Yummy fare with a side of kindness

At Canton Seafood Restaurant, Helen He’s voice rings out, “How is everything?”

The dining customers reply unanimously, “Very good!”

The answer always is the same at the Keeaumoku Street eatery, where He is a server and her friendly attitude is shared by all of Canton’s staff.

With more than 200 menu items, the Chinese restaurant offers something for every diner, including selections such as Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger and Green Onion ($9.99 special, $12.99 regular). Steamed with minimal oil, the delicate, flaky fillets are draped in executive chef Sou Keung Wong’s special house shoyu sauce. There is a common goal in Canton Seafood’s kitchen: to create tasty and healthy dishes for customers. The restaurant accomplishes this because, “Wong concentrates on quality control, always choosing the best parts of the meat and using the freshest vegetables,” shares manager He Gong.

Chinese restaurants are serious about their noodles, and Canton Seafood’s top seller happens to be a seriously addicting meal.

Seafood Fried Noodles ($7.99 special, $9.99 regular) includes generous amounts of shrimp, scallop, fish and squid. The seafood flavors are balanced out with sesame oil and a slew of crisp vegetables. All ingredients are tossed with Hong-Kong-style noodles, which are thin and easy to slurp up with chopsticks, forks or hands — although, let’s not get carried away.

When the restaurant’s lease was up in Chinatown, Canton Seafood reopened at its current location. Going on four years, the restaurant continues to add new menu items, in the hope of always moving forward and never standing still. This progressive thinking has Wong cooking up Orange Chicken ($9.99 special, $11.99 regular), prepared in the chef’s own way. The cuts of chicken remain crispy even after being lathered in a house-made orange sauce. Gong chimes in, expressing that the sauce is “not too sour, not too sweet.”

This item will be on special — alongside Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger and Onion, and Seafood Fried Noodle — until the end of the month. Also good to note, Canton Seafood is equipped to host special events, such as birthday, graduation and wedding parties, and offers various catering options and menus. Parking is available in the back of the restaurant, in the Maui Diver’s parking lot (after 5:30 p.m.) and in the Bank of Hawaii parking structure (with validations from the restaurant).

As the day reaches mid-afternoon and the crowd dissipates, a handful of staff gathers around a table to eat. Alluring smells waft through the air, joined by laughter and chatter — a sneak peak of what a meal is like at the delicious and friendly eatery.

Canton Seafood Restaurant

923 Keeaumoku St., Honolulu
955-3388
Daily, 10 a.m.-11 p.m.