Spicing things up

Sometimes when I go in search of a restaurant, I don’t know what I’ll find. In the case of Midnight Dining Hall, the address put it in the vicinity of 808 Center, so I parked on the street and started walking toward King Street, imagining there would be no parking in the row of buildings where I thought the restaurant should be.

Except, I kept walking back and forth because the address I was looking for wasn’t there.

A phone call revealed I should be looking for a food truck near Meadow Gold.

Food truck? Not exactly what I was expecting based on food photos I had found online, but Midnight Dining Hall moved into the parking lot fronting Elm Street two months ago and have set up what owners say is a permanent home under tents.

It’s easier to find after dark, when blue lights line the parking lot fence and more festive lights emerge from under the tents, where there are six plastic tables set for two.

With charcoal grills set up out of smoke distance from the tables, the outdoor venue specializes in lu chuan or chuan’r, skewered meat in the spicy style of Northeastern China.

But while other restaurants often serve up unspiced skewers or allow you to do the grilling, serving the dry Szechuan-style spice on the side, this one spices up each item, delivering sameness with each bite.

There will be some who can’t get enough of the cumin, chili pepper and spice blend, but if you’re not one of them, you may want to request your skewers be prepared unspiced, with the blend served on the side to be added to taste.

The prices will resonate with all who’ve been feeling the pinch of inflation. Skewers are $1.99, each bearing about five pieces of meat.

Choose from lamb, pork belly, beef round eye, beef tendon, sausages, chicken and its many parts, from wings ($3.99) to gizzards, hearts and skin.

The latter can’t crisp up enough on the grill, as it might in a deep fryer though.

Seafood is represented by shrimp, squid, fish balls and fish tofu. If you want something more substantial, you can get six pieces of whole shishamo ($10.99).

Where your bill can start to add up is with side orders such as garlic edamame ($6.99), a plateful of fried chicken fingers ($9.99), fried noodles with Spam ($9.99), and one of my favorite dishes here, the eggplant ($7.99) spiced with the same blend used on the meat.

There are also a couple of dishes cooked in foil that offer the few different flavor profiles available here. These are enoki mushrooms ($7.99) with garlic sauce and baby bok choy ($6.99) steamed with a quartet of clams. There’s a generous coating of the Szechuan spice on the mushrooms, but you’re advised to stir it into the garlic sauce which neutralizes the flavor a bit.

Midnight Dining Hall offers no dessert, but while I was there a shave ice vendor set up shop, so that might be a solution for cooling off the tongue after a meal full of heat.

Midnight Dining Hall

824 Sheridan St. (entrance on Elm Street), Honolulu
Food: ***
Service: ***
Ambiance: **
Value: ***
Call: 808-636-7999
Hours: 5 p.m.-midnight Sundays-Mondays, Wednesdays-Thursdays, and 5 p.m.-2 a.m. Fridays-Saturdays
Prices: About $70-$80 for two