Postcards from the Islands
A good hotel concierge is worth her weight in gold. Not only does she know all the restaurants in the area, and can find one that fits yours tastes, but she has oodles of pull and can get a table for 7 on short notice where you and I would never have a chance. Jody, here at the St. Regis, did a magnificent job for us last night, directing us to Postcards Cafe, a tiny local restaurant that was exactly what we wanted.
The perfect time of night
Postcards is quite small, in what was probably once a barely a cottage. The decor is Hawaiian homey, the staff don’t wear uniforms, there are napkins but not tablecloths. Most everything on this island is casual; Postcards fits right in.
The menu is local and healthy–there is no meat at all, just seafood and veggies. We started with a pu-pu platter, a variety of appetizers including taro fritters, seared ahi, crab cakes and “seafood rockets”, little cones filled with oceanic goodness.
The Postcards Platter
I had the catch of the day–mong chong. No, I’ve never heard of it before either. But it’s just a mild white fish, served grilled with macadamia butter, pesto rice, ginger/carrot puree and broccolini. I don’t understand broccolini. There is already a perfectly good vegetable in broccoli, why do chi-chi restaurants insist on serving the second rate cousin? On the other than, the ginger/carrot puree was marvelous, both as a vegetable and as a sauce/dressing for the fish.
Grilled Mong Chong with vegetables both great and second rate.
Chloe and Brien shared the sesame crusted Ahi, which is served in a bowl with a Thai curry. It looked good, it tasted good and there were no leftovers.
Sesame crusted ahi in Thai curry
Service was fine, exactly what you would expect in a casual place on the north shore of Kauai. The restaurant loses points for only having Stevia, not Splenda, for my iced tea, but that’s about the worst thing I can say. Everything costs more on an island, everything costs more in a tourist area. Combine the two and expect to pay somewhat more than you would like, but that’s life in Paradise.
Totally Unauthorized 
I think we have eaten there! So Chris, why not bring your own sweetener along? I don’t do artificial sweeteners so I bring Truvia or Stevia. Makes my life easier.
I don’t like the idea of a pot luck restaurant. I don’t need them to tell me what I’m allowed to sweeten my tea with. They are in the hospitality business. If I wanted someone to tell me how to live my life I’d have joined he army.