If ever there was a versatile food, it’s the manapua. The gastronomic equivalent to the lei (both are always appropriate), the manapua is the most frequent addition to any island gathering. Picnics, cook-outs, funerals, potlucks, New Year’s parties (or any party, for that matter)–a box of the meat-filled buns always makes it onto the food table. Hawai’i’s take on the traditional Chinese dim sum, char siu bao, the manapua is a larger and now, more tricked-out version of the classic. What started as a simple, plum-sized, pork-filled steamed bun has morphed into everything from what is now known as the classic manapua (a pork-filled steamed bun about four times the size of standard char siu bao) to baked versions to versions filled with anything but pork (pizza toppings and hot dogs included).

Here are six places that lead the pack in manapua and all its versions. Our criteria: filling quality; and meat to bread ratio. Because when it comes right down to it, all we want is a good snack that isn’t just a ball of bread around a tablespoon of neon pink meat stuff.

More meat, please

Chinatown’s Char Hung Sut is still the place to go for steamed manapua (90 cents). The little dim sum factory on Pauahi Street packs them in every day, all day. Long lines are the norm here, and the busy workers stuff, steam and sell their buns to everyone from office workers to tourists to busy soccer moms. The manapua are large yeasty rounds of soft chewy bread filled with lean, shredded char siu that’s more brown than pink. A good sign that means there’s meat in the middle. Not every manapua can say the same. These are best when they’re still warm.

Char Hung Sut, 64 N. Pauahi St., Mon., Wed.-Sat. 5:30am-2pm, Sun. 5:30am-12:30pm, closed Tuesday, 538-3335

It’s all good

Island Manapua Factory has the market cornered on variety. The take-out kitchen’s classic bun (90 cents) is hanabata-days style manapua: Ultra-soft, pillowy bread with dark pink filling that’s just oily enough to barely seep through the bread and leave a faint mark on the square of butcher paper that comes stuck to the underside of the bun. Perfect. The Factory also experiments with various fillings (90 cents-$1.50)–some of them more successful than others. (The smoked turkey is too smoky, but the shrimp and black bean is sublime.)

Island Manapua Factory, Manoa Marketplace, 2752 E. Woodlawn Dr., Mon.-Fri. 7:30am-8pm, Sat. 7:30am-7pm, Sun. 8:30am-5pm, 988-5441

Big, big buns

As if manapua weren’t big enough. Chun Wah Kam Noodle Factory’s buns are essentially hand-held meals. The extra-large manapua come with a salty, minced-pork filling, dotted with green onion and brimming with full, rich flavor. Break the bread open and the meat spills from the center–the response you want from a manapua. But it’s the baked manapua that really make the trip to Kalihi worth it. The massive, fluffy, yellow dinner-roll-like buns with their sweet glaze baked are the very best complement to the salty filling. And the baked ones are good cold.

Chun Wah Kam Noodle Factory, two locations: 505 Kalihi St., Mon.-Fri. 6am-4pm, Sat. 7am-4:30pm, Sun. 7am-noon, 841-5303; Waimalu Shopping Center, 98-040 Kamehameha Hwy., Mon.-Fri. 7:30am-6:30pm, Sat. 8:30am-7pm, Sun. 8:30am-4pm, 485-1107

Don’t mess with a classic

Libby Manapua Shop in Kalihi does manapua. Period. Though it offers a few deviations from the pork classic (chicken and black sugar), it’s the pig-and-bread staple that makes this little mom-and-pop joint a local favorite. The manapua (95 cents) with their oniony pork filling and glossy round tops are probably the ones you remember from every family gathering. Libby does everything right.

Libby Manapua Store, 410 Kahili St., Tue.-Sun. 6am-2pm, 841-2253

Baked, not steamed

Royal Kitchen is the home of the baked manapua. Here, the buns come smaller than they do at most places, but the sweet, soft bread with the greasy pork filling make just the right bite. The cramped counter take-out joint also offers curry chicken, vegetarian, black sugar, Portuguese sausage and kalua pork versions. The kalua pork manapua is almost as good as next-day lu’au leftovers on a Portuguese sweet bread roll. Almost.

Royal Kitchen, Chinatown Cultural Plaza, 100 N. Beretania St., Mon.-Fri. 5:30am-4:30pm, Sat. 6:30am-4:30pm, Sun. 6:30am-2:30pm, 524-4461, 524-2843

Where there’s smoke

Ming’s Kitchen is in–brace yourself–a shopping mall. At the risk of coming off as uninformed, or worse, lazy (how hard is it to find a shopping mall?), we’ve included Ming’s Kitchen because, well, it makes a mean manapua ($1.20). The large, smooth orb comes filled with extra-lean chunks of char siu pork that have a distinct smoky flavor. Different? Yes. Bad? Never. Ming’s make them denser than the other places, but when most steamed buns stiffen while they cool, Ming’s stay soft.

Because of the lean filling, these manapua may be too dry for some, but they’re the right choice for eaters who fear soggy bread.

Ming’s Kitchen, Windward Mall Food Court, 45-056 Kamehameha Hwy., Mon.-Sat., 10am-9pm, Sun. 10am-5pm, 235-0022, 235-0023

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