Blending the flavors of Asia
Friday - February 15, 2008
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When Paul Ke and his brother-in-law Ben Cheng decided to open a restaurant featuring their favorite food, they could only hope that customers would enjoy their eclectic style.
“We wanted to put the kind of dishes that we like to eat at home on the menu at Wild Ginger, ” says Cheng,” and we took the risk that people would enjoy them, too.”
To date, almost four months into opening, the gamble appears to be paying off.
“The dishes that are our favorite ones are the ones that have become most popular,” says Ke.
Top-selling entrees at Wild Ginger include chicken with a sambal sauce, filleted red snapper and house green salad, along with a dozen or so different homemade sauces.
Wild Ginger should work on those nights you can’t decide between Thai, Chinese or Vietnamese food - all three are represented on the menu, along with dishes with some Malaysian and Japanese influences. Ke was born in Malaysia to restaurant-owner parents and was exposed to a variety of styles and Asian-influenced cuisine as a child.
“I built my cooking style around the kinds of food that I was used to eating, and I use my own style to influence some change,” he says.
Once you get the hang of the menu at Wild Ginger, it’s pretty simple to follow. Choose among spring rolls in the Chinese style, summer rolls in the fresh, Vietnamese style, crispy won tons or a variety of soups and salads. Tom Yam Goong (a dish with as many spellings as ingredients) is on the menu next to hot and sour soup in the Chinese style, along with an egg flower soup and a local-style oxtail soup that runs as a special.
With entrees - just pick a sauce, then a style, then a heat level.
“Everything we make is fresh and made-to-order,” says Cheng, “and our sauces and salad dressings are all our own recipes.”
There’s a great crispy red snapper that comes topped with a homemade sweet-and-sour sauce on a bed of stir-fried vegetables. It’s an excellent dish, with the moist flesh of the snapper given a little kick and a lot of flavor from the sweet sauce. At $15, it’s the most expensive entrée on the menu, but well worth a try.
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With reasonable prices (entrées are between $8.50 and $10.50) and a highly visible corner spot on 9th and Waialae, Wild Ginger has the ingredients to establish a strong neighborhood base. And with an established, trend-setting town as its neighbor, there’s ample opportunity for this little spot to benefit from an already savvy restaurant clientele who love to patronize the eclectic restaurants of Waialae Avenue. There’s parking behind the restaurant, on the street and in the lot between 9th and 10th avenues - although beware busy lunchtimes and try to go at off hours.
“We looked around at all the different Asian restaurants,” says Cheng, “and we didn’t really see one combining all types of styles in one place. We’re doing something a little different, and we just want people to come, try our food and see what they think.”
There’s a great deal at lunchtime, with a sampling of dinner items served with soup or salad and rice, and prices start at $6.95.
And why the name? “I love to cook with ginger,” says Ke. “My favorite sauce is our ginger glaze sauce. I use ginger every day.”
Wild Ginger
3441 Waialae Ave.
Honolulu
738-1168
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