistro ~ fantastic dessert display case