What’s Up, Duk Kee? New Owners Take Over the Chinese Restaurant

Photo: Andrea Lee

Duk Kee Chinese Restaurant has been around on 12th Avenue for more than 45 years, yet I’ve never eaten there. Neither has my dad, who moved to Hawai‘i from Hong Kong to study at UH in the ‘80’s and remembers the Chinese restaurant being around then, too.

So when rumors started going around about changes in the works at Duk Kee, folks got worried. What kinds of changes? Would people still be able to order their favorite dishes?

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Duk Kee fans, rest easy: The Chinese restaurant is here to stay. It’s just changed owners. Gaven Wu, one of the new owners who also happens to be my dad’s friend, tells us Duk Kee is under new management.

The previous owners are now enjoying a retirement that has been a long time coming. They wanted to find someone to keep the restaurant going—not just the name but also the recipes. And they wanted someone from a younger generation, someone who knew the restaurant industry and could hit the ground running.

New owners Anna Yu and Gaven Wu. Photo: Andrea Lee

Enter Wu, who is co-owner of Golden Eagle, the longtime Chinese restaurant at Old Stadium Square. That Cantonese-style restaurant has also been around since the ‘80’s and expanded to a sister restaurant, Golden Duck (the two are no longer affiliated). Golden Eagle also makes Frolic’s favorite crispy gau gee.

SEE ALSO: Best Crispy Gau Gee: Our Top 5

Wu started working in Chinese restaurants in high school and is now a partner in restaurants, plural, including Golden Eagle and Fresh Bites. As a friend of the Duk Kee owners, he even covered for them when they went on vacations. He seems a natural choice for the role, though the way he tells it, the offer was made casually while talking story with the owners. “It’s hard to find a younger guy running a traditional, local restaurant, especially a Chinese restaurant,” he says.

Wu and his team started running Duk Kee two weeks ago. About restaurants, “Each is a new challenge,” he says. “To make it work, I try to gather people who still have the heart for Chinese restaurants.”

So far, it’s been smooth, with one of the previous owners, Kammy Chan, coming in part-time to observe and help out. She’s also introducing Wu to the old-timers who have been coming to Duk Kee for years. He has assured them that the recipes won’t change to continue the restaurant’s legacy.

That means you can still get the Mochi Duck and Crispy Pressed Duck, Duk Kee’s signature dishes. The Crispy Pressed Duck has actually returned to the menu; for a while, the previous owners didn’t have time to make it. These dishes are new to me and my dad—and even to Wu, who didn’t know about them until he started shadowing the Duk Kee staff.

Duk Kee’s Crispy Pressed Duck. Photo: Andrea Lee

For the Crispy Pressed Duck, the bird is braised, deboned and shredded, then the meat is pressed into a flour crust. When it comes out, what looks like a brownie is actually a savory duck cake. It lives up to the promise of its name, delightfully crispy with all the best bits of the duck and no bones. Sweet and sour dipping sauce is optional but adds a tangy kick.

We don’t get to taste the Mochi Duck, so we’ll come back for it. For this dish, a whole deboned duck is stuffed with mochi rice, lap cheong, char siu and fish paste, then fried up till it’s golden and crispy. This party favorite must be ordered a day in advance since the mochi rice needs to soak overnight.

Like I said, my dad and I have not patronized Duk Kee before. But we love Golden Eagle, and having enjoyed the Crispy Pressed Duck, we will be back. The best part of this story though? I love seeing our old-school restaurants still doing their thing, from generation to generation.

1146 12th Ave., (808) 734-1337

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