Skip to main content

Heading to Hawaii? Make Reservations at Manta Restaurant to Eat Big Island Beef

westin hapuna beach resort hawaii img 2429
Chase McPeak / The Manual
Chase McPeak / The Manual

For beef-lovers out there, eating a big, rare slab of Kobe or Wagyu almost certainly take the top two spots on their bucket lists. But, after having a Big Island beef steak from Manta Restaurant on Hawaii island, I’d like to offer this particular style of beef as the final head of the holy beef trinity. How can cattle raised in Hawaii compare to beef carefully coddled for years in Japan, Australia, and the mainland U.S.? Pretty damn easily, that’s how. Because, when you think about it, why wouldn’t cattle raised on Hawaii (aka the Big Island) be delicious? After all, there’s plenty of grass on the highlands that gently slope upwards toward the foothills of two massive volcanoes: Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

Chase McPeak / The Manual

Along with that 365-day a year fresh grass and fodder that the cattle consume, there’s also the lack of pollution to take into consideration. As one of the most isolated island chains in the world, Hawaii suffers almost none of the atmospheric pollution found on the Japanese home islands and the mainland U.S. where most of the world’s Kobe and Wagyu cattle are raised and thus aren’t exposed to chemicals and aerosols that seep into the land and find their ways into the food chain. Instead, Big Island cows are blessed with nearly endless sunshine, nutrient-dense feed, and sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean. Yes, even the cows in Hawaii are lucky enough to have a view.

A sample menu from Manta could include an ocean to fork starter (ours was a stunningly savory special sushi roll), tuna tataki with fennel, hearts of palm, cucumber, and yuzu vinaigrette; Kuau shrimp tempura with pea shoots and truffle-soy dashi; the freshly caught fish of the day; a sweet potato encrusted ahi tuna with ulu puree, lomi tomatoes, and turmeric coconut emulsion; grilled Ni’ihau rack of lamb; the aforementioned amazingly delicious 30-day dry-aged Big Island Beef ribeye; and the Hawaii range beef tenderloin with Okinawan sweet potato, braised shiitake mushroom sauce, and sauteed won bok. The ribeye and tenderloin should both be ordered rare and should be savored for their succulent, melt-in-your-mouth flesh along with a lightness that we could only identify as the tropical island’s terroir becoming apparent in the beef.

Recommended Videos

Manta also offers a chef’s tasting menu for $69 a person, featuring an appetizer, a main, and a dessert. And Manta is 100% a restaurant where you order dessert. Case in point: the photos above.

And, if the Big Island Beef isn’t enough to sell you on booking a reservation for Manta Restaurant, the view should be the final nail in the coffin of your resistance. Every table at Manta (located in the stunningly architectural Mauna Kea Beach Hotel) is open to the outdoors and provides a picturesque view of the Pacific. After dinner, walk down a small, well-lit path to a viewing area by the sea where floodlights attract multitudes of manta rays that dive and swim in circles, sucking up the plankton drawn by the lights. It’s the perfect end to a perfect evening meal — one where you not only get a chance to eat some of the best-tasting beef in the world but also get a front-row seat to nature’s wonders.

Chase McPeak
Former Former Digital Trends Contributor, The Manual
Chase McPeak is the former Lifestyle Editor. Chase regularly appeared on Beards, Booze, and Bacon: The Manual Podcast where…
A Michelin-starred chef guides us on pairing wine and pasta
pasta courses at Massara NYC

Enjoying a nice bowl of fresh pasta? While steak and wine are often touted as the perfect pairing, pasta is also a complex pairing for wine. But with so many pasta types, cooking styles, and sauces, pairing pasta with wine is a complex task. We decided to try out the new pasta-tasting menu at Massara, a Southern Italian restaurant in New York helmed by Chef Stefano Secchi of Rezdôra (a one Michelin-starred restaurant).

"Michael Duffy and the somm team has done well in the pairing," said Chef Stefano Secchi. "Luckily, the wines on our list pair well with the food eaten in the region…a strong ethos and throughline of our restaurants."  

Read more
I tried the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe—here’s how it handled real recipes
Even if you make mistakes you can create crowd-pleasing meals with Kamado Joe Konnected Joe
Pre-heating the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe guarded by with Happy.

I jumped at the chance to test the Kamado Joe's Konnected Joe Digital Grill and Smoker. Like most members of our extended family of avid cooks and eager eaters, I enjoy grilling year-round. Still, my experience has been limited to conventional charcoal grills and three-burner propane grills. I was curious about what it would be like to cook with a ceramic grill, and grew even more excited by the prospect of precise temperature control promised by the Konnected Joe.
Why cook with a kamado-style grill

Kamado-style ovens, stoves, and grills use heated stone or ceramic to provide radiant heat that cooks the food. The Kamado Joe brand of kamado grills cooks with radiant heat, with thick ceramic sections in the cooker. It can take some time to reach the desired temperature, but the grill's heavy insulation retains the heat for a long time.

Read more
How I upgraded my De’Longhi Rivelia to make incredible cold espresso drinks
How to unlock six new cold foam recipes
De'Longhi Rivelia

I first started using the De'Longhi Rivelia espresso machine, the brand's newest fully automatic, innovative, and touchscreen espresso maker for home use. I was instantly impressed with how easy this espresso maker was to use and how quickly it made it possible to prepare all my favorite espresso-based beverages.

Ironically, I was so caught up in learning how to use the machine to make hot coffee drinks that I forgot it could also make cold coffee drinks. Once I upgraded with the De'Longhi LatteCrema Cool kit, I unlocked a whole new world of possibilities for cold coffee drinks, from an iced white flat to an iced cappuccino. This tiny upgrade changed the game, solidifying just how much I love this espresso machine.
De'Longhi Rivelia LatteCrema Cool

Read more