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Duck Yun, a closer look
Aloha!
7/27/09 - Here we go again - another place with a restaurant that doesn't allow pictures, even after explaing that it's for a food site, and that it's great advertising for them! I'm sure if the actual owners were there, it'd be a different story, but I guess I can't blame the employees, who just don't understand, and above all, don't wanna get into trouble, is all. Never mind that she already knew me from repeated visits, as I once worked nearby as a produce clerk at steps-away Foodland many moons ago. She even called me a good customer, inviting me to come back when the owners were around. I smiled and told her ok, but I knew inside I didn't want to take the time to come back, as there are just too many other places to go!
Maybe it was the trench-coat I was wearing, along with the toothpick between my incisor's and the dark glasses I never took off. Ey, just kidding. But eeeh, it's aaalll good. She did feel kinda bad about it, so I just told her hey, no worries, and went on my merry way. Things happen. I did feel kinda bad about it, too, but in a much different way, as I was hoping to show you all the dining room there, which was expanded and renovated several years ago - it's pretty darn nice and comfy for a neighborhood Chinese restaurant. Now you'll have to go down for yourself to see what I mean.
Sub-conciously, though, maybe I was still holding a grudge for being thus rejected, as I didn't even bother taking a picture of the entrance, which I could've easily done without anyone's permission whatsoever! I pride myself on striving to be objective in all my actions, but I guess in the heat of the moment, perhaps I still need a few more improvements in the rejection area...
Anyhow... Duck Yun is located at the Aina Haina Shopping Center, sandwiched somewhere between two anchor tenants, Foodland and Chuck E. Cheese Pizza, and situated right across the parking lot from McDonald's, which is clearly visible from the main thoroughfare of Kalanianaole Highway. As stated, I used to work at Foodland, so I'd often stop-by to pick-up a plate, and most times, that plate happened to be full of minute chicken cake noodles. The thing is, the last time I came-by two years ago, I don't know what happened, but everything tasted completely different, and definitely not for the better - including my beloved minute chicken cake noodle! I just figured they must've had a Chef change or something, so for all this time, I just never cared to return! This past week, however, I decided to give 'em another shot, as I've had so many good meals here, I figure I at least owe that to them, right? So that, I did, but would it emerge as something similiar to the repeated visits of the former-former, or the one visit of the latter-former. Or not former, at all, but completely different and new from either?
Here's a plate I put-together myself, with a little of everything we ordered that day. Waddaya think?:
Don't know about you, but that sure looks good to me. Former-former? Maybe... But you already know I'm gonna dissect this plate with all the precision of a brain sugeon. If I only went to med school, that is. No worries, even degree-less, I'll still throw-in enough comments on an order of beef unchoi to get you thoroughly bored, never to return again. Yet, I continue on, loved or un-loved; accepted, or rejected; babbling, or... Completely incoherent? Whatever it is, the show must go on:
Most people order the yellow-flowered choi sum instead of unchoi, as the above tends to have a wilder, more gamey taste than most greens used in Chinese stir-fry, without going the spicy route of kai-choi, or mustard cabbage. The soft, green leaves wilt quickly, and soak-in whatever gravy it is wilted by for an extra-powerful punch of flavor, mixed with the slight muskiness of the greens themselves. The stems are much thinner than choi sum, but are crunchier and hollow, which, again, allows them to carry more of the surrounding gravies.
And if the meat wasn't tenderloin, I'd be real surprised, as it was very soft and fork-tender. Over rice, you can imagine how great this particular dish was.
One dish people like to tease is chop suey, the universal term everyone on the planet's heard of before, even when they don't have a clue what it is! But don't knock this humble staple, which we happened to order with shrimp. Filled with decently-large pieces of tender, sweet shrimp, perfectly-cooked, I might add, this combination of veggies and meats changes all the time according to what is most plentiful, as after all, the direct translation of the word means mixed pieces. This one came with bamboo shoots, onions, green onions, bean sprouts, a few mushrooms, even fewer snow peas, and lots of chopped garlic and ginger.
We usually order just a regular chop suey, which is, more accurately, a no-meat chop suey, as there are usually plenty of other meats ordered. But mom loves her shrimp or scallop, and since the other dishes don't have much of either, here we go:
As a side-dish, I also requested a half-order of gau-gee, cuz' I always need something, anything deep-fried when going Chinese. You know, gau gee is the thing to order when you want a lot of pork filling, and crispy wonton's are for those who want less filling and more wonton wrapper, but I do wish they'd have something in-between. Though these examples following weren't particularly well-filled, meats can sometimes become a bit much on a gau gee, and on the other extreme, who can't help but laugh when it comes to the ridiculously tiny amounts of meat in fried wontons? I say they just need to combine the two and meet in the middle, is all. Maybe a gau-ton? Won-gee?
And finally, the last item was the one I'd always order in the past, minute chicken cake noodle. Minute chicken, everyone knows, but cake noodle? Mostly a Hawaii-thing, it is. If you haven't tried it, it's a must, only be fore-warned - try leaving the cakes on a paper towel for a few minutes. You'll need a whole lot of 'em (paper towels)!
Sorry to say, but extra oil is what gives these baby's all that flavor! Local boy special, it is! Re-cooked by frying in a shallow pan, pressed, then sliced into cake-like pieces, there's even more oil coming later as the noodles are topped, last minute, with Chinese-style gravies and sauces loaded with oyster sauce, hoisin, shoyu, chicken bouillon, and other strong flavors and ingredients. When you take an order home, as we did today, they'll usually pack your noodles in a separate brown bag, which will probably be oil-soaked in areas by the time you get home. What you'll see at a restaurant, however, will look closer to something like this:
Un-loaded at home at the very last minute, you don't want them soaking for the entire trip home, as the noodles will lose their crispiness and defeat the entire purpose of cake noodles in the first place.
How'd it taste, you ask? Well, I gotta say, most fortunately, this dish actually did taste more like how I remembered it so fondly while still working at Foodland, with a deep, dark, shoyu-based sauce and lots of tender bits of chicken, perfectly blackened and seared before-hand on a grill (wok). It also came with the yellow-flowered choi sum I shunned earlier in favor of unchoi, along with lots and lots of small garlic pieces throughout. In other words, the minute chicken cake noodle at Duck Yun still rocks!
The dishes here may not be the exquisite, refined types of meals found at Kirin, Happy Day, Legend, and other spots around town, all of which will more often than not please even well-seasoned diners from Hong Kong, Shanghai, or Taiwan, but perhaps that's a good thing. After all, part of the allure of these neighborhood-type Chinese restaurants are that they are a little to a lot cheaper, especially when considering the larger portions given, and the flavors are also usually much heavier, which is a bit more suited to local tastes, anyway. Nevertheless, lines separating the two are often fine and very porous, indeed, with lots of cross-over, so they may not be so clear all the time. You may find something completely different than I do, or wonder what I'm even talking about in the first place. It's aaalll good...
Still, for the price, it's amazing what you can get at places like Duck Yun - sizzling platters of whole prawns or scallops, mouth-watering mountains of dungeness crab or lobster, fork-soft tenderloin beef and braised pork, and yes, common-man staples like kau yuk, sweet/sour pork, beef broccoli, lemon chicken, egg fu yung, chop suey, and so much more! The spread is always impressive, no matter what Chinese restaurant you enter into, whether they be on a busy highway or tucked deep in a small residential community. As in cuisine types everywhere, different choices make things all the better!
The following Closer Look? Another neighborhood-type Chinese restaurant...!!!
Take care and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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