Fun Station

We were near Market City Shopping Center, so we decided to get take-out at Fun Station (known for their Flying Noodles).

We get didn't Flying Noodles, but everything we did get was delish — my fave was the Mapo Tofu Chow Fun!

Mapo Tofu Chow Fun

It was just loaded with tofu. 

Fried Gyoza*

The Gyoza was perfectly crispy!

Broccoli Beef*

The beef was really tender, and everything was seasoned well. 

Beef Brisket Tendon Mixed Noodle

In fact, all the dishes were seasoned well.  We all kept going for seconds. 

Signature Fried Rice

Fun Station turned out to be a great impromptu spot for take-out!

Pork Belly & Minced Pork Rice

Fun Station
2919 Kapiolani Blvd

Honolulu, HI 96826

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Chopstix

There's been a lot of buzz surrounding Chopstix, the new Chinese restaurant on Keeaumoku Street. I had heard that the owners are affiliated with Maple Garden, a longtime local favorite that sadly closed last year. Since my mom always enjoyed dining at Maple Garden, I thought it would be fun for her to try Chopstix and see how it compared.

We decided to order takeout and selected a few dishes to share: the Steamed Fish, Mongolian Beef, Crispy String Beans with Pork, and Chopstix Fried Rice.

The food was ready quickly, and everything traveled well. The steamed fish was tender and flavorful, while the fried rice complimented the other dishes perfectly. The Mongolian Beef and Crispy String Beans with Pork both had a nice kick to them—just enough spice to add flavor without being overwhelming.

Overall, everything was tasty and well-prepared. We enjoyed our meal and were glad we had the opportunity to give Chopstix a try!

CHOPSTIX

923 KEEAUMOKU STREET

808-744-4477

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Lobster King

The boys were craving lobster, so we figured it was the perfect excuse to finally try out Lobster King. We’d heard good things, and when you’ve got lobster on your mind, there's really only one thing to do - find a place that offers fresh lobster!

We went all in and ordered two lobsters — one plain (steamed) and one with black bean sauce, which happens to be my favorite way to enjoy Chinese-style lobster. The black bean version hit the spot: savory, salty, and finger-licking-good!

The plain steamed lobster was solid too — nothing fancy, just fresh and simple. The boys preferred this one.

The best part? Each lobster came in under $30. That’s almost unheard of these days, and while it wasn’t the best lobster we’ve ever had, it was absolutely worth it at that price.

Of course, we couldn’t stop there. We rounded out the order with a few staples:

• House chow mein

  

• Fried tofu with mixed vegetables

  
  

  

• Chinese chicken salad

  

• Salt and pepper pork chops

  

• Fried rice

  
  

  

None of the other dishes really blew us away, but they were solid — satisfying, well-cooked, and decent for the price. No complaints, especially for a casual takeout night.

Overall, Lobster King delivered on exactly what we were looking for: affordable lobster. We’d definitely come back the next time a lobster craving hits.

Open 7 days a week, 11 AM - 10 PM.

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LOBSTER KING

1380 SOUTH KING STREET

808-944-8288

 

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New to Pearlridge: Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle

Ready to go: Vegetable and Tofu rice noodles soup

My sister loves her noodles so we were excited to try Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle that opened their first Hawaii location at Pearlridge Center.  The restaurant is a China-based chain that has over 70 locations in North America. They are known for serving Chinese Yunnan rice noodle in a variety of broths, including spicy Szechuan, pork, chicken and spicy-sour.

The menu offers your choice of rice noodle bowls that are served with ten side dishes.  You can even choose to share and order add-ons.  The menu also offers ready to go bowls as well as appetizers. Their sister restaurant is Cloud 9 Cafe so you will be able to order their delicious fruit and milk teas and their amazing souffle pancakes. If you appreciate souffle pancakes, you know that they take awhile so be sure to order them early.  We ordered ours at the same time as our meal and we got them perfectly timed for dessert.

The kids were super excited for boba drinks at lunch.

Our Szechuan Mala spicy soup came with the 10 sides and noodles. 

We added the beef brisket.

First, you'll add the beef and lettuce to the soup followed by the other ingredients and stir well. Add the noodles last and wait ten seconds and then enjoy!

Be sure to save room for souffle pancakes!

Matcha with red bean

Chocolate with oreo chip souffle pancake

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YI XIN CAFE

My list of good Chinese restaurants outside of Chinatown is steadily growing.  One of the newcomers on the list is Yi Xin Cafe in Market City Shopping Center.  Although they opened without much publicity or fan-fare, word spread very quickly. We decided to allow the hype to settle down before trying it out for a weekday lunch.

Service was friendly and the food came out quick. Here's what the four of us shared:

Thai Style Pork Cheek

Beef Chow Funn

Hong Kong Style Garlic Stir-Fried Prawns

Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings

Every dish was flavorful, rich, and delicious!! I wasn't sure if I would like the Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings (I normally don't eat egg yolks), but the wings were delicious and very moist. My most favorite dish of today was the beef chow funn - it is rich in soy flavor and the noodles were cooked perfectly (not overcooked and mushy). I really wanted to try the sizzling beef with black bean sauce, but one of our friends doesn't eat red meat, so we passed on it, but I'm definitely going to try it the next time I'm here. Apparently their drinks are supposed to be good too.

Closed on Mondays.

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YI XIN CAFE
2919 Kapiolani Blvd.
808-738-0818

 

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On On Chinese Restaurant

 Continuing my quest to find Chinese take-out that my mom approves of, I decided to give On On Chinese Restaurant a try, since I was in the area, and have always been curious about this place. On On is located on Kapahulu Avenue, across the street from the highly popular Leonard's Bakery. It's one of those places I often pass by but never gave it a try.. until now.  

I ordered the green beans with minced pork, minute chicken with cake noodle, and mongolian beef. Portions were decent size, and the food was tasty. I personlly thought the gravy that came with the cake noodles was a bit on the bland side, so I had to add some shoyu to it.  But I was impressed with the amount of chicken it came with.  And what matters most is that my mom really liked it and would like to add it to our rotation of Chinese take-out restaurants! 

The restaurant is currently offering dine-in our take-out service.

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ON ON CHINESE RESTAURANT
909 Kapahulu Avenue
(808) 735-4557

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Happy Days

You can always count on Happy Days for fresh, authentic Chinese food at a reasonable price. They have all of your favorite Chinese dishes, plus dim sum all day.  Yes, you heard right - dim sum all day!

For a recent family gathering at my mom's house, here's what we enjoyed:

Crispy gau gee

orange chicken

minute chicken cake noodle

potstickers

fried rice

salt & pepper pork chops

siu mai and har gau

green beans with  minced pork

honey walnut shrimp

 

We all really enjoyed the meal, and while we initially thought we had ordered too much food, most of it was gone by the time we were done eating! 

If you're looking for reasonably priced dim sum outside of Chinatown, Happy Days is your place! 

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HAPPY DAYS

3553 Waialae Ave

(808) 738-8666

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Leung's Chop Suey House

Chef John Iha often mentions Leung's whenever I go to Hilo, and I finally had a chance to try it out with my Na`au co-worker!

The restaurant offers a menu you can order off of, or ready-to-eat items that you can pick and choose from.  

Fried Noodles, Roast Pork, Chicken

They did not have Oyster Sauce Chicken the day we went, so the lady ended up giving us regular chicken and a container of oyster sauce.  The chicken turned out to be really tasty without the oyster sauce.  

The Roast Pork and the Kau Yuk were both good, and I really liked the Leung's Special Cake Noodle. 

Kau Yuk

Leung's Special Cake Noodle

It was definitely some of the best Cake Noodle I've had, and I loved the abundance of meat and veggies in the gravy.


Leung's Chop Suey House
530 E Lanikaula St,
Hilo, HI 96720

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