Chinese Char Hung Sut The ram's a manapua maven. He could eat a form of manapua - dim sum - everyday. The Mecca of Manapua, at least in Hawaii, is Char Hung Sut. Located in Chinatown, this is a take-out place. Table and chairs are reserved for the skillful pot sticker assemblers. They can probably put together a dozen in a minute. You stand in a line and give your order to a lady who shows no emotion; all of life's ups and downs have somehow evened themselves out for her. She only gives you a very slight look of disdain when your order does not exceed her dollar value expectations. In the mornings, steaming char siu bao are coming off the line constantly in the background. I love the smell of manapua in the morning; it smells like...like victory. Yuck. Get the pork hash, pepeiao, half moon and the layered sweet rice cakes. This will make your day. All of this stuff goes into a cardboard box with the famous Char Hung Sut logo rubber stamped on it. Then they tie your box of goodies with plain old string like they have done it a zillion times in three seconds flat. Then the human adding machine will dazzle you by adding up your bill in his head, in another 3.5 seconds. He is never wrong. The dim sum is consistently the best. Go early. They run out of the layered rice cakes, chop suey cakes and pepeiao real fast. Dew Drop Inn Someone thought real hard about the name of this Chinese restaurant for a long time. It's a small place that pumps classical music from its speakers and is decorated, heavily, with those water bamboo plants that come from the planet Pluto. You've seen them. They usually sprout out of a vase that have artificial sand or rocks that absorb water. Northern Chinese is what DDI is known for and food here is great. Because its billed as a northern restaurant you expect fire and brimstone stuff that sputter, and smoke with a four alarm fire. Actually, its much more sedate. You can custom design your mapo tofu so it doesn't give your throat a Drano job. They have several wrapped dishes that are quite good and unique. I can't remember the names. Fortunately they have a picture menu that give you some idea of what to expect. You'll need a good half hour to thumb through this. And, they actually listen to you when you tell them to hold the MSG. Be prepared to dine with an eclectic crowd. It's close to the concert hall so don't be surprised if you're sitting next to geeks in tux and gown loudly discussing how biogenetics killed off the Monarch butterfly. Golden Duck Someone once told me not to refer to food served in high ended Chinese restaurants as "chop suey." Chop Suey, apparently, connotes Americanized Chinese food, dumbed- down Chinese food or Chinese food that is not authentic. These hair splitters, apparently think they know what authentic is. I doubt it. I for one, don’t claim to know the authenticity of any style of cooking. I just know what I like. The grub served at Golden Duck is great tasting, affordable in price and cooked in a flash. The ram uses Golden Duck as a takeout place, since its on the way home. I go there, normally, when a pronouncement is made that "you are on your own tonight, boy." Meaning "you gotta find your own dinner." Normally, the ram uses such an occasion to eat really bad stuff that is on the "disapproved" list in our household. Stuff like a KFC 3 Piece Dinner, a Whopper with supersized fries, a liver & bacon dinner from Columbia Inn, loco moco from L&L, ka-yuk poured over rice and, the worst, meat lovers pizza from Pizza Hut. All delicious stuff, but each will shorten your life by a day and a half at least. Golden Duck provides grub that is not quite on the "disapproved list," but close. Shrimp fu yung and Chinese-style spare ribs are almost on the list. Both are excellent at Golden Duck. All that is needed is some freshly steamed rice. Which is the one single gripe that I have about Golden Duck. I wish their rice was the long grain Chinese rice instead of the short-grain Hinode that is served. That said, the service is efficient - almost coldly efficient - and no nonsense, and the wait time is always 10 minutes no matter what you order. The quality of the food has been consistently good. The best takeout deal is their dinner plate for $7. In a styro container you get a huge heap of fried rice, spare ribs, ginger chicken, beef broccoli and a couple of won tons. Enough food to feed an elephant, with lunch leftovers. A remarkable meal when one has to fend for himself. New Kapahulu Chop Suey You want decent Chinese food at reasonable prices? This is the place to go. Nothing super outstanding, just uniformly good. The food comes out of the kitchen so fast, you would swear it was microwaved. It ain't. It's flash burned in giant woks. Parking for this Kapahulu establishment is absolutely the pits. If you are totally unlucky you have to park on the Diamond Head side of Kapahulu Avenue which means you gotta risk you life crossing against traffic that use this street to practice NHRA quarter mile starts. I usually limp across. Cars slow down, a little, for limpers. They just make sure they brush the hair on your leg to warn you not to do this again. This crossing always gets your heart pumping and ready for a good meal. Once in the restaurant don't be bothered by the creepy crawlies that scuttle across the walls or the baby creepy crawlies that play field hockey on your table, using the mustard container and napkin holder as goals. Just think of it as entertainment. They make a wicked seafood noodle house special. All the other local favorites are here and ono too. New Kapahulu Chopy Suey has been a well-deserved local favorite for years.
|