Honolulu - The Sunrise Shack

The Sunset Orange of Papaya

The Papaya Bowl is the most popular item at The Sunrise Shack. Half a local papaya filled with gluten free granola, peanut butter, bananas, blueberries, chia seeds, cacao nibs, hemp seeds, coconut flakes and drizzled with organic honey. It is, simply put, a bowl chock-full of gluten-free goodness.

The Sunrise Shack has five locations spread out over Oahu, Hawaii. They sell bullet coffees (with coconut oil, MCT oil and grass-fed butter), wellness shots, smoothies, smoothie bowls and the best-selling Papaya Bowl that I went for.

Their original location is an actual shack right alongside Kamehameha Highway and across the street from Sunset Beach, but the one I went to is located in the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort. Coming in from Kalākaua Ave, you can find The Sunrise Shack to your left just before the escalator. It’s a little hard to spot.

Not all is gluten-free at The Sunrise Shack. They also sell sandwiches and sourdough avocado toast, but they use gluten-free granola in their smoothie bowls. The guy taking my order wasn’t particularly knowledgable about celiac disease as I had to explain what it was to him and that I couldn’t eat gluten. He did confirm that the smoothie bowls were safe to eat because of the granola they use, but I don’t think he knew if it was certified gluten-free. That being said, I did not have a reaction to their bowl.

Considering their location you can just walk over to Waikiki Beach and enjoy your bowl there, but I walked back to Fort Derussy Beach to enjoy my Papaya Bowl while looking at the Hawaiian sunset and experiencing a blissful moment.

Half a papaya eating on Ford DeRussy Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Safety: be alert when placing your order. The Sunrise Shack is not a dedicated GF shop and the person that took my order wasn’t knowledgable about celiac disease.