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A ‘Little’ Goes A Long Way

Digest On the Menu

August 30, 2015

Story By: Caitlin Basilio | Photos by: Bodie Collins

Nestled in the heart of Chinatown is Little Village Noodle House, a place known for its high-quality foods, fresh ingredients and simplicity. “We’ve been serving at this location for 13 years. We’re very popular among the local people because we serve a lot of signature comfort-food dishes,” explains general manager David Chang.

Offering local favorites such as beef broccoli, ginger chicken and tasty noodles, the eatery also is starting to attract tourists, as they arrive in flocks from Waikiki.


“They highly recommend us,” says Chang of both locals and tourists.

This week in Dining Out, Chang features three customer favorites: Honey Walnut Shrimp ($18.50), Portobello Mushroom Snow Pea Stir-fry ($13.95) and Cold Ginger Onion Chicken ($13.95).

The Honey Walnut Shrimp offers a different taste than its competitors at other eateries. The dish is made with jumbo shrimp — breaded and fried to a golden crisp — covered in a house onion-cream sauce and topped with honey-glazed walnuts.

“We make it with high-quality shrimp: You can really taste the crunch. It became one of our signature dishes,” says Chang.

Known for its simplicity, Portobello Mushroom Snow Pea Stir-fry was created in order to cater to vegetarians. The snow peas and Portobello mushrooms are expertly stir-fried in a tasty garlic sauce.

“It’s simple, but very good,” shares Chang.

Little Village Noodle House’s Cold Ginger Onion Chicken presents half of a chicken, which makes it a larger dish that’s perfect for sharing. The entree comes with a wild ginger onion sauce that pairs deliciously well with the poultry.

“It’s poached perfectly to a perfect temperature so it retains moistness,” explains Chang. “We use fresh chicken. We get it from one of the local vendors, and it’s never frozen.”

The restaurant cooks up a little bit of each Chinese provence’s unique style of cooking, but it specializes in Northern-style Chinese food. Chang likes to keep his ingredients simple, yet very bold in flavor. What he likes most, though, is keeping his customers happy.

“Seeing people smile and enjoy their food is my main goal,” he says.

One dish that is not on the menu, but is something to look forward to, is Barbecue Char Siu Pork Rib, which was introduced to customers this past Father’s Day. Chang hopes to occasionally offer the meal as a special, seeing as it had so much success over the holiday and customers are still requesting it.

With only one day left, patrons are urged to take advantage of the restaurant’s most recent deal: Honey Walnut Shrimp can be purchased for only $4.99 with a single-food purchase. Look for the coupon in Dining Out on page 15 (offer expires Monday, Aug. 31).

Little Village Noodle House

1113 Smith St., Chinatown
545-3008
Monday-Thursday, 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m.;
Friday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m.
littlevillagehawaii.com

Smith Street, Honolulu, HI 96817

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