Tin Roof

Tin Roof is the casual daytime restaurant that chef Sheldon Simeon opened in Kahului on Maui after his two appearances on the national television competition Top Chef brought him and his Filipino-Hawaiian cooking style to a national audience. The restaurant operates from a small storefront in a light industrial area of Kahului, far from the resort corridors of Kihei and Wailea, and its unpretentious setting is entirely consistent with its mission: to serve the comfort food that Simeon grew up eating in Maui's plantation-era food culture at prices that make it accessible to the working community around it. The menu draws deeply on the Filipino culinary traditions that arrived in Hawaii with plantation laborers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, layered with the Japanese, Chinese, and Native Hawaiian influences that characterize the broader local food culture of the islands. Mochiko chicken — bone-in pieces marinated and coated in a mochiko rice flour batter before frying, producing a crisp, slightly chewy crust unlike standard fried chicken — is the most requested dish and represents the Filipino-Hawaiian fusion at its most appealing. Garlic noodles, sisig plate (a Filipino preparation of crisped pork seasoned with calamansi and chili), and daily specials tied to whatever is freshest round out a menu that changes regularly. The restaurant operates as a counter-service lunch spot; diners order at the window, receive a number, and collect their food when called. Lines form regularly and are part of the experience. Sheldon Simeon's subsequent cookbook, Cook Real Hawai'i, has expanded appreciation for the cooking style behind Tin Roof well beyond Maui, but the restaurant remains the most direct and affordable way to taste the food in its original context.