This little bakery is located in Kihei, on Maui’s West Coast. Although small and relatively assuming from the outside, this shop does a huge business, and after visiting, we understand why! The friendly staff expertly serves up delicious pastries and desserts elevated by unique island flavors. This is a great place to grab a quick breakfast or sweet afternoon snack.
A bright outdoor sign sits over the front door, inviting guests in. Outside, there are colorfully painted picnic tables where patrons sit to enjoy their freshly purchased treats. Inside, the bakery is small but welcoming. Glass display cases house a variety of pastries, pies, and baked goods that are delicately decorated, and smell absolutely intoxicating. In addition to bakery items, the café also serves up a full menu of coffee drinks that perfectly complement the food options.
Although the exact menu items rotate daily, on most days, you’ll find an assortment of sweet and savory scones, muffins, cinnamon buns, fruit bread, sweet and savory croissants, pies, musubi, cookies, and cakes. However, the signature items at this bakery are really the malasadas.
Malasadas are fried donuts without holes that have their roots in Portuguese cuisine. Over the years, they’ve become a popular Hawaiian treat. They can either be solid, or cream-filled and at Sugar Beach Bake Shop, they have both. In fact, if you can make it to the shop prior to 10:00 AM, you can snag hot, fresh-baked malasadas, made to order. Alternately, they offer a variety of filled malasadas throughout the day, while supplies last.
Here are some of our favorite options at Sugar Beach Bake Shop:
Ube Filled Malasada
Picture a perfectly round, crispy, sweet fried donut. Now imagine filling it with velvety, delicious cream. That’s exactly what you get with an ube filled malasada, plus an extra twist. When you bite into the malasada, you’re greeted with bright purple filling. This comes from the ube. Ube is a sweet purple yam that is often used in Filipino and Hawaiian cooking. Ube adds a uniquely sweet and nutty flavor to the malasada, making it a complex and pleasing blend of classic and innovative flavors. This was our favorite bite of the day.
Jalapeno Spam Musubi
Musubi is a traditional Hawaiian breakfast or lunch food that sort of resembles a giant piece of sushi. It is typically comprised of a piece of grilled spam on top of a block of sticky rice, held together with a thin wrap of nori, or seaweed. Sugar Beach elevates this dish by topping it with a fresh, spicy slice of jalapeno, and adding in a thin layer of teriyaki sauce between the meat and the rice. We loved every savory bite of it.
Banana Cream Pie
Pies here are small, made for individual consumption, but we found many of them rich and filling enough to share. The banana cream pie combines rich, flavorful cream made from fresh bananas with a sweet cookie crumble crust, and airy whipped cream topping. Our favorite part was a thin, hidden layer of chocolate ganache inside the pie. It tied everything together perfectly.
Flavors and bakery items rotate daily, so there’s always something new to try here. After you stop in, let us know what your favorites were!
Insider Tips:
-The malasadas are very popular and sell out early in the morning. If you want to try the fresh, hot malasadas, they’re only available until 10:00 AM. We recommend arriving as close to opening time as possible to try and snag some before they’re gone for the day.
-Be prepared to wait in line. This place is popular among locals and tourists alike, and a line often forms along the sidewalk. Don’t worry; it tends to move pretty fast.
-The plaza in which Sugar Beach Bake Shop is conveniently located also contains a shave ice shop, farmer’s market, and ABC shop. It’s also right across the street from a beautiful beach. If you have the time, stop over and relax for a while with your sweet treats.