Hung Won

Best for: Chinese
Location: Kaimuki
Foodgasmic dishes: Steamed fish with ginger, Salt and pepper pork chops 



Cheap, authentic Chinese restaurants will always remind me of New York because Sam and I basically had every other meal at one of the many Chinese restaurants sprinkled throughout the city. We'd usually order one noodle dish each and pass over a few bites across the table, always spending less than $10 and leaving the restaurant content and ready for another 3-mile walk at top New Yorker speed.

steamed fish with soy sauce and ginger

Hung Won, sadly, is not in New York, but on Waialae Avenue. I've been here a few times, all of which were with my dad because he constantly craves Chinese food. Hung Won is another old-fashioned, unassuming restaurant with the requisite fish tank, plastic-covered menus, and water that tastes so clean you know the cups have been recently bleached.



And, just like other hole-in-the-wall restaurants, e.g., Lam's, the food is as authentic as you can get. We usually order the steamed fish, salt and pepper pork chops, and chicken cake noodles. Can't go wrong with these. The steamed fish is soaked in soy sauce and ginger and melts in your mouth. The salt and pepper pork chops are chewy and loaded with flavor from the spices. The cake noodle is baked to a crisp but softened by the sauce and hidden under a pile of cabbage and chicken. The restaurant usually has only about one or two tables occupied, so service is always attentive and grateful for your presence.

steamed fish, salt and pepper pork chops, chicken cake noodle

It always makes me sad when I meet people who don't like Chinese food, because you know they probably grew up in a place in which Chinese food means greasy kung pao chicken, too much broccoli, and stale fortune cookies packed into suspicious takeout boxes. Unlike Thai and Japanese, which have become annoyingly hip in America, Chinese cuisine has remained stigmatized, much like the country itself. This is a shame because Chinese food has always been the best bang for your buck, and if Americans had feasted on char siu and lo mein instead of Wendy's and Applebee's [and accepted the fact that China is going to take over the world], we wouldn't be as obese or impoverished as we are now.