We ate a light breakfast because we had a morning food tour!

The resort’s breakfast buffet is very well done.  Unfortunately, neither of the dinners we had at the same restaurant were good at all.  It was our working plan to stay in town long enough to have our evening meal elsewhere.

A pre-arranged taxi picked us up at 7:00 a.m. for an 8:15 meeting.

When we looked at the map, it just didn’t seem possible that it could take that long to go from the resort to Papeete.  The concierge confirmed the time was correct due to heavy traffic at that time of morning and never knowing what might happen to cause a significant delay. (We live near Phoenix, we know all about that!)

Our taxi driver dropped us off in front of a very elaborate building that identified as a hotel in big letters and city hall in small letters.  

We verified that we were in the right place.  It never was a hotel as we know it – it’s just French for City Hall.

Our drive from hotel to city hall took only 30 minutes so we walked to a pharmacy.  We had to show a picture to be understood but we got what we wanted.

We chuckled at the receipt identifying Randy as American tourist. 

Back at city hall, we explored a bit. A plaque outside the building said it was commissioned in 1966 when the president of the republic was Charles de Gaulle.

The statue was on the grounds.

This mural was inside.

At 8:30 we met our food tour guide, Oramu, and one other guest.  Our first stop was for a typical Polynesian breakfast.

That consisted of a donut type bread that was not real sweet.  We also had a raw tuna dish with a small amount of vegetables in coconut milk, a coconut biscuit, and piece of taro root.  Oramu said this is the breakfast people eat everyday. There is only a small amount of lime, not enough to “cook” it like ceviche. The tuna, or other fish, is just always very fresh.

THIS GIRL ATE RAW FISH – and it was actually pretty good.  (In my world of not eating fish, I will very occasionally eat tuna or salmon.)  

The next stop was Lucky Luke’s which has been in this spot for many decades.  Luke is now 90 and still comes in to greet his customers.  The next generation is now doing the day to day work running of the restaurant.

This is a picture of Oramu and Luke’s nephew.

We tasted fried pastry with tuna inside, banana crepes, and a baked pastry with banana inside.

This is the market building.  It is much larger than it appears! It is open everyday but Sunday’s are the biggest event. It is the main day for locals to shop for their food for the week.  Sales begin at 3:00 a.m. and end at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, otherwise there are more typical hours.

We saw a sampling of the fruits and vegetables available on a Sunday.

These white potatoes are a type of sweet potato.

Taro root is purple when cooked.

We sampled mango with Chinese Plum Spice Powder.  It is not spicy in a hot or ethnic way as Tahitians don’t eat spicy food. Oramu said this type of mango is candy to kids in Tahiti.

Beneath the bowl are bags of mango at various degrees of ripeness.  A person chooses a bag to their preference and the powder is shaken over it.  This was my favorite food on the tour.

We also had fresh mango and pineapple.  On this trip, the pineapple, both fresh and juiced, has been the best ever.

Next we had coconut water and coconut bread from a market stall that sells all things coconut.  We didn’t like the water but the bread was interesting.  We like fresh coconut “meat” so we enjoyed  the taste and texture of it inside the bread.

There are other things for sale too including flowers and flower crowns. The crowns cost about $25 or you can buy the flowers and create your own.

Black pearls are a product of the South Pacific and Oramu showed us the difference between natural and cultured.  I bought cultured pearls when we were here in 2019.

The material used for weaving bags is the same as used for thatched roofs.

There was a section of grab and go foods. Sandwiches are often a most economical meal because the cost of bread is government controlled.  A generous sandwich costs 350 francs, roughly $3.50. I think this was the only bargain we saw in Papeete.

We left the market and went for Tahiti fast food at Vini Vini.  We did pass a McDonalds and a Burger King but they were not on our tour. Our guide said the American fast food places are very popular.

The cases show many kinds of fish and sushi that are ready to eat.

Oramu ordered us a burger.  The meat was cornflake encrusted tuna.  The coating was very crunchy and the tuna was good.  The burger was one of our favorites on the tour.

This is not food, but it was the same stop.  It took me a bit to figure out that I needed to “hip action” the white rod to get the water to turn on in the sink….

We stopped at this street mural and Oramu told us how it represented the three cultures that mesh in Tahiti: the Polynesian culture that has always been, French culture after becoming a protectorate of France in 1844, and an influx of Chinese in the 1860s as laborers. Food is also a mixture of the three.  

Residents of French Polynesian are French citizens and are allowed to vote in elections in France.

Oramu told us as that school is taught in French.  In elementary grades the students learn Tahitian as a second language.  In secondary school, they learn English.  

She told us that when she was young, her parents would argue in English thinking the kids didn’t know what they were saying.  Oramu’s grandfather spoke English and he was also instrumental in her being an excellent English speaker.  

Papeete was bombed during World War I by the Germans.  Much of the area around this church was destroyed but the church remained.

Our next food item was Polynesian King’s Cake.  She told us the oldest person in the family cuts the cake and the youngest family member  delivers the pieces of cake randomly to others.  Who will have the baby Jesus inside?

Our next stop was for a Tahitian liquor tasting.  We had a sip of Tahitian gin that was honey infused. I don’t like gin and the honey didn’t help.  The rum smelled so much like molasses that it should have tasted good – but it didn’t.   One of the islands specializes in pineapple wine which sounds wonderful given how good the pineapple is here.  Unfortunately, they didn’t give us a sampling of that and we didn’t have time to drink a bottle before leaving the island tomorrow.

Our last stop was for “papaya pie”.  Of course, all these dishes have a Tahitian or French name but we don’t remember them. 

We were skeptical about this dish because we don’t like the texture of fresh papaya at all.  Cooking it made papaya so much better!  Served with some coconut milk and vanilla ice cream – this was Randy’s favorite dish on the tour.

We had been pretty fortunate with weather during our four hour food tour around Papeete.  We said goodbye to Oramu and our fellow guest.  The food on this tour won’t be remembered as the best, but the experience was very, very good.

We did a bit of shopping and then the rain came down in sheets. We didn’t know if we’d even want to eat again, so we put on our raincoats and made it to the taxi stand.  We were shortly back at the hotel.

We felt a bit grimy and actually did go swimming this time.  Randy stayed in longer than me so I was able to take his picture in the pool, looking out at the lagoon, and the ocean beyond.

Back on our balcony, we saw the beginnings of a canoe race.

We eventually decided that we did want to eat again.  We went down and ate at the bar.

We began with the local beer – Hinano.  We remember the beer and this logo from the last time we were here.   Randy had asked for, and was given, a dozen cardboard coasters hwith her picture on them.  Several are still at our house.  Over time she has become the local symbol for Tahiti, not just the beer.  Randy bought a T-shirt with her on it and we also bought her on a coffee mug.

We also had decent pizza! It was a good last dinner at the InterContinental Tahiti Resort.

Our food tour was on January 14, 2025.

Next: Aukland, New Zealand – a new country for us.