Birthing a baby and a business in the same year would frighten the strongest of heart, but Kylee Lin and her husband, Chen Pan, have done it and lived to tell the tale.
Their son, Nathan, now 10 months old, was born just before they began renovating the former Lung Fung Chinese Restaurant in Niu Valley, to turn it into Cafe Asia. Their new place opened in September.
“It was hectic for us,” Lin says, in what is surely an understatement.
Cafe Asia is a hot-pot spot, but from the beginning has offered a weekday happy hour featuring its extensive pupu menu.
The experience
Lung Fung had been in operation for more than 30 years and never renovated, Lin says, so it was due for a makeover. Ceilings were raised, the interior redone in light tones and wood accents, the kitchen rebuilt.
Rows of booths are reminiscent of its Chinese-restaurant heritage, although these are also brand-new.
It’s a generous-sized space that on Mondays to Thursdays tends to be lightly populated and so could accommodate a good-sized pau-hana party (gather up all your friends).
CAFE ASIA
Niu Valley Center, 5724 Kalanianaole Highway, 762-7514
Happy hour: 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays
>> Squid-ink calamari, $6.50
>> Pot stickers, $6.50
>> Grilled beef tongue, $9.50
>> Cocktails, $6
>> Draft beer, $3.50
>> House wine, $4 a glass
THE FOOD
Three shabu-shabu sets are discounted at happy hour — the Berkshire pork belly, beef toro and rib-eye. These run $19.95 to $24.95 (regular $23.95 to $27.95). For a full review of these options, see Nadine Kam’s Weekly Eater review.
But we came to gorge on happy-hour appetizers, which are about $1.50 below normal.
It’s refreshing to see a pau-hana menu that’s not all bread-bound or deep-fried. That said, our favorite item was fried, the squid-ink calamari ($6.50). They look charred, but that’s the black squid ink, somehow fried lightly into the soft rings of calamari. I’m not usually a fan of calamari, always fearing something rubbery and tasteless, but these were tender and delicious.
Other highlights: a quartet of pan-fried pot stickers, open-ended rolls filled with a whole shrimp, strips of zucchini and ground pork ($6.50); and beef tongue, grilled in a bourbon sauce and tossed with shimeji mushrooms and red onion slices ($9.50).
Both reflect chef Pan’s deft touch with fusion flavors, intriguing yet subtle, and quite satisfying.
In all, the menu offers a dozen appetizers, from lamb on skewers to cold ginger chicken, so there’s plenty to explore.
THE DRINK
Three signature cocktails go for $6 each during happy hour ($2 off): lilikoi iced tea with rum, a guava fizz with gin and a lychee mojito. All are refreshing and just lightly sweet, and they’re generous drinks, served in tall 12-ounce glasses, so you could make one last through a healthy pupu round.
Our favorite was the tasty mojito, with three whole fruits bobbing in a mix of rum, Sprite, lychee juice and a spritz of lime.
Beyond that, a small selection of wines is $6 a glass; $24 a bottle (regular $7 and $24). The house merlot and chardonnay are $4 and $16 (regular $5 and $20).
Kirin on draft is $3.50; Asahi and Orion are $6.50 for liter bottles; Bud Light is $3; Kona Longboard $3.75 (all the beers are about $1.50 off).
THE VERDICT
Eastsiders are beginning to discover the economic benefits of dining early here. They start showing up just as happy hour ends, catching the discounted shabu-shabu just before dinner prices kick in.
Those who live father afield will find this a worthy excursion down Kalanianaole Highway on a day that you can hit the road early enough to beat the eastbound traffic.
