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Yen Yen, a closer look
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3/2/10 - Another quick one! Some places are so little known, I can't find anyone else out there blogging about them! Yen Yen Chinese restaurant is definitely a hide-away of a place, located deep in a far corner at the Enchanted Lakes Shopping Center in Kailua. I remember coming here often with my dad a long time ago, when we were installing all the electricity for the Bluffs, an upscale residence overlooking Kailua Town. Haven't been here for a while, but it's pretty much the same as I remember it, except for the over-arching smell of incense! Don't know what that's all about, nor if it's a momentary thing or not, but no worries - after the first five minutes, you don't notice it anymore!
Here's a map showing how to get to the shopping center:
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I believe Keolu Dr. is the only stoplight on the main road of Kalanianaole Hwy. between Waimanalo Town and the Pali, but I'm not 100 percent sure. I do know for sure it's the last one before Waimanalo Town. From there, it's not hard. Just drop right down Keolu Dr. and you'll see the shopping center on the left, with Safeway and McDonald's as anchor tenants.
Off to a far-right corner, it's located just beyond Safeway and The Food Company, a great-little spot we visited only a week or so ago.
Yep, it's like one of those Chinese restaurants stuck in a time warp, with a scene much the same as if walking-in 25-30 years ago. Most of them age pretty well, though. The dining room here is clean and well-kept, the reds, pinks, whites, and blues actually creating an attractive, pretty combination, somehow!
As obscurely situated and humbly presented as they are, there's a reason Chinese restaurants like this have been able to continue-on for so many generations. Like On On on the last Closer Look, Yen Yen serves a wide variety of tasty, highly-flavored foods at very reasonable prices, and people always know a good deal when they see one. You may think a $5 to $7 plate, complete with main entree and rice or noodle, may skimp a bit on portions, but I saw some of these lunch special plates coming out, and believe me, they will fill most grown men up, even the burly construction workers that seem to frequent this place quite a bit.
Mom and I found the prices very reasonable indeed, with each of our dishes going for $6-$7 a pop except for the steamed fish, which was some $9 and change. There is a $7 steamed fish version, but that one is tossed with mixed vegetables, like a stir-fry, and that's not quite what we wanted. No, this next shot is more of what we envision when thinking of Chinese-style steamed fish:
Actually, for me, Chinese-style steamed fish conjures-up images of a whole kumu, weke ula (both types of goatfish), or uhu (parrotfish), head, fins, tail and all, but prices on such a whole fish will probably be double or triple what you see here, depending on the size.
This style is actually very simple to make, but is one of the very best ways to prepare a good fish, hands-down. All it takes besides is shoyu, green onion, ginger, and the secret ingredient - a super-heated drizzling of oil at the end, poured over the already-steamed fish and the ingredients listed above. Peanut oil is generally preferable, since it has the ability to withstand the highest temperatures without burning, but most vegetable oils will also work. I, myself, like to mix-in a little sesame oil with whatever vegetable oil I find in the kitchen, just for that extra sesame taste, but make sure you add it in late, as it burns really quickly.
Here, they also used some kind of spice, I believe a Chinese five-spice, which provided an earthy, nutty, aromatic touch that also served the dish well. I think the pieces of fish were also steamed right on the plate itself, judging by the double-plate and because some of the pieces stuck slightly to the plate as I pulled them away. Hope that's a microwave-safe dish!
Here's a closer look at the sections cross-cut, which were super-light, silky, sweet, and flash-cooked perfectly:
A great noodle version to try, instead of your typical choices of chow mein or chow funn, is a Singapore mai fun. Found at most Chinese restaurants, instead of an egg or wheat-based noodle, it comes from a thin, white rice noodle, and is served without any gravies at all. A variety of mixed meats, seafoods, and vegetables are added, but the unique element here is a touch of curry, no doubt deriving from the strong Indian influence also abounding in Singapore. A great dish, for sure, but the totally dried-out pieces of crispy won ton also added contained a pork mix inside so skimpy, it was more a won ton chip than anything else! I know that won ton always comes with the tiniest portions of meat within, and the rectangular gau gee is more appropriately ordered if more stuffed meat is what you desire, but this one, the meat section was so tiny it almost seemed to dissolve into a kind of paste or something!
Growing-up here, there were always a bevy of sweet, thick, gravy-like sauces in which pieces of spare-rib, fish, and batter-fried shrimp, seafoods, or chicken were tossed. To name a few of these sauces, there were lemon (chicken), sweet-sour (pork), pineapple (shrimp), and Canton (shrimp or seafoods). Nowadays, however, it seems a popular version at Chinese restaurants, especially fast-food-oriented spots, comes from an orange sauce, usually with pieces of boneless, batter-fried chicken:
I think this finished plate of orange chicken was left sitting in the kitchen a bit too long, as the crispy batter was a bit softened by the time we dug-in. It was a great dish, however, with no sign of pasty, uncooked batters nor an overly-sweet sauce. The chicken pieces were tender and soft, and added a strong, bold flavor that was perfect with our other relatively lightly-flavored dishes. With a well-balanced spread before us, all under $25, including two bowls of white rice, it was quite the deal, especially since the portions were so good that we could only finish about half of it:
These left-over's provided us with no less than two more entire meals, plus a smaller one on the side. Four-and-a-half meals + twenty four dollars = roughly five bucks for each meal. Not bad at all. I mean, you can barely get a $5 home-cooked meal from the grocery store for that price, yes?
Yen Yen is definitely worth it for me. I won't be taking Kumi here on our anniversary, birthday, or anything like that, but for a quick, tasty, very filling meal on a whim, or anytime I find myself out-in Kailua, I'm on it in a heartbeat!
Glad you all survived the massive tsunami the other day! I guess we should be happy for a year's supply of toilet paper, Spam, and bottled water now, ey?
Take care, and Aloha till next time!
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