Hawaii-style taro donuts with Holey Grail Donuts

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A brother-sister duo from Kauai have mastered the art of making the quintessential Hawaii donut.

Nile and Hana Dreiling joined HNN’s Sunrise to talk about their taro donuts fried in coconut oil and topped with innovative flavors. They showcased their Pau Hana POG, created with Hawaiian Airlines for the Made in Hawaii Festival (running through Sunday at the Hawaii Convention Center), Island Chocolate made with Lydgate Farms Chocolate, and the Hot Peach with peach, local honey and mom’s almond crumble.

The siblings created Holey Grail in early 2018 as a Sunday ritual out of a little red hamburger trailer in Hanalei on Kauai. It developed a cult following, with people lining up at 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday to try the donuts and listen to live DJs. They started with a $100 fryer and a “Reincarnated” donut. Now they have a Honolulu flagship store in Kakaako, two trucks on Kauai, and plans to expand in Los Angeles.

They offer four classic flavors year-round, four weekly seasonal flavors and a selection of coffee-based and tea-based beverages. They also just launched Holeys, taro donut holes that are gluten-free.

They also do a “Breaking Bread” monthly flavor collaboration with various chefs and celebrities to create masterful donut flavors with proceeds going to different charities.

The current collaboration runs through September 25 and is with Taiwanese soul food chef, David Kuo, owner of Little Fatty in Mar Vista, California. The “Little Fatty” donut features banana, coconut, caramelized sesame, and peanut flavors, and is available at all Holey Grail Donuts locations for $6. Part of the proceeds will go to benefit No Us Without You LA, a charitable organization in Los Angeles that provides food relief to disenfranchised hospitality workers affected by the pandemic.

They said their business philosophy is to support local farmers and artisans, so they use local ingredients such as vanilla bean from Laie Vanilla Company, taro from Kauai Taro Company, honey from AlohaHoneyBee Family Farm, and more.

Honolulu:

• 1001 Queen Street #101, Ward Village (808) 482-0311
  • Sun-Thu: 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Fri & Sat: 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Kauai:

• Hanalei Food Truck: 5-5100 Kuhio Highway, Hanalei (808) 212-7174
  • Mon-Wed: 7 a.m. – 1 p.m.; Thu-Sun: 7 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• Kapa’a Food Truck: 4-1543 Kuhio Highway, Kapa’a (808) 635-5495

For more information, visit holeygraildonuts.com or follow them on Instagram at @holeygraildonuts.

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