Any visit to the North Shore is going to require a fueling stop. A person can really work up an appetite enjoying all that sand, surf and sunshine.

Even if a shrimp truck stop is essential to your Kahuku routine, you’d do well to save room for the lighter, brighter fare at the Kahuku Farm Cafe. It’s located conveniently across the street from Romy’s Kahuku Prawns and Shrimp, so you really could have both.

The business: The Matsuda and Fukuyama family farms have been part of the Kahuku agriculture scene for 100-plus years, founded four generations back by Shinichi and Torie Matsuda and Masatsugu and Nora Fukuyama. In 1986 the farms merged as Matsuda-Fukuyama Farms under the Kahuku brand, which continues to be a major supplier of Oahu’s papaya, bananas, eggplant and luau leaf.

In 2010, Kylie Matsuda-Lum — the fourth generation in the farming family — and her husband, Judah Lum, founded Kahuku Farms as an agritourism business. They offer tours of a section of the property planted with new crops — dragon fruit, lilikoi, jackfruit, mountain apple, lettuce, kale and more.

Much of that bounty is grown specifically for the Kahuku Farm Cafe.

“We planted a lot of different trees out there so people could see how these things grow,” Matsuda-Lum said.

And to see how they taste, in sandwiches, salads, pizzas and smoothies.

What to order: The menu is short and sweet. Grilled veggies in a panini sandwich ($9.50), salad ($8.50) or soup ($4.75); the uber-popular Farm Pizza, actually bruschetta with tomato, eggplant and macadamia nut pesto ($8.75 with a side salad); and a selection of smoothies ($4.75).

Everything is tasty and oh-so fresh. The smoothies are especially refreshing — nondairy, made with whole fruit and vanilla beans from the farm, not concentrates. The Tropi- Kale is a good example, packed with kale, apple banana, pineapple juice and haupia.

Save room for: The grilled banana bread ($5.50) is a dessert of the gods — two fat wedges of banana bread, grilled to form a caramelized crust, topped with vanilla caramel and haupia sauces. These are calories well spent, so you may as well go all the way — add a scoop of ice cream for $1.50.

Save time for: Farm tours take visitors on a tractor-pulled wagon to see fruits and vegetables in the fields. An hourlong Grand Tour is $32 adults, $22 children and includes a sampling of fruits. A half-hour Smoothie Tour, $16 and $14, visits apple banana and papaya trees and ends with a smoothie.

Grab and go: If you’re on a jaunt in the area between the Polynesian Cultural Center and the Turtle Bay resort, Kahuku Farms is right along your way, on the mauka side of the highway. The parking lot is small but adequate. If you decide to hang around, the cafe has a pleasant outdoor eating area with plenty of seating.

“Grab and Go” focuses on takeout food, convenience meals and other quick bites. Email ideas to crave@staradvertiser.com.