UYE Happy Garden Dim Sum

A restaurant that serves dim sum all day! Say what?
The courses here were hugeeeeee! There was chicken feet, fried squab (can I call it pigeon?), shrimp dumpling, pork hash, char siu bao, taro puffs, seafood and mushroom with yellow noodles, beef chow fun, sweet and sour pork, green beans with ground pork and steamed custard. Even with 9 of us at the table we still had leftovers!
The food made me very nostalgic and reminded me of Sunday morning dim sum sessions with my family in Chinatown.
Happy Garden is a lot smaller than I expected and with 20 – 30 people in attendance, we basically occupied the entire restaurant. The owner and her son are an awesome team! They brought out food quickly and piping hot. They were quick to refill drinks and said thank you and goodbye to everyone at the end of the event.
During the UYE, I had the chance to meet some Unilocal buddies for the first time in person and caught up with some old friends. I learned Portland is the place to be for some delicious Northwestern food. We also peer pressured Talor M. into trying chicken feet for the first time. It was like pulling teeth, but as expected, he didn’t find it so bad. Thanks to Ed L. for finishing it off for him!
Overall, it was a great way to end a Monday and it was all made possible by our fabulous fellow Unilocalers, Paul C and Jo. Y. Thank you guys so much for organizing – it was a blast! Thank you for the delicious fried won ton, the little goodies from WA, the Chinese fact sheets, the almond float and the tasty moon cake!
You guys are amazing and I can’t wait for the next one!

Thank you Paul C. and Jo Y! What a memorable night!
I couldn’t believe how much time and effort that these guys must have put in to make this event happen. There were favors and cool informational leaflets, moon cake and great centerpieces, and so much more. What a good job guys!
And good job to all the people who could keep up with the food. There was so much! I almost had to give up half way but It was so good I kept chugging till the end. I kept thinking to myself the whole night «another one!?!» O_​O
The most memorable dishes were the taro dumplings, the pork hash, quail, and chicken feet. If it weren’t for the guys at my table egging me on to try the chicken feet I probably still wouldn’t know what it tastes like. Not as bad as it looks. lol
Most of all I’m really glad I got to meet new people and catch up with old faces. The planning, people, and food made for an amazing combo! Looking forward to seeing everyone at the next event!

Had a great time at Jo Y’s and Paul C’s Dim Sum UYE.
Jo and Paul went to a lot of effort to make things extra nice with lots of extra goodies that were above and beyond. Very nice! Terry K also brought something extra for everyone too and it wasn’t even her UYE.
Food: I skipped the Chicken Feet but everything else was very good. Squab was very nice. Have not had this as dim sum before. Unique and excellent. Then the food kept on coming! It was great. I’m coming back to Happy Garden.
BYOB: I tried two types of Sake and found one that I really liked thanks to Maka. Next UYE I’m looking for Cathy and Maka and I’m going to try to sit near them. They bring the «B» in BYOB.
Social: Great dining companions as usual.
Big Thank You to Jo and Paul!

I know it’s not the norm to review your own UYE, but I find it necessary as a way to do a general recap & thank those who attended. Being fairly new Unilocalers, Paul C. & I decided to plan our first UYE Dim Sum Dinner @ Happy Garden Restaurant in Chinatown. We have both been to the restaurant & love their dim sum & main entrees, as their food are consistently good & served temperature hot.
The restaurant staff speaks limited English, so Paul w/​his Cantonese-​speaking ability, was at ease in conversing w/​the owner, Dalene, and staff in creating the following menu for the UYE:
— Steamed shrimp dumpling (har gao)
— Steamed pork hash (siu mai)

— Char siu bao
— Deep fried taro puffs

— Seafood crispy noodles

— Beef chow fun

— Capital style (sweet sour) pork chops
— Green beans w/​minced pork and dried shrimp

— Steamed custard
In addition, Paul ordered, at his own expense, Chinese delicacies of chicken feet & fried squab. For many Unilocalers, this was their 1^st time in trying these, which is actually commendable, as Unilocalers do not shy away from any kind of food. I also added to the menu by bringing homemade won tons & almond float, as well as moon cakes (black sugar w/​double egg yolks, 5-​nut lotus w/​egg yolk, coconut, and black sugar from Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery on Maunakea St. Many thanks to Unilocaler Terry K. who generously brought almond cookies from Lynn’s Saimin & Cookie Shop — each Unilocaler got a pair of cookies wrapped in cellophane w/​a gold hand-​written sticker.





As usual, all the menu items were delicious and freshly served temperature hot, straight from cooking. When the food is piping hot, somehow it tastes much more flavorful. We got a huge discount from the restaurant, as each Unilocaler’s prorated share was a steal — thank you very much, Happy Garden!
To take this UYE a step further, we added a few non-​food touches:
— A 2-​sided cheat sheet for each Unilocaler of Chinese tidbits of the 4 major Chinese holidays, symbolism of food, Taoist funerals, lion/​dragon dance, history, birth of baby, 5 greatest Chinese desires, and li see. It was great to compile this listing, which made the UYE a little more educational.

— A listing of the Chinese Zodiac of animals, their traits, compatibility, & specific years. Good topic of conversation as to where you fell within the cycle.

— Real anthurium centerpieces decorated w/​five Chinese trinkets. They were given away to the Unilocaler whose birthday was closest to the UYE date.

— Cute red Chinese take-​out box favors stuffed w/​Chinese candies & Canadian candies from my recent trip to Canada.

— Actual li see envelope for each Unilocaler (flower for the girls, and carp for the guys) w/​a token coin in it.

But the real heroes go to the 25 Unilocalers who attended our UYE! Without you, this wouldn’t have happened. Paul and I are so grateful of your support and your willingness to try Chinese foods, and even to be in Chinatown at night. Good food & fellowship — we couldn’t ask for more. We hope all of you had a great time, and we are very humbled by your kind words in your reviews!

This was a wonderful UYE by Paul C. and Jo Y. It was well organized with everything set up for our arrival. Jo had provided each table with flowers and also had Moon Cakes on display.
She had also made fried won tons for the appetizer which were delicious.
The food at the restaurant was very good including the taro puffs and the pork hash. I especially enjoyed the beef chow fun and the green beans with pork. I didn’t care too much for the sweet and sour pork, a little too fatty for my taste. I also eschewed the chicken feet after one small bite! It”s just not for me!!! There was warm custard for dessert .
There was plenty of food and everyone was «stuffed» by the end of the dinner.
The dinner was extremely reasonable in price and I would recommend the Happy Garden for anyone looking for authentic Cantonese served in a smaller environment!
Great event and thanks to Paul and Jo for the evening and nice gifts as well as meeting new friends.

First of all, I apologize for writing a review on my own UYE. It is not the norm but I really want to express my feelings and experience in hosting my very first UYE.
As an active Unilocaler I consider myself very new to this community. I attended my first UYE earlier this year at Chuggy Bear’s Rucky Berry in Chinatown and after that took part in Russ M.‘s Sala Thai, John N.‘s & Cathy T.‘s at Yee Hong Pavillion, Maka K.‘s IYE Koko Head Hike and then Brian M.‘s Brunch at Corner Kitchen. All events were soooooo awesome with fab Yeeps and had such a blast at each one of them. You cannot imagine the stress I had in planning mine as the bar was set high and didn’t want to fail.
I would like to thank all in attendance that evening as you made this event a memorable one for both Jo Y. and myself. To me, eating and spending quality time with family is on the top of my list and this dinner at Happy Garden with awesome Yeeps stands right next to it. Yes, you fellow Unilocalers are like my family to me.
I would also like to thank Happy Garden for accommodating our group which took over ²⁄₃ of her restaurant. I pretty much controlled the menu where Happy Garden obliged (i.e. deep frying the taro puffs just before we eat to ensure freshness as most places have it cold because it’s been sitting for an hour or two). I didn’t hesitate in giving instructions on the order of the food to come out, having their son take away empty dim sum baskets, changing our dirty plates, refilling our water glasses and empty tea pots, as well as bringing pitchers of ice for the booze. The best part was the price of dinner. I had to ask THREE times to recalculate as I couldn’t believe the total cost. I even asked them «How are you going to make money if you charge us this amount???»
Jo Y. is such an incredible Elite Unilocaler. Not only does she write comprehensive reviews, Jo is very kind, generous and thoughtful. I was awed with the extras to tonight’s event (won tons, moon cakes, giveaway centerpieces, Chinese culture cheat sheets, party favors, almond float and she event brought her own cups to serve them in). Apologies if I missed anything Jo as I’m not detailed oriented as you. You’re a ROCK STAR!!!
I also thank Terry K. who was very generous in bringing almond cookies from Lynn’s Saimin and Cookies, which were wrapped in red cellophane with a gold sticker of the UYE.
There were many people who signed up but had to cancel due to personal reasons. I received many notifications of how much they had wanted to attend. I am considering doing another UYE here sometime in October 2013 for those who missed it. And yes, I would welcome repeaters should they want to come again.
In closing, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Unilocal,Unilocal Hawaii and all of you awesome Unilocalsters out there. I thank all of you who wrote such kind reviews and very pleased you enjoyed that evening.

Dim Sum for din din… I’m totally there.
And so were about 20+ other Unilocalers too!
Surely this UYE was epic! Our co-​hosts for the evening/​dinner, Paul C. and Jo Y., did such a incredible job of planning the event, communicating with the restaurant regarding the number of people and dishes, as well as posting updates and/​or additional info via the event page and talk thread.
After much circling around Chinatown to look for parking (I have no sense of direction at all when parking in Chinatown as I am seldom in this area), I arrived at Happy Garden and was warmly greeted by Paul C and Jo Y. Other Unilocalers were already mingling with each other, talking story, or catching up. With a group of 20+, thankfully name tags were given out at this event. It was great to see many familiar and new faces at this UYE, and I wish I made more of an effort to mingle.
The usual dim sum fanfare was served: shrimp dumplings, pork hash, chair siu bun, and deep fried taro puffs. Other dishes ordered included crispy noodles, beef chow fun, sweet and sour pork, stir fried green beans, fried squab, and CHICKEN FEET! And last, but not least, the piece de resistance: dessert. Dessert included hot custard and almond float (thanks Jo!).
NOTABLE MOMENTS:
–Many thanks to the staff and owner of Happy Garden. They graciously welcomed our large group of Unilocalers and provided terrific customer service.
–Wonderful and organized hosts Paul C and Jo Y! THANK YOU for all your commitment and dedication in making sure this event was enjoyed by all!
–Vino courtesy of Terry K and Brian M.; thanks for bringing the glasses, Brian!
–Great conversations! Thanks Ed L, Amara E, and Talor M for sharing all of your travel adventures. Now I know whom to ask for recommendations if or when I travel to Chicago or NYC.
–Jo Y.‘s won ton and almond float! Simply delicious!
–Chicken Feet… or as Grant S described it: the breast on another part of the chicken.
–Talor M giving into massive «encouragement» and sampling the chicken feet. At least he was much braver than I.
–Party favors! Thank you Jo for all the goodies, as well as the Chinese cultural info and zodiac definitions.
–Jacob N’s «signature» food pics. =)
–Paul C’s explanations/​description of the food. Thank you for sharing these Chinese cultural aspects with us.
BOTTOM LINE: A enjoyable and fun UYE! Many thanks to Paul C and Jo Y for planning this event. Great food and wonderful company!

Thanks to Jo Y. and Paul C. for organizing this awesome UYE!
It was great to have hung out on a Monday night with fellow Unilocalers, new and familiar. Elites and non elites to eat good food. This UYE was staged at the Happy Garden Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, located on Maunakea Street, near North Hotel Street. I wouldn’t be caught dead in Chinatown after dark, but the Unilocal community has its ways of reeling you in. I learned that Happy Garden serves up dim sum for anytime consumption, so you can have dim sum at night, if you wanted to — and we all did just that. The entire menu was organized by the terrific Jo Y and Paul C, which turned out really well.
It was a pleasure to meet up with Elites Amara E and Talor M for the first time. Along with superstar Elites Michael C, Jacob N, Grant S, and Brian M, it was a class of characters here, at least at my table! I was sitting nearest to the kitchen, although the entire restaurant only had about 6 tables in total. You could fit maximum about 50 people comfortably, I think. Finally got to meet Anthony C, which was great too! And as always, great to see Maka K, Cathy T, and Sandra K as well, just to name a few more. The social atmosphere was electric, as streams of Unilocalers entered the restaurant and we were introduced to one of the owners later in the night.
The meal at Happy Garden started at 6:30pm, after walking from BambuTwo Lounge with a few Unilocalers for pre UYE drinks. We all wore our name tags and sat down, with Unilocal occupying 3 tables on the left hand side of the small restaurant. Once settled, the food started rolling in. By the end of the night, we had feasted on a 8 course dinner, which ½ of it was dim sum treats. I rarely eat Chinese food nowadays, but it was nice get away from the usual and hang out here with Unilocal friends! We had crispy gau chee, shiu mai, har gau, chicken feet, and the fried taro for the appetizers. Then the good entrees made their way onto our tables. It was amazing!
The highlight of the meal was challenging Unilocal Elite Talor M to try the chicken feet. He was kind of grossed out about eating chicken feet, but he ate a small bite and said it wasn’t that bad, bit wouldn’t eat the rest of it. lol I helped out and ate the rest of it. The rest of the meal consisted of crispy seafood noodle, crispy pigeon wings, and a pork cutlet that was served in a very red sauce. If that wasn’t enough, we were served steamed stir fried beans that looked asparagus. Honestly, I probably didn’t see the white rice or did we have to ask for it? The end of the meal was hot custard served in a bowl, followed by a fruit cup. It was satisfying for sure. The lengths Jo Y and Paul C went through to secure this fantastic venue and dish selection was unmatched. Prices right and it was a grand night to be enjoyed by all.
I didn’t know this place was BYOB, but never fear. Thanks to Unilocaler Terry Y for a cup of her wine that she brought. It was great to swap travel stories with Michael C on his recent travels to Portland, OR. Makes me want to travel yet again to see more and do more. Jo Y passed around the mooncake around to try and sample during the meal, so that was cool too. We all were given Chinese 101 facts on colored paper. Hope there isn’t a quiz later on this. And finally, after the meal, the centerpiece was that of a plant with Chinese ornaments on it. The closest person who’s birthday was on the UYE date got the centerpiece. Just so happens it was me. Yay!
Finally, we received small tokens from Terry Y and Jo Y. A mini red take out box filled with candy and a 2 small cookies wrapped in red paper. Awesome idea! All in all, it was a great night to spend with friends. :)
Support local!
A++

I have 28 years of training of eating what I like to call «Chinese Dinner» so I’m may be the only person who is not kanaked out after our 10+ course UYE Dim Sum dinner.
I arrived with a group of hungry Yeeps about 5 min before the event officially started. We thought we would be «early» so we could grab the good seats… imagine our surprise to see about a dozen or so Unilocalers already seated and Paul C and Jo Y are passing out name tags and hugs for everyone as they walked in!
There were all kinds of surprising touches like hóngbao, mooncake, homemade crispy won-​ton & almond float, & a center piece prize giveaway! These gestures reflect the thoughtful nature of our incredibles hosts!
The food was delicious. We enjoyed a mixture of dim sum dishes like fried taro, shrimp dumplings, and chicken feet (which pushed the envelope for a lot of the 1^st timers). There were also a few more substantial courses like the crispy seafood noodles, beef chow fun, and string beans with pork. (and the slightly spicy garlic-​chili sauce goes with everything!)
The company as usual was top notch! Everyone was greeted like an old friend even the few new Unilocalers who ventured to their first Unilocal gathering! The restaurant was filled with the sound of laugher and chopsticks.
GREAT UYE PAUL & JO!
Who’s hosting the next one???

I never get to eat dim sum because no one wants to go w/​me during the day & it’s just not fun alone. 2 birds, 1 UYE: nighttime dim sum & at least 20 ppl to share it all with!
We pretty much took over Happy Garden for Jo Y. & Paul C’s first UYE! They were so amazing! Leesee (sp?), little candy gift boxes, cool Chinese informational handouts, Jo Y’s homemade wonton & almond float, mooncakes from a nearby Chinatown bakery, winnable flower arrangement center pieces & cookies from Terry K! That’s not even counting the TONS of food that came out!
Fried taro puffies, pork hash, charsiu bao, shrimp dumplings, green beans, sweet n sour pork, chow mein, Hong Long style seafood fried noodles & steamed custard were on our menu for the night. But then Paul C. up and bought everyone fried chicken feet & fried squab out if his own pocket so we could have a more authentic Chinese food experience (LOVED the squab! It was my first time w/​chicken feet… at least I can say I ate it?)
AND on top of all of that, it was BYOB! I brought sake to share/​get rid of & Catherine T. brought Jim Bean Honey Tea bourbon, so between the 2 of us, we totally took care of our table lol.
I had such a good dinner and the price per person ended up being ridiculously cheap! I’m so glad I went & I was so happy to see Jo Y. & Paul C’s event go so well! Congrats guys!

Better late than never!!!
Okay– I was late in getting to this Happy Garden Dim Sum UYE and looks like I’m also late in completing my review. For the most part, everyone’s review and photos address the food, and the quality of it. So I thought I’d add a twist to the reviews as the great food has already been given its due compliments.
So here goes:
Jo Y and Paul C’s UYE stand out because 1) they picked a restaurant with great food and great service, 2) they picked a time that was convenient and parking was easy, 3) Jo gave us history lesson CHINESE 101, 4) Jo made her own won ton appetizer and almond float desert (she can actually open her own restaurant with the taste of her food), 5) Paul can be hired by Happy Garden as their table server and bus boy, 6) in concert with the restaurant, the planned the meal and portions according to a 9 seat table and it worked out perfect with our 3 tables of 9, 7) the table centerpieces and favors !!! THANK YOU JO!!!, 8) the NEW FACES and UnilocalERS I got to meet last evening PRICELESS.
Encore! Jo Y and Paul C

I am not a very big fan of Mondays. Well, unless it’s a holiday, of course. But thanks to Paul C and Jo Y this past Monday ended up being a marvelous one!
OH YEAH!
+ Great food
+ Great company
+ BYOB
+ Dim sum at night
+ Treats and favors!
+ Handy info cheat sheets on Chinese culture
+ Interesting food items
OH NO!
— Hmmm… Nope, can’t think of anything here.
OH MY?!
* Squab = pigeon = DELICIOUS
* Chicken feet
When I first heard that Jo Y and Paul C were going to throw a UYE I knew I definitely would not want to miss it, and I was not wrong! Upon entering the little restaurant we were instructed to make ourselves name tags, and find a seat. I decided to grab a seat near the air conditioning unit since it would be the coolest spot in the room. It also happened to be next to Brian M who was packing a cooler of wine! Can’t go wrong there! Thanks for the drinks buddy!
We were also treated to li see, favor boxes of little treats, a variety of moon cakes, and Jo Y’s famous crispy won tons! Those little things are so goooood! After settling in our wonderful hosts made sure we were all set, and the food started to come out. We were treated to fried taro cakes, pork hash, shrimp dumplings, steamed char siu bao, chicken feet, crispy noodles, beef chow fun, sweet & sour pork chops, stir fried green beans, deep fried squab, and fresh egg custard from the kitchen, and there was also some very refreshing almond float provided by our gracious event hosts!
The evening was filled with delicious food, laughter, and wonderful company. All of the little extra touches, like the favors, the cultural cheat sheets, and the homemade treats were an excellent indicator of the thoughtfulness and care of Jo and Paul. They sure did a superb job sharing this experience with us!
THANK YOU JO & PAUL!!! I’m really looking forward to your next UYE!!! :D

Chinatown is not a place I would normally come to during the evening, but for a fellow Unilocalers first UYE I’ll come here anytime.
I caught a ride with a friend and fellow Unilocaler Alan T., since he works in downtown and considers this his «hood» I felt at ease. We got to the UYE early so Alan decides to eat Ice Cream from Wing Shave Ice & Ice Cream, let me see Mmmmm… Ice Cream before a Dim sum??? Hell why not!
Ahhh Yes. Chinatown one of the few places where you can enjoy your Ice Cream *Stands under the tree to avoid bombing from pigeons above* and get entertained by two guys ready to throw blows from across the street. Anyway…
What a fantastic job Jo Y. and Paul C. did putting this UYE! I know that they both put a lot of effort into making sure everything was perfect, I appreciate them both very much. Sharing the delicious dishes as they arrived, which were spaced out perfectly and add in fun fellow Unilocalers made this event awesome! I loved how Jo Y. and Paul C. talked about the food being served and explained a few details about them.
*Price for a this UYE dinner? You wouldn’t believe if I told you. lol! Cheap!!! Thank You Happy Garden!
*Thank Terry K. for the cookies! It was great with my morning coffee!
*Thank You Jo Y. and Paul C. for introducing and educating us on Chinese food and Culture.
**Jo & Paul you can stop stressing now it’s over and you both did a great job! **