Chinese New Year

Since the revival of 808FS, I've been contemplating where to begin. After a few days of thinking I realized that February 14th was Chinese New Year. What better way to start off my list of long over-due reviews than start off with some of my favorite Chinese restaurants.

Duck Yun

For almost a year Aina Hina Shopping Center has been under constant renovation. Yet in the wake of it all lies one of my favorite Chinese restaurants on the island. One that I hope will not be eaten up in all of the construction.

Duck Yun, like most Chinese restaurants on the island, is a family style restaurant where dishes are ordered a la carte. Like most other Chinese restaurants around the island Duck Yun offers familiar staples such as beef broccoli over cake noodles, cold ginger chicken, chinese style sea bass, lemon chicken, shrimp canton and so on and so forth. However, unlike most Chinese restaurants that I have been to in Hawaii, Duck Yun actually excels in these familiar local staples. Although what really sets Duck Yun apart from most Chinese restaurants is its honey shrimp with walnuts.

Honey shrimp with walnuts. The dish is so amazing that it deserves its own paragraph. I have been to many Chinese restaurants (many popular Chinese restaurants might I add) and none have come close to beating Duck Yun when it comes down to Honey shrimp with walnuts. Don't know what it is? Let me enlighten you (oh you poor deprived...okay it isn't that great but it is tasty). It starts with walnuts that are dunked in simple syrup then left to dry on a cookie sheet then fresh shrimp (I like to think it's fresh..at least hope) dipped in a mochiko batter and wok fried and then tossed in a delicious sauce comprised of mayonnaise, honey, and condensed milk and then topped off with the glazed walnuts. Although I'm sure the recipe varies from place to place this is all that I can come up with from tasting and poking around restaurant to restaurant.

Aside from honey shrimp with walnuts, Duck Yun also makes good salt-pepper shrimp (spicy fried shrimp where you can eat the whole shrimp head, tail, shell and all) and a delicious cuttlefish with sour cabbage.

As for ambiance, Duck Yun is quite large for your typical Chinese restaurant and elaborately decorated with paintings and tables lined with your typical white table cloth. However the service can be improved on as placing an order on the telephone is a horrible ordeal and the wait staff seem a bit pushy. Price wise though, Duck Yun's daily lunch specials and dinner combinations can't be beat ($6.50-$10.00). The dinner combinations all come with soup and a variety of dishes (for one of course).


Duck Lee

If you have been my friend for at least a few months you probably have come to realize that there is something severely wrong with me. I have an obsessive habit. No, it's not drugs and it's not alcohol, it's roast pork. Recently I've been conflicted with my love of Chinese roast pork with the introduction of lechon back in late 2008. It's been a trying year but in 2010 love prevailed and Chinese roast pork is back on top. Recently I've been searching for the best roast pork on the island and what I found at Duck Lee surprised me.

Duck Lee is located in the corner of Market City Shopping Center right next to Fun Factory and has always been there since before I can remember. I remember when I was little I used to love to go to Fun Factory and I would always walk by the window with the chickens and ducks and thought, "Why would someone do that?" and "Why would some one want to eat that?". But now, there is no question in my mind that I would be the first person asking for a half-pound of the stuff. But I didn't show up at Duck Lee for the poultry, I came for pork, roast pork.

Duck Lee is your typical Chinese take-out with half-hotel pans filled with various dishes ranging from spicy eggplant to noodles to who knows what? I didn't care too much (although now that I've had the chance to come back most of what I ate was quite good). The only thing on my mind at the time was roast pork.

The roast pork was okay. Well..pretty good for island standards (and island standards are very good). It wasn't oily (which is the worst kind of roast pork) and the actual pork itself had a lot of flavor. The only reason why I say the roast pork was okay is because on my second trip to Duck Lee I experienced something much more satisfying. The second time around I (of course) ordered roast pork again but this time I also ordered some char siu. I was pleasantly surprised because up until now my preconceived notion was that char siu was a dry cut of meat when in actuality I have just been eating badly prepared char siu. The char siu at Duck Lee is moist and after it is cut up into pieces is covered with a spoonful of shoyu-colored sauce (not sure what it is but it's wonderful). As for the price, it's pretty typical and you can get a plate of the stuff over rice for $7.00.



Royal Kitchen

Being a Sunday morning church-goer I found myself with an amazing opportunity. Church service was early on Valentines Day (8:00 AM) and it just so happened that Chinese New Year fell on the exact same day this year. Being hungry at 8:00 AM on a Sunday morning isn't exactly a pleasant feeling so I was lucky that my church is located less than a block away from Royal Kitchen. And as you may expect, Royal Kitchen on Chinese New Year is a sight to behold.

Of course I didn't get to witness that sight as I got there early at 7:15 AM. It was early and there were only a few people standing around waiting for their orders. If you have never been to Royal Kitchen it is usually flooded out the door with people and their green tickets waiting for their number to be called. Royal Kitchen if you haven't heard is THE place for baked manapua.

You may ask what the difference between baked and steamed manapua is. It all has to do with texture. Steamed manapua is chewy while baked manapua is fluffy and more bread-like (if that is a word). In my opinion there is no question which I consider to be better. And at the price ($1.10 per manapua) it can't be beat.

At Royal Kitchen there are a wide variety of manapua's to choose from including char siu, lup chong (my favorite), chicken, kalua pig, sweet potato and the list goes on. Royal Kitchen also has a roasted meats counter (roast pork, char siu, duck, etc.) and your usual take-out items. That morning I opted for two lup chong manapua's, a 1/4 lb roast pork (of course), and a mochi rice ball (mochi rice wrapped in a large pork hash casing and steamed). How I managed to get through church without falling asleep after that meal was beyond me (literally speaking).


Reviews:

Duck Yun Chinese Restaurant
Rating System: 1-2.5-5 (poor-average-excellent)

Service: 1.75
Food Quality: 2.75
Monetary Value: 2.5
Quality vs Quantity: Quality
Overall: 2.3

820 West Hind Dr.
Honolulu, HI 96821
808-373-1303

Duck Lee
Rating System: 1-2.5-5 (poor-average-excellent)

Service: 2.25
Food Quality: 3.5
Monetary Value: 4
Quality vs Quantity: Quality
Overall: 3.25

2929 Kapiolani Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96826
808-735-5378