Moon Festival

When I saw posters being put up for the very first 2-​day Moon Festival celebration, I was so excited and looked forward to an evening of food and entertainment with some friends. Sad to say I didn’t spend more than 20 minutes before walking away disappointed.
I met up with a fellow Yeep and his sister here for dinner and a fun evening. Consensus was we were all shocked and disappointed. We didn’t come to Chinatown to eat Panda’s Chinese food, Olay Thai food or L&L’s saimin burger or chili bowl. We had envisioned fresh noodles being cooked in a gas wok, piping HOT JIN DUI to munch on, bbq chicken and beef sticks… none to be found.
Perhaps I had my hopes on a high level. For Chinese New Year’s festivals held at the Chinese Cultural Plaza, there are many food booths, arts and crafts with some marketing here and there. Sadly, there were probably more marketing booths than food booths!
There were several booths that offered moon cake. One even sold a small slice for $ 1 each piece. Walk several blocks down to buy a WHOLE moon cake for about $ 5. Sorry, I’m Chinese and play that stereotype well. Too expensive. During Moon Festival our family eats taro cake and dim sum. No booths sold this. On the brighter side, they had lemonade, Gelato and kettle corn.
For entertainment there was an elderly gentleman who was «singing» and that didn’t really appeal to the younger generation. With so many levels of disappointment we sadly walked away with empty stomachs. Just like myself, my friend’s sister also had a lite lunch with the anticipation of a large, festive Chinese meal tonight.
Parking entrance to the Chinese Cultural Plaza is on Maunakea Street for $ 3 or there is also a municipal parking lot directly across Beretania Street.
Perhaps day#2 will be better with the moon cake eating contest? Will there be more food vendors? Not sure but I’m not willing to set aside time to check it out as day#1 was very sad.
NOTE: We walked away very hungry and ended up at Happy Garden, where we satisfied our Chinese food craving for the evening.

I came to the Chinese Cultural Center this afternoon to check out the Moon Festival. I deliberately skipped lunch so that I could eat here. This event was a big disappointment. There were hardly any vendors. I was expecting jin dui, Chinese pretzels, noodles, etc. I wanted real Chinese food like how they do for Chinese New Year.
I saw Panda Express, Olay’s Thai Express and Nalo Made Hawaiian Lemonade. My husband got his usual pumpkin curry from Olay’s. However, there was nothing I was interested in consuming. I walked across the street to Chinatown to hunt for food.

This is the first annual Moon Festival presented by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii. It’s held in the Cultural Plaza on September 25^th and 26^th. You can park in Cultural Plaza for $ 3 or look for street parking. There is entertainment, food vendors, games and tents that you can purchase or win items. Also, Miss Chinatown contestants stopped by and took some pictures.
Unfortunately, Panda Express is the only «Chinese» food vendor here. We were expecting more of a Chinese presence at this event. Other vendors here include: L&L, Homestyle Meats, Nalo made Lemonade, IL Gelato, Olay’s, Kettle Corn Hawaii, American Savings Bank, HomeStreet, Coldwell Banker, DDJ Hawaii LLC, Star Advertiser, Chinatown Lions Club, Green Solar and Philippine Airlines.
Overall, this event is smaller than expected. It is the first year for this event and I would assume that it will get better as more vendors and participants attend. Great for a family outing and it’s something different to do in HI.