The fabulous Mr. Ken Fong: the real power broker at this downtown eatery is the person taking your order.
I've often heard about Ken Fong Restaurant's curious reputation as a place where Honolulu's movers and shakers congregate. I say curious, because the downtown, Chinese eatery, casual, almost austere, is a world away from other traditional power lunching establishments.But then again, maybe that's the point. It's all business at Ken Fong. Take, for example, the name of the place: There is no title (Mr. Ken Fong Restaurant), adjectives (The Fabulous Mr. Ken Fong Restaurant) or even a fancy, poetic name (The Fabulous Mr. Ken Fong's Sea Fortune Garden Restaurant).
I visited Ken Fong for lunch with five of my office mates. They had one assignment: to spot as many downtown power brokers as they could. It wasn't a very difficult assignment. Immediately upon entering, we spotted the head of one of the banks in town at a corner table. Next to him was a Chinatown real estate investor. A little later, the head of a business advocacy group came in to pick up a takeout order. Assignment completed.
One of the challenges of visiting a Chinese restaurant with a disparate group of people is that everyone has their own likes and dislikes and no one else knows what those are. You can very easily end up ordering three different chicken or two similar noodle dishes. Basically, someone has to take charge to make sure the group has a well-balanced (and democratic) meal. We didn't expect that someone to be our waitress.
When we inquired about Ken Fong's six-person dinner special, our waitress quickly dismissed us. "That too much food, too expensive," she said. "You order from menu, more better."
We sheepishly proceeded to order Lemon Chicken ($6), Pork Hash with Duck Egg ($6) and Mushroom Tofu with Oyster Sauce ($6). The trio of dishes all seemed to pass our waitress' scrutiny. She recommended the Soup of the Day ($4.50), which was Watercress Soup, the House Special Chow Mein ($7.60) and a shrimp dish, the identity of which no one could understand at the time. All that we could make out was that the shrimp were big. Now we knew who the real power broker in the place was.
Our mystery shrimp dish turned out to be Honey Walnut Shrimp ($7.50). We also got another unexpected order, a pot of Beef with Bitter Melon and Black Bean Sauce ($6.50), a dish that our waitress (independently) determined would round out our meal.
The muddy-looking watercress soup wasn't a feast for the eves, but was very tasty, with a pleasant, sweet after-taste. Another standout was the tofu, which wasn't very greasy and had clean, bright flavors. But I think the pork hash was the hero of the day. The meat was coarsely ground, so it had a pleasingly chunky texture, and the flavors were subdued, but still savory. As for our two mystery dishes: The shrimp were indeed very large and plump. The flavors weren't bad either. The bitter melon wasn't such a big hit at our table, but I appreciated the bitterness of the dish after a couple of tastes. It seemed like a nice counterpoint to the sweet, savory flavors of the other courses. A good decision. In fact, the whole meal was a series of good decisions. There were hardly any leftovers and everyone (bitter melon or not) was happy.
It was then that I realized why Ken Fong is so popular with the big wheels in town. Making big decisions all day long is tiring. It must be nice to be able to sit back, relax and have an aggressive, assertive waitress tell you what's good for you.
KEN FONG RESTAURANT | 1030 SMITH ST. | 537-6858
Hours of Biz:
Monday through Saturday
Lunch: 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Dinner: 5:00 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Closed on Sundays
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| Author: | Choo, David K. |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Hawaii Business |
| Geographic Code: | 1U9HI |
| Date: | Oct 1, 2004 |
| Words: | 628 |
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