Familiar favorites reign at restaurant

The menu at Yen Yen Chinese Cuisine is like an old friend with whom you are comfortable. You’re excited to see your friend, and you don’t know what news to tell them first — or in this case, what dishes to order.

About the business: Stephen, his brother Allen and their mother, Ruby Ma, opened Yen Yen Chinese Cuisine in the Enchanted Lake Center 21 years ago. Stephen is the operational partner, while Allen is “more like a silent partner,” though he will make occasional suggestions, said Stephen Ma. “He has friends who are in the restaurant business, and sometimes they come up with pointers.”

Ruby steps in to provide Stephen with his one day off a week.

About the food: “We don’t try to limit (our menu) to a certain region,” said Stephen, president and co-founder. Offerings are based on “whatever I think will work, and over the years we have added a lot of items not on the main menu.” Those are posted on the walls.

A black bean spare rib dish is one example, and a popular stuffed bittermelon is another. Yet another item not on the menu is fried rice with toasted garlic bits — to order it, ask for diced seafood fried rice with garlic.

What to order: Among Yen Yen’s top sellers are chicken salad and honey walnut shrimp.

“A lot of restaurants serve that nowadays, but I think we were one of the earlier restaurants to serve it. Definitely not the first, but I think about the third or fourth, way back, like 20 years ago,” Stephen said. “We sell a lot of the crispy gau gee, and also we have a pupu platter that has crispy gau gee, char siu, crispy chicken and egg rolls.”

At $29 the platter serves four to five people and is popular for occasions, he said.

The vast majority of dishes on the menu range from $6.75 to $8.95, with sauteed shrimp, Szechuan style ($13.95) and Peking duck ($23 half, $43 whole) topping out the menu. The duck need not be ordered 24 hours in advance, as many restaurants require, Stephen said. If they have it, they will serve it.

The least expensive item, meanwhile, is a salted duck egg at $2.75.

If the restaurant has been bought out for a private party, it still can fulfill takeout orders. In fact, everything on Yen Yen’s menu is available for takeout service.

There also is a catering menu.

How to order: Most takeout orders are ready within 10 minutes, whether made via phone or in person, Stephen said. He advises calling ahead for large orders that cost “hundreds of dollars.”

In the case of catering that amounts to $2,000 to $3,000 worth of food, place orders about a week in advance. This allows the restaurant to obtain all the necessary ingredients, he said.

Grab and go: Yen Yen Chinese Cuisine is in Enchanted Lake Center, a few units past Safeway. Some parking stalls are directly in front of the restaurant, but if those are full, there is plenty of parking in the shopping center lot.

Grab and Go focuses on takeout food, convenience meals and other quick bites. Email ideas to crave@staradvertiser.com.