Seafood City Toronto and Seafood City Hawaii both carry Filipino groceries and baked goods. What’s the difference between the two stores? Photo by Yona M. Harvey, Mabuhay Canada Media
When Seafood City opened its first location in Canada in 2017, homesick Filipinos lined up eagerly to get a little taste of home. Within its massive 50,000 square foot of space can be found Filipino brands of grocery items you can’t find in local stores, a Jollibee restaurant, a Valerio bakery, and a turo-turo (“point-point”) style of ordering at the food court with your choice of noodles and grilled or fried food.
Seafood City now has two locations in Ontario: one in Mississauga, and a much smaller branch in Scarborough.
When I toured Hawaii in January 2023, I eagerly sought out Seafood City in Waipahu (94-050 Farrington Hwy.) to see what kind of products they sold.
Here are 5 unique items that can be found at Seafood City Hawaii:
1) Poke, poke, poke
Freshly made poke are sold at Seafood City in Hawaii. Photo by Yona M. Harvey, Mabuhay Canada Media
Hawaii is known for its poke dishes–diced or sliced fresh fish mixed with flavourings and garnishes. At Seafood City in Hawaii, freshly made poke are available to purchase and enjoy at home.
2) A Terno Store
A terno store inside Seafood City? What a brilliant idea! Seafood City Hawaii has a dress shop called Bloom selling traditional Filipino garments like the Maria Clara and Barong Tagalog.
3) Strawberry Crush
I did a double take when I saw Strawberry-flavoured Crush soda in the grocery aisles. Yes, we have Orange Crush a-plenty, but I’ve never seen Strawberry Crush before. If I wasn’t worried about pop exploding in my luggage, I would have taken these babies home.
4) Magnolia Ice Cream Store
Beloved Filipino ice cream company Magnolia Ice Cream has a store inside Seafood City Hawaii serving ube-flavoured ice cream, halo-halo and shave ice. Photo by Yona M. Harvey, Mabuhay Canada Media
Is there anything more Hawaiian than shave ice? Magnolia Ice Cream store in Hawaii serves shave ice, as well as ice cream and halo-halo. Photo by Yona M. Harvey, Mabuhay Canada Media.
Philippines’ beloved ice cream brand Magnolia Ice Cream has locations in Hawaii, with one branch inside Seafood City. Magnolia Ice Cream offers frozen delicacies such as ube-flavoured ice cream, a variety of halo-halo flavours, and its version of Hawaiian shave ice.
5) Baked Goods
Cheeky bread names by Valerio’s Tropical Bakeshop. Kabit means mistress in Filipino. Photo by Yona Harvey, Mabuhay Canada Media.
Perhaps the best surprise of all is the huge variety of baked goods at Seafood City Hawaii. First, there’s a Red Ribbon location selling beloved Filipino pastries. Second, Valerio’s Tropical Bakeshop items are also available here, although they don’t have a stand-alone storefront.
I love the cheeky names they chose for their bread: kabit (mistress), magkaribal (rivals), chizmosa (gossip), and pineapple cream cheese bulilit (mini-version).
Unique flavours such as pineapple cream cheese bread are sold at Seafood City Hawaii. Photo by Yona M. Harvey, Mabuhay Canada Media.
And let’s not forget the donuts: guava cream, coconut, ube queso and leche flan flavours are but a few of the dozen donut varieties available.
Ahh, Hawaii. Will your wonders ever cease? As if you needed another reason for people to visit.
Banana-flavoured donuts? Why not? Photo by Yona M. Harvey, Mabuhay Canada Media
