Terry Cheung Just Opened a 350-Seat Dim Sum Restaurant Downtown

Owners Jame Chen, left, and Terry Cheung. Photo: Mari Taketa

The first time I came across Terry Cheung’s name was toward the end of Andrea Lee’s piece about Kapi‘olani Seafood Restaurant. The local homebuilder owns the dim sum eatery, she wrote last fall—and he planned to open more restaurants “in Honolulu and East and West O‘ahu, so his friends who say Kapi‘olani is too far can enjoy easier access.”

Who’s Terry Cheung and what was he talking about? I asked for an interview and found an outsize personality who says he eats out four times a week, including with friends who call from his own restaurant and tell him to join them. A Hong Kong native who arrived in Hawai‘i as a teenager 30 years ago, Cheung says it was eating out so much that got him into the restaurant business.

Several years ago, he invested in three Asian and Hawai‘i-style plate lunch eateries in Pennsylvania, and in fall 2022, he partnered with local restaurant veteran Jame Chen to open Kapi‘olani Seafood in the former MW Restaurant space. After working out early kinks, that place is now bustling, frequently with Cantonese speakers at most tables.

SEE ALSO: We Rounded Up Your Top 5 Dim Sum, Manapua and Oxtail Soup on O‘ahu

Even so, I was incredulous when Cheung told us his plans to open a Hong Kong-style dim sum parlor in the two-story restaurant space that used to house Mandalay and before that, Yong Sing. Honolulu Seafood Restaurant would be roughly two-and-a-half times as big as Kapi‘olani Seafood—at a time when aside from Jade Dynasty Seafood Restaurant and Legend Seafood Restaurant, the big, banquet-style Chinese restaurants of Honolulu have closed.

Photo: Maddy Chow

Honolulu Seafood Restaurant opened on Alakea Street last week with a full menu of dim sum, seafood specialties, noodles and other dishes. Prices for dim sum match those at Kapi‘olani Seafood and are slightly higher than in Chinatown, while other dishes, reflecting the Downtown address, are $1 to $1.50 more. Here’s a snippet of our Q&A with Cheung last Friday.

Photo: Andrea Lee

How many seats in this restaurant?

We can seat up to 350 people. Customers can come here with 10 to 12 people and order a set menu. Birthday parties, wedding parties—my Chinese club, the Hawai‘i Teo Chew Association, will have 30 tables.

Plenty of people booked for Chinese New Year already. On Feb. 9, 10 and 11, we’re fully booked.

How many cooks do you have here?

When we opened our first restaurant and some cooks saw we were doing pretty good, they came and applied for jobs. Right now in this Honolulu restaurant, we have seven cooks for Chinese food and about nine dim sum cooks. Way more than Kapi‘olani. At Kapi‘olani, we have three kitchen cooks and six dim sum cooks.

The cooks can do anything. Deep-fried scallops, that’s not on the menu. Dried scallops with squash, that’s not on the menu. Customers already ordered these, just pre-order one day ahead.

What’s been the biggest challenge so far?

We still have to hire more good workers. We always have workers who apply, but we have to find good workers.

Today is Day 2. We’re still teaching our new employees. Hopefully we can do better, like how we do Kapi‘olani.

Dim sum spread at Kapi‘olani Seafood Restaurant. Photo: Andrea Lee

How is Kapi‘olani Seafood Restaurant doing?

Right now, Kapi‘olani Seafood is doing good. We changed to all-day dim sum, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. No more Chinese dinner, just noodles, fried rice, roast duck, vegetables, choi sum, garlic shrimp, chicken wings—a smaller menu. Honolulu Seafood has a bigger, full menu.

What are your plans for more restaurants?

We have one coming up in Kāne‘ohe, Dim Sum Station. It will be mostly dim sum, fried rice, noodles, vegetables, no seafood.

Our number four restaurant may come to Pearl Kai later. We’re now waiting for DPP (Department of Planning and Permitting) to approve the drawings. If not, we’ll choose someplace else. And we’re planning to open on Maui and Big Island too. Some of my friends from there, they asked if we want to partner to open there using our name. We haven’t chosen the places yet.

Right now, I’m trying to do better with these restaurants on O‘ahu. If we’re doing good, then we’ll try something on Maui and Big Island.

SEE ALSO: 10 New & Coming Restaurants on O‘ahu: January 2024

Yong Sing, Royal Garden, Dynasty, Hee Hing, Beijing, Mandalay: So many large Chinese restaurants in Honolulu have closed. Why will you be able to succeed?

Right now, we have plenty of friends who support us, and we have good employees helping us. And we find good cooks. And we use fresh ingredients.

Why go in the opposite direction in the first place?

There are plenty of restaurants that closed in Hawai‘i. So we want to do the best dim sum in Hawai‘i. We’re trying to make this the best restaurant for wedding parties, Chinese parties, graduation parties.

Photo: Andrea Lee

What are your favorite dishes?

My favorite here is roast duck and Beijing duck. Then we have stir-fried sweet beans with fresh lily bulbs we buy in Chinatown. The tomato beef is pretty good too. The salted egg yolk style Dungeness crab is pretty good. Those are my favorites. King clam we do sashimi style, and then the head of the king clam, we can stir-fry it or make soup.

Daytime parking in municipal structure at Ali‘i Place, evening parking with validation at Bishop Square. Open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m., 1055 Alakea St., (808) 538-8788