UYE Happy Garden Dim Sum Dinner #6

My first Paul C. UYE and everything they say about him is true. Paul is a conscientious host who wants everyone to have a good time. So come hungry to try some dishes you wouldn’t normally order and make friends with whoever is on your table. You can even order your own dishes in addition to the pre-​set menu if you want to try something else.
If you leave hungry you have done something wrong. There will be a lot of food for dinner and to pack up as leftovers, and it will be cheap, $ 20 including tax and tip!

I’d never been to Happy Garden before. Paul had been telling me for a while that he was going to be hosting another UYE here. I couldn’t wait to go. I knew it was going to be epic. Paul was certainly the host with the most. He literally waited on us hand and foot. He filled our cups with water and asked how everything was going.
There was so much food. Just when I thought that we were done, another dish makes it out of the kitchen. I counted 12 courses in all, although I couldn’t bring myself to try the pig intestine. It had a really pungent smell to it. I tried everything else. It was really reasonable, $ 18, and that’s with the tax and tip.
It’s always fun to chill and hang out with other Yeeps. It was nice having Nadine, Jules, Terrance, Traci, Craig and Brandon on the same table with me. With Nadine and Jules, it’s never boring. Those women are crazy, lol, in a good way.

Rolling! That’s the only way you’re getting out of one of Paul’s UYEs.
It’s always fun to see familiar faces and great to get to meet new people. If you’ve never been to a Unilocal event, a UYE is a great way to get started. It’s a smaller group of people and everyone is really great at introducing themselves.
12 courses for under $ 20 a person?!? No freaken way, you say? Well, it happened! Paul orders the same dishes for all of the tables. I don’t eat everything that Paul ordered but I still left there feeling very full and satisfied.
Thanks for another fun even, Paul! Thank you to Julez for bringing the taro chips from Hawaiian Chip Company too. Those are always so delicious.

Another epic meal in the books! Lately I’ve been eating like I’m two people and what better way to do it then at Paul’s UYE?!
Dish after dish came out of the kitchen and there was so much variety. I’m not a fan of chicken feet or pig intestines, so I passed on those. Besides those dishes, there was a beef eggplant dish, chow fun, seafood crispy noodle, pork hash, bean curd wrapped chicken, jin deui, fried calamari, fried fish, pork chops, and more.
Thanks so much to Jules for bringing a large box of taro chips! Those were so delicious!
Thanks so much Paul for organizing this event and helping the employees here.

I’m so glad I finally was able to attend one of Paul’s UYEs! Somehow I always miss them… probably because I mostly use Unilocal on my phone and haven’t figured out how to find events on it. I’ve seen and heard great things about Paul’s events and this dim sum UYES at happy garden didn’t disappoint. Jules brought us some freshly made taro chips to much on while we socialized. Surprisingly, I found a new Unilocal friend, Judy, who lives in the apartment next to mine! What a small world! I also met some other new Unilocalers and saw many familiar faces.
Dian xin (aka dim sum) has a special place in my heart because my grandpa used to take me to chinatown on the weekends or we would go to kwong on in kaimuki and take it home to eat with my grandma. When I lived in LA, my friends and I would frequent super authentic dim sum places in Rowland heights. That being said, I’m not that adventurous when it comes to chicken feet and intestine and other pig parts. I liked that Paul made it an option for the UYES attendees to try these more exotic dishes.
Apart from the feet and intestines, Paul ordered a great variety of dishes from crispy noodles with seafood, dry beef chow funn, sweet and sour pork, eggplant and salt and pepper fish and calamari. We washed our food down with some red wine, courtesy of Wesley J. And finished off our night at wing ice cream shop!
Thank you so much Paul; from making sure I got signed up to ordering all the great food and being such a great host, you really went above and beyond! I can’t wait for your next UYE! Hopefully I don’t miss it on the Unilocal event page –_​_​– lol

Oh wow! I always like somewhere that has Happy in the name because that’s just what I want to be! And Paul C.‘s UYE’s are always that! Being that I’m an adventurous type I was ready for anything! Oh ok chicken feet well it was actually pretty good here I’ve had them before at a few other places but I think Happy Gardens ones were pretty good. I had the chance to have the I think deep fried pig intestines which were good. But of all the food that we had I especially liked the Jin Dui with the Char siu now I usually get the Jin Dui with Coconut so the Char Sui ones were great! The flavored of the more standard fare like the eggplant was a bit different than other Chinese restaurants I’ve been to but not bad just different. The noodle dishes were like other Chinese Restaurants and were very good except by that time I was soo full! I have to thank Paul C. For the great UYE where you never leave hungry, Jules Y. For the wonderful Taro Chips and the finishing taste of the Angry Orchird crisp Apple Cider at the end! Thanks all of the super people at my table Nadine C, Jules Y., Angel H., Traci R., Brandon S., & Craig I. For all the fun we had at the table! We even went to Wing Ice Cream for Desert but I just stood outside chatting as I was so full!
If you haven’t made it to one of Paul C.‘s UYE’s you better sign up Quick!!!

Never been to one of Paul C.‘s UYEs before, but I’m glad I can say I have now! I had been craving some dim sum since I had been eating rice and beans for the last 2 weeks while abroad. This meal perfectly satisfied that craving.
Meeting new Unilocalers is always exciting. Sat with some pretty entertaining individuals including Nadine C., Jules Y., Terrance Y., Angel H., Brandon S., and Craig I. We laughed quite a bit and I got so distracted that I barely ate and still left feeling full. Saw some other familiar faces such as Jennifer S., Cathy T., and Maka K. :) Congrats again to Maka and Cathy on your new jobs and good luck in your future endeavors! I’m sure we’ll still be seeing you at Unilocal events! :)
As for the food, well, I’m not a very adventurous eater but this UYE exposed me to dishes I typically ignore when dining at a Chinese restaurant. Of course my favorite dish was the crispy noodles (oh, how boring am I).
Last but not least, the party didn’t stop there. We brought it over to Wing’s Ice Cream and I got myself some delicious Guava Strawberry sorbet! Loved it! :) Sorry, all, for digging out so quickly. My ride came and well, I didn’t want to be stranded in Chinatown!
Thank you, Paul C, for hosting an awesome UYE and a memorable dinner :) Looking forward to the next one :)

I’m a firm believer that you learn at least one new thing everyday — however small or big — one new thing. Tonight I learned:
— Now I know why Happy Garden is such a popular place for eats! No, it’s not the refreshing air conditioning that lures people in — it’s the fantastic food! Our host Paul masterfully selected the dishes and really knows good food! From the surprise savory jin dui to the fried sticky noodles — all good to the last bite!
— It takes an acquired taste and nose to appreciate the culinary delicacy of fried pig intestines and feet — something I do not have (but I’ve known this for a while — tonight reaffirmed it again –but I just had to add this to this list).
— Now I know why Paul’s Happy Garden UYE is now entering its #7^th episode (check it out — if you’re lucky enough and fast enough to press «I’M IN and add your guest (s) before the seats fill up — it truly won’t disappoint.
— There is a dessert beer! Thanks to Lisa T and Jin for sharing their spirits with us.
— Hawaiian Chip Company makes a wonderful TARO chips — thanks Jules for the goodies!
— I’ve learned that you’ve got to save room for dessert or else miss out on Wing’s Ice Cream after (fail on my part). Some people unzip or unbutton their pants after eating here — hubby took off his pants! Just kidding LOL… ok, later he did at home.
Mahalo very mucho Paul for putting together this wonderful feast with great Yeeps and spirits! You rock and it’s no wonder why you’ve got such a following!

Paul’s UYEs are always a blast. Great food and excellent company. How can you go wrong?
First thing’s first! As soon as we walked in we filled out our name tags.
We started off with chips from the Hawaiian Chip Co. courtesy of Jules. Mahalo Jules!
For dinner we had a nice variety of 12 dishes! We had hot & sour soup, shrimp dumpling, jin deui with mochi and meat inside, sweet and sour pork chop, pork hash dumpling, fried noodles with seafood, fried chow fun with veggies, szechuan eggplant with mushrooms and fungus, salt and pepper fish and calamari, fried pig intestine, chicken feet and vegetables in bean curd with gravy. Paul made fantastic choices. I enjoyed everything I tried. Admittedly, I am not adventuresome enough to try the chicken feet or pug intestine (sorry Andrew Zimmerman!) And i didn’t have room for most of my rice, or the two noodle dishes — had to save a wee bit of room for dessert. Everything was fresh and flavorful. My favs were the soup, the dumplings and the eggplant!
Mahalo Paul for always giving good UYE and making such great choices tonight! Yes, we would definitely come back for dinner.
Thanks to Lisa and Jin for sharing and introducing us to some great selections of beers, at least one of which is not available in Hawaii!
It was a great night meeting new people and making new memories with friends!

I told Brandon S. to write his review right away. I’d better practice what I preach, so here goes…
Usually, Friday is my night off and I’m able to attend functions and enjoy them. This Friday was Admission Day holiday — we celebrated Hawaii being the 50^th State of the USA. I appreciate the FREE street parking, but I kept thinking about work… My day off was changed and I had to work the holiday… it’s good and bad.
However, for a couple of hours, I was temporarily distracted by my fun tablemates: Terrance, Jules, Angel, Traci, Craig, and Brandon! Thanks for the great conversation and the sincere laughs! You all are too much!
My plan was to just eat quickly and leave — that’s why I sat by the door and didn’t socialize. I did see a bunch of familiar faces: Krysten, Wes, Victoria A., Victoria M., Darrell, Sophie, Jennifer, Jin, Lisa, Maka, Mahina, Cathy, John, Jeff & his son, Gary, Lauren, and Kimo. Got to meet Lori in Real Life — this was one of the highlights of the night!
The food was fabulous, of course, since Paul selected the items. The best dish to me was the Savory Jin Dui with cha siu filling. I have made jin dui once (and that was enough)! That buggah is difficult to make! That’s why I appreciate the fluffiness, perfect roundness, crisp shell, and tasty interior! YUM!
Other noteworthy dishes were the Chicken Feet and Deep Fried Pig Intestines that were featured on Andrew Zimmerman’s «Bizarre Foods» tv show. That’s how this restaurant was put on the map! The chicken feet were good — thanks for the extra servings from tablemates who were not adventurous enough to have some — and the Intestines were okay… I liked the crunchiness! This was the first time for me… um… The sauce made it better! Haha!
They told me that there were 12 total dishes. I lost track! All I know is that those taro chips from Jules at the start and the Angry Orchard Crisp Apple Cider from Lisa & Jin at the end were yummy! Thanks for sharing!
Overall, it was a super UYE as always! Paul, our host, was efficient, friendly, and thoughtful. His introduction about Dim Sum was very educational. We learned that Dim Sum is not only for the traditional breakfast and lunch! Here, at this restaurant, you can have it for dinner! It’s made fresh and tastes great! Enjoy!