The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai
Traveling the Bay Area and beyond to find the best Mai Tai in the world! Tiki, cocktails, and adventures by Kevin Crossman
Mrs Mai Tai and I landed in Honolulu and made our way over to Disney’s Aulani Resort for a one night stay. We love the grounds and atmosphere but it is so pricey it doesn’t warrant a long stay. We enjoyed the lazy river, pools, and even a quick dip in the ocean.
The Tropical Mai Tai (Hawaiian Mai Tai 1) was nothing special but I liked the Tropical Itch a lot better.
The world’s best airport bar is celebrating its first birthday today. It was a long time coming but Trader Vic’s San Jose Airport has been slinging cocktails for one year now. We didn’t plan on being here specially for this but it was a happy accident with our flight to Hawai’i leaving at 7:30 and we still had time for breakfast.
Breakfast Mai Tai? Absolutely. It is 6:15 am somewhere, right?
Mrs Mai Tai had a Shirley Temple and we both had the Island Parfait. So good.
For those scoring at home this does NOT count for the Hawaiian Mai Tai contest.
Dr. Funk is now serving food on Sundays and Mondays, which previously were sans-kitchen. So, Mrs. Mai Tai and I had a great meal along with some drinks. I had the burger and Julie had the mushroom curry, both quite good. The cocktail for me was the Planter’s Punch, but I also had a pour of Koloa Gold rum to get me in the mood for our trip to Hawai’i starting on Wednesday (we’ll be in Kauai down the street from Koloa starting on the 14th). Music was mellow and leaning toward exotica, a welcome touch we always like to highlight.
And the venue is now open at Noon on Friday-Sunday, so there’s even more opportunity to try the specialty cocktails and excellent selection of rums and other spirits. If you like the early opportunity to do the tiki thing in the afternoon, I’d suggest patronizing and giving the team the feedback and economic incentive to continue opening early.
We’ve been told a special brunch menu is in the works, which would help for those early openings on the weekends when there is considerably less foot traffic in downtown San Jose.
Mrs Mai Tai and I made a special trek to the City to have dinner at the Tonga Room. We were last here in 2019, and we’ve missed the incredible atmosphere and dining at the historical tiki bar at the Fairmont Hotel. There’s always a line when the place opens (was told they don’t offer reservations anymore, even to hotel guests), and even more so this week after a nice writeup in the local SFGate news site.
Unlike our last attempt before a Go-Go’s show a couple months ago, traffic was light and so we arrived super early and were first in line. Definitely a big difference between the “Tonga line” 30 mins before opening and 15 mins before. We were seated poolside, which is always our favorite place.
The food menu is a little more limited than in our previous visits, and noteworthy doesn’t offer much for kids or picky eaters. I ordered the spam appetizer which I expected would be like sliders – but it most certainly wasn’t. This was very tasty, but difficult to eat and would be hard to share. Even better was my Grilled Miso Salmon over fried rice that was really delicious. Julie loved her Coconut Curry Seafood, though I had to convince her to try the Calamari.
There’s something off in the tart Mai Tai (I’m guessing cheap orgeat), though we loved our other cocktails including the coffee-coconut Tonga Kong and the lemon-coconut Adult Swim (normally served with vodka, I asked for rum to be subbed). The cocktails here are very pricey and the quality is okay – but balanced with the friendly service and amazingly immersive decor inside.
The Tonga Room is very expensive and hard to get in, but for special occasions or just as an occasional treat we think it is worth it. There’s no doubt that the business is booming, though an upcoming three-week closure for refurbishments will be a bummer for some. The rain and thunderstorms that happen every 15-30 minutes are a big hit with customers, and the decor and artwork is a sight to be behold.
I’m leaving Wednesday for 11 days in Hawaii (June 8-18). We’ll be at Aulani for one night, then in Waikiki for five nights, then in Kauai for four nights.
The contest is simple: guess how many Mai Tais I’ll drink while I’m in Hawaii or while in transit in the air.
Any cocktail with “Mai Tai” on a menu or packaging counts, as does any cocktail handed to me when I ask a bartender for a “Mai Tai.” RTD Mai Tais count as one per can or bottle. If I order but don’t finish the Mai Tai it still counts.
Participate in the Contest on Instagram
Deadline for entries: 7 am PDT on Wednesday June 8.
Winner gets prize pack from Hawaii including swizzles and swag collected on the trip. Plus bragging rights. Shipping overseas is okay.
Picked up a couple of these very nice Tiki Stem Coupes from the Trader Vic’s online store. The 7 ounce glass is a little larger than my current coupes, and looks fabulous as well. Vic’s also has a couple smaller glass options, while still keeping the tiki stem.
The cocktail is the Blue Caribbean, a Blue Hawaiian riff featuring Rhum Agricole.
Blue Caribbean
½ oz Lime Juice
3 oz Pineapple Juice
1½ oz Cream of Coconut
½ oz Blue Curacao
1¾ oz Clement Premiere Canne (or other unaged Rhum Agricole)
¼ oz Dark Jamaican rum
Shake with Crushed Ice
A bit of a tight fit into this particular glass.
When I first developed this cocktail I served it in a Collins glass with crushed ice and that’s probably a better format than being served up. I do like how the Rhum Agricole works with the Pineapple and Cream of Coconut, provide a more complex flavor. Adding a tiny bit of flavorful Dark Jamaican rum adds an additional bit complexity without darkening up the cocktail.
This recipe appeared in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on January 28, 1962 and is one example of a de-evolved Mai Tai. Though, notably, it doesn’t include any Pineapple or Orange Juice. The source is “a reasonably neutral, presumably unbiased source” according to the column, “Dining Out with the Gourmet.”
1962 Mai Tai
½ oz Fresh Lime Juice
½ tsp Sugar
½ oz Grenadine
½ oz Orgeat
1 oz Orange Curacao
1 oz Light Rum
1 oz Dark Rum
Build in glass and add 2 oz crushed ice, then stir.
Garnish with Pineapple and Cherry
“For the hardier types, float a final dash of 151 proof rum. And stand back/”
This actually is not bad at all, with a pleasant rum-forward finish. Though for sure it doesn’t need the 151 added. I used Pomegranate-based Grenadine, so I can’t say how this would work with Rose’s. I used DeKuyper Orange Curacao, Cruzan Light Rum, and Myers’s Dark Rum, modestly priced spirits that indeed worked just fine in this.
You can learn more about the De-Evolution of the Hawaiian Mai Tai here on the site and at our presentation at Tiki Kon this July.