In the age of fractured media, social media is a double-edged sword for businesses trying to broadcast their messages. On the one hand, in the olden days of minimal media outlets, it was easy to follow the numbers — the largest circulation and viewership — to reach mass audiences. These days, with so many getting their information on the fly, it’s difficult for a business to determine how and where to reach the maximum eyeballs.
At the same time, new social media strategies like the Twitter-based tweet-up bring potential customers straight to one’s doors for a look-over. If not for one such Waimalu Plaza tweet-up, I would never have known about the vast dim sum menu offered at Golden Lion Chinese Restaurant. When one lives in town, one tends to be urban-centric, and with proximity to Chinatown, there’s not much reason to venture beyond River Street.
Golden Lion was worth a second look for Leeward diners who don’t want to brave the traffic during the holidays, when drivers seem particularly crazed.
The food doesn’t compare to that of Chinatown, but for the chance to stay closer to home, I’d be willing to settle. On the plus side, where dim sum service elsewhere tapers off by 2 p.m., here the dumplings and deep-fried treats are available until 9 p.m. daily, should your craving arrive at night. The items are also cooked to order throughout the day so you can be assured the food hasn’t been sitting around for hours.
The wait can be trying for those accustomed to picking out dishes immediately at cart-service restaurants, where the food is usually lukewarm when it arrives at the table. I’m so accustomed to eating the dumplings right away that biting into a hot dumpling was a new burn-the-tongue experience.
As a result, flour dough wrappers of shrimp and chive dumplings ($3.55), har gau ($3.55) and siu mai ($2.55) are nice and soft, never bouncy. You’ll also find variations of the staple pork hash, also offered as pork and corn, or pork and vegetables, involving ingredients such as minced zucchini and carrots. Where pork hash is often topped off with shrimp at many a Chinatown restaurant, the shellfish is absent in these versions, a plus for those who don’t care for seafood.
The crispy seaweed shrimp roll ($3.65) is comparable to any place in Chinatown. Look fun rolls are a bit thicker, less silky than customary, but no less enjoyable.
With an advance call, those hitting the road will find a couple of eight-piece dim sum bentos that are $9.50 if you eat in, $8.50 for takeout. The Lion Bento A features one piece each of siu mai, shrimp dumpling, Shanghai shrimp dumpling, half moon, shrimp and watercress dumpling, scallop, shrimp and pork dumpling, chicken and mushroom dumpling and mochi rice ball. The Lion Bento B varies with beef siu mai in place of the chicken and mushroom, shrimp and chive dumpling replacing the watercress version and pork and corn dumpling in place of the mochi rice ball.
Holiday platters are available at 25 pieces for $26 or 30 pieces for $31.
You can round out your meal with choices off an equally vast menu of entrees, whether by the plate or a la carte. Three-entree plate specials include combinations of such classic local favorites as sweet-sour spareribs, pot roast pork, beef and vegetable chow mein, lemon chicken, oyster chicken, cold ginger chicken and beef broccoli, served with steamed rice and crispy won ton, for $8.95 to $10.50.
Mongolian beef ($10.95) is standard comfort fare, sauteed with plenty of melt-in-your-mouth onions. Cooler days call for the warmth of scallop and egg drop soup ($9.95) or a hot pot casserole. I particularly like the combination of lup cheong, chicken and black mushroom ($12.95). Also worth trying, the Singapore chow fun ($9.50), painted with mild yellow curry.
A dish of eggplant with minced pork was more sour than the savory I was expecting, and honey walnut shrimp ($14.95) had less of the sweet coating I craved. Golden Lion isn’t big on embellishment, so many of the dishes lacked the extra zing of cilantro and chili peppers that you find elsewhere. It could be a matter of serving area tastes and expectations. I noticed, for example, that tables are set with forks instead of chopsticks. I missed the mix of onions, garlic, chili peppers and cilantro usually topping a dish of salt-pepper pork ($10.95), but others may not.
The crisp-skinned roast duck is one of the best items on the menu, at $15.95 for a half-order and $28.95 whole. I wish the crispy chicken ($9.50) had matched it, but the skin was soft. Oh well, the meat was moist throughout, and maybe it served as a reminder that I need to eat less deep-fried food in 2014.
That didn’t stop me from enjoying a dessert of crispy vanilla ice cream rolls ($7.50 for four pieces), which I haven’t seen at any other Chinese restaurant and was a welcome change from the usual almond tofu.
Nadine Kam‘s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.
