Dining On The Hoof
You can put on calories and take them off at the same time by joining Anthony Chang’s walking culinary tour of Chinatown, with a little history on the side
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says, because it’s so easy to make.
“Manapua,” he adds, “doesn’t have to be roast pork anymore. An Aiea shop will sell you pizza manapua.”
We also stop at the Ying Leong Look Funn Factory on Kekaulike Street, run by two elderly Chinese brothers, who of course also know Chang and let him take us right in to see behind the scenes. The slicing of wide-flat rice noodles is done all day long here. They are put on an oiled pan, steamed and served either plain or can be stuffed with something.
On Maunakea Street, we stand in front of Cafe Orient, a Chinese coffee shop that serves macaroni and cheese and ham, and eggs and grits for breakfast.
They also offer spaghetti and meatballs, curried organ meat and Ovaltine.
Nearby is Pho 97, which Chang says is the best of this type of Vietnamese establishments in Chinatown.
Across the way is the Char Siu House, where cooked duck and pork hang in the window and you can look in and see a guy cutting meat with an enormous butcher knife.
At the Maunakea Marketplace food court we make our way through the lines of customers, stopping in front of a food vendor that sells intestines in blood sauce.
Chang leads us past two others, noting that each sells a different version of the dish. The Chinese are known for using all of something when it comes to food and don’t waste anyting, which explains why vendors at the marketplace also sell coagulated blood, small and large intestines, chicken, raw chicken feet, vegetable dishes, fruits, fish, fish cakes, fish paste and more.
Chang, whose great grandfather came to Oahu in 1878, wrote Chinese restaurant reviews from 1996-2002 for the Hawaii Road Runner website and then started in 2003 as the tour guide for the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
“They (Chinese Chamber) heard I was sticking my nose around Chinatown. When I started the tour I was 220 pounds. Since then I dropped 60 pounds over four years.
“When I first picked it up,” he recalls, “it was primarily historical, all well and good but people asked ‘where to go, where to buy.’ I changed it to a culinary walking tour. It changed from exclusively tourists to a mix, to predominantly locals. Attendance tripled.”
This father of three daughters jokes that people often ask him where he eats and he replies, “it depends who’s paying.” If he’s on his own, he enjoys a small lunch place in one of the Chinatown open markets that offers some traditional favorites.
For more information on the culinary walking tour of Chinatown call the Louis Pohl Gallery at 521-1812. Tours cost $20, which includes lunch.
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