Lam's Kitchen is located in Honolulu's Chinatown and famous for making fresh cheung funn noodles, jook (rice porridge), and you tiao (fried crullers)! The menu is packed with local Chinese dishes. It's a Chinatown must-visit.
Cheung Funn Rolls, Part 3 (scroll down to the see the pre-sauce, and the saucing)
What Is Lam's Kitchen?
Lam's Kitchen is where we go for fresh noodles! Specifically fresh cheung funn noodles. You know those wide, slippery noodles that also go by the name: fun, funn, look funn, and cheung funn. However you call it, they are delicious.
They make these noodles fresh at Lam's Kitchen every morning. You can purchase the noodles by the pound and take it home to make dinner (we do this a lot). Or you can dine in and have the fresh noodles topped with a hearty stir fry of black bean beef, or in a bowl of noodle soup with beef tendons, wontons, and anything you desire.
Lam's Kitchen also makes a wonderful bowl of jook with a side of super crisp and light you tiao (also called fried crullers). Lam's is always packed during the morning and lunch hours (lots of people working in nearby downtown like to walk here for lunch). It's affordable, fun, and so onolicious!
Beef Flank and Tendon Look Funn Soup
Where Is Lam's Kitchen?
Lam's Kitchen is located in the heart of Honolulu's Chinatown. It's within walking distance to all the Chinatown markets/food shopping, and makes a great first stop on a Chinatown/Downtown eating tour!
Lam's Kitchen is also located near many Chinatown favorites like Maguro Brothers, Kahiau Jerky Poke & Provisions, Ali'i Coffee, The Pig & the Lady, Fête, Senia, Legend Seafood (for dim sum), and Char Hung Sut.
Cheung Funn Rolls, Part 1 (the hot steamed noodle rolls, pre-saucing)
What To Order At Lam's Kitchen
The menu at Lam's Kitchen is pretty big, but everyone has their favorite dishes. Just aim for the ones that involve fresh cheung funn noodles (which is the bulk of the menu), and jook + you tiao. Below are our go-to dishes. You can't go wrong with any of these dishes:
Cheung Funn Rolls, Part 2 (all the sauces you need to put on top of the noodle rolls)
Plain Cheung Funn Rolls
You see the cheung funn noodle rolls pictured at the top of this post? That's the dish! Order this as the "shared" item that gets placed in the middle of the table. It's so good and everyone goes crazy for this dish. It's basically a bunch of steamed, and still hot noodle rolls. The rolls are topped with sesame seeds and delivered naked to the table with three types of sauces: ground sesame sauce, chili, and hoisin sauce. Drizzle them all on and devour!
Preserved Egg and Pork Jook + You Tiao
Whenever I feel tired or under the weather, I come in (or get takeout), a big bowl of the preserved egg (also called century egg) and pork jook. This jook is listed as "rice soup" on the menu. It's warm and hearty and makes me feel so nourished.
I also add on a side of you tiao (aka fried cruller). The you tiao stick is cut into small pieces. Eat it crisp or dip it into the jook...I love that half crisp, half soaked stage.
P.S. Make Congee/Jook with Century Egg and Pork at home ^_^
Beef Flank and Tendon Look Funn Soup
Fresh cheung funn and housemade broth topped with beef flank, tendon (I wish they would do an all tendon bowl, that would be amazing), and gai lan (Chinese broccoli). This is a very satisfying noodle soup dish.
Wonton Look Funn Soup
Same noodle soup concept as the one above, expect topped with housemade wontons instead of the beef flank and tendon.
Wontons (a la carte)
Pork and shrimp wontons (I think about a dozen pieces), simply boiled and served on a plate of choy sum. Topped with sesame seeds and chili sauce. So simple, so good.
Beef Black Bean Chow Funn
This is a great stir fry dish. It's a beef and pepper stir fry with a great black bean sauce. They pour the stir fry over a big plate of the cheung funn noodles and tadah, lunch! FYI this dish is pretty heavy compared to the rest, but I love it so.
To Go: Cheung Funn Noodles and You Tiao (Fried Cruller)
We always order two pounds of cheung funn noodles ($1.50 a pound) and two you tiao sticks ($3 each) to take home. We use the cheung funn noodles to make our own noodle soups at home (usually for dinner that same night). Or sometimes I make a beef broccoli stir fry and pour that over the noodles. These are the best noodles in town!
We save the you tiao for the next morning. Warm the you tiao up in the toaster oven, and use scissors to cut it into bite size pieces. Then serve the you tiao as a side dish with a simple bowl of jook (rice porridge). Breakfast of champions.
Wonton Look Funn Soup
Lam's Kitchen: Insider Tips
- Go-to dishes: preserved egg and pork jook (called "rice soup" on the menu) with a side of you tiao (aka fried cruller), beef flank and tendon look funn soup, beef black bean stir fry chow funn, and plain cheung funn (to which you add hoisin, chili, and sesame sauce).
- Be care not to jaywalk in Chinatown! The police really do ticket jaywalkers.
- If you're buying fresh cheung funn noodles (sold by the pound) to take home, make sure to come early. They usually run out by 1pm.
Beef black bean chow funn
Lam's Kitchen: Info
- Lam's Kitchen | 1152 Maunakea Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96817 | (808) 536-6222
- Price: Jook/rice soups $5.50-$8.25, look funn noodle soups $5.75-$9.50, chow funn dishes $8.75-$9.75
- Hours: Monday-Sunday (8am-4pm)
Hi Kathy: I have never eaten at Lam's Kitchen. In the old days, I would be eating in Chinatown at least 4-5 times a week. Maybe a quick lunch during the workday, a nice dinner at night, or maybe even dim sum on a weekend morning. But that was a long time ago. The places I remember eating a lot at were places like Tin-tin, Tai Sam Yuen, and the old Wo Fat. But those places are long gone but they had good food at reasonable prices. I love Chinese food! I also used to frequent the old McCully Chop Suey, where the new McCully Buffet is now at. I remember vividly my favorite lunch that I would eat there all the time -- about 4 pieces of pork hash and half moons, and a big plate of crispy gau gee mein.
Hi Alan - Oh wow, out of all those places I've only been to McCully Chop Suey 🙂 Could definitely devour a plate of crispy gau gee mein right now. Though did you hear...steamed gau gee is all the rage these days!
- Kathy
No, I did not know steamed gau gee was the rage now. Of course, you can never get any kind of gau gee here on the Mainland. But most Chinese buffets here have steam won tons for putting into the soup. But for me, I just eat the steamed won tons with chili oil and shoyu. For many years, I always thought that gau gee was a Hawaii thing, since you can normally only find them in Hawaii. But I used to work with an Engineer who grew up for most of his life in Guanzhou, and he told me that gau gee was really Cantonese and he just didn't understand why you can't find it on the CONUS. He invited me and my late wife to his home for dinner one night, and his wife (who is also a Guanzhou native) made gau gee for us.