Kirin Restaurant

Honolulu $$ *****
Kirin is on the same level as Mandalay, which is possibly the best compliment I can give to a Chinese restaurant. They are great for different reasons. I prefer the dishes and location of Mandalay, but the atmosphere and décor of Kirin is much nicer. Kirin gives free valet parking, which I consider a huge plus since I absolutely hate parking. You walk through a cheesy Chinese archway and enter a beautifully decorated interior, with deep wood tones separating smaller private rooms from the larger dining area, ornate chairs, and splashes of pale green.
For the most part, their dim sum is nonpareil. However, there are one or two dishes that are better at other dim sum restaurants, such as Hee Hing or Mandalay. For example, their seaweed roll is a bit too heavy. Other than that, I've been completely satisfied with Kirin.
Kirin Restaurant (Mo'ili'ili)
2518 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96826

Wok 88

New York $ ****
Another Chinese restaurant during our stay in New York! This one is called Wok 88 and is located on the Upper East Side. They offer a variety of noodle dishes at reasonable prices. Clean place, decent service. And fortune cookies at the end. Perfect!
Wok 88 (Upper East Side)
1570 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10128

Pick Up Stix

New York $ *****
The first thing my friend and I wanted to do when we arrived in New York was eat - and of course we wanted to eat Asian food. We were staying in the Upper East Side, so we had a little difficulty finding an Asian restaurant. In fact, when we went into a bodega to ask for suggestions, he kind of looked at us, smirked at our apparently glaring "tourist" stamped on our foreheads, and told us, "Madison Avenue does not have that." So we kept walking, finding our way to Lexington Ave. There it was! A little hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant called Pick Up Stix. Looked authentic, i.e., the waiters were Chinese and it looked a bit dirty. Success.

This place definitely satisfied our Chinese food cravings. We shared dumplings and noodles. Delicious! Maybe we were just extremely hungry. Nevertheless, the food was steaming hot and tasty. What a perfect way to start our trip!

Pick Up Stix (Upper East Side)
1372 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10128

Wong Kwok Hometown Noodle House

Honolulu $ ****
I love eating at hole-in-the-walls; you know the food will be good and the prices will be even better. This particular one is located on the edge of Chinatown. It looked relatively clean and was crowded with other Asians (the ONLY people we trust with good taste in authentic Asian food), so we decided to try it.
Wong Kwok specializes in Hong Kong cuisine. I ordered the rice noodles with roast duck and char siu. Yum! You can't go wrong with roast duck and noodles. There was some sort of oyster sauce on it, I believe. My friend ordered a soup dish, which had the same noodles as my dish. For dessert we ordered yam jin dui. I always end a Chinese meal with jin dui, but this was the first time I had yam jin dui. It was purple and very tasty. I will definitely try it again!
The portions were huge (more leftovers than what I had eaten), and the prices were as good as I expected - less than $10!
Wong Kwok Hometown Noodle House (Chinatown)
2 N. Hotel St.
Honolulu, HI 96817
Mon-Sat 9am-8pm
Sun 9am-3pm

The Mandalay

Honolulu $$ *****How often do you eat dim sum with cloth napkins? For me, not often, which is why I love Mandalay. This is a fairly new restaurant in downtown Honolulu. The dim sum is great, and so are the regular meals if you come for dinner. Clean, elegant setting that is a nice change from the typical Chinatown restaurants. Plus, the seats are some of the comfiest chairs I have ever sat in.

The Mandalay (downtown)
1055 Alakea Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Daily 10:30 am-10pm
Dim sum served 10:30 am-5 pm