Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes at your favorite restaurant? Well, much of the credit goes to the many chefs, owners and managers, who work diligently day in and day out to make their patrons enjoy a memorable dining experience.
This week, Dining Out dropped in on Royal Palace owner and chef Cary Lee, who gave us a little taste of why his restaurant remains so popular among Chinese food lovers.
Name: Cary Lee
Title: Owner and Chef at Royal Palace Restaurant
Training/Education: 10 years of restaurant experience in China/Hong Kong and Hawaii.
Who or what inspires you as a chef and owner?
My biggest inspiration is the cuisine itself. We aim to offer our customers really good, Hong Kong-style Chinese food. With our family-style establishment, we love to see our customers come in with their family and friends to try some authentic cuisine. I am happy to give them that experience.
If you could serve food to a celebrity, who would it be and why? What dish would you serve?
If I could serve a meal to any celebrity, it would have to be Jeremy Lin because I love to watch basketball and I really admire his awesome skills. I would serve him some of our highest-quality seafood, including my specialty Cold Combination Platter, Live Lobster, Crab and Fish Maw soup.
What is your favorite dish on the menu?
It is really hard to choose just one, because we have so many dishes to choose from between our lunch and dinner buffets as well as our signature family-style dishes. If I had to choose, though, my No. 1 dish would be our Honey Walnut Shrimp. It is my favorite because we use fresh fruits to mix with the mayonnaise for the sauce, which gives our version of this traditional dish something special. It just melts in your mouth when it comes out to the table and it’s one of our most popular menu items.
Is there a dish that you create that’s not on your menu, but available upon request?
Some of our regular customers often request our Deep Fried Mochi Duck even though it is not on the menu. The duck is de-boned and stuffed with fried mochi rice to give it a delicious flavor.
Royal Palace Restaurant
- Where
- 4510 Salt Lake Boulevard
- Honolulu, HI 96818
- Across from Aloha Stadium
- Call
- (808) 487-6662
- Hours
- Open Daily
- 10:30 a.m. – 9 p.m.
- Notes
- Additional parking by the bridge area.
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