Aiea Chop Suey (1960’s-2023)

“Taking home boxes full of food was boxes full of love, this place represented family”

Aiea Chop Suey was located 99-115 Aiea Heights Dr # 101, there was a time in Aiea where there were factories, sugar cane on the hills angled from the wind and at the bottom of the hill there would be a small town feeling shopping center where people would come to visit and spend their time. Students would be walking from Aiea Intermediate seeing the sugar mill on the side and passing by the houses and then to the shopping center where it was a thing to look forward to and see something other than a classroom. The working adults would have the experience of driving past the shopping center on their way back from a drive and see a restaurant or two they would want to go to and take their families to the eateries there.

In the 1960’s, Aiea Chop Suey began, The Lum Family came from China and to Hawaii where they would live in Aiea and send their kids to the elementary school in the area and lived a little bit aways on Ulune Street. Aiea Chop Suey was started by Alice Sau Ngo Lum and her husband. The Lum Family four daughters and a son that would grow up with their ownership of Aiea Chop Suey. They would be the ones who ran the restaurant for quite some time. When there was a class party the family would send the daughter Linda Lum with “House Special Chow Mein”, where customers would actually recognize her from the times she used to be at the register. There were a lot of noodles to eat and people were surely happy to see those noodles, just so many noodles, variations of noodles... Those noodles would still remain, but eventually the Family would sell it to a brother named Francis and then eventually he had sold Aiea Chop Suey and passed the Wok so to speak.

The Lin Ohana, Li Min Lin and her husband Yau Ping Lin who had met in China would end up moving to Hawaii and start their business “Princess Chop Suey” located in Kailua next door to the ever so famous Boots and Kimos that had long lines and took much of the business in the area for hungry eaters. After the lease was up the family would end up looking for other places for better business and in hopes of having more success financially. The Lin Family would make Aiea their home after waiting to be selected to be the ones to run Aiea Chop Suey and from there they would continue making the dishes that many of their local patrons would enjoy over the years. (2008. 15 year run) that would begin people recognizing the Lin Legacy that was left on Hawaii-Chinese regional cuisine in both Kailua and Aiea.

Food, Aiea Chop Suey Height’s was a hub for people in the community and fed families and was really good at filling the gap of food for the family with the Lin’s who filled the hearts of many with people as far as waimanalo, haleiwa, and mililani driving to get their grindz. The things people would love to order were: Aiea Seafood Cake Noodle, Stuffed Tofu, Duck Noodle with Gravy, Pineapple Shrimp, Oyster Rolls, Lemon Chicken, Ginger Chicken, Almond Duck, Kau Yuk, and Wor Won Ton Mein. Residents in the area remember a time that people had to drive all the way to China Town to get Hawaii Chinese food and that there were no neighborhood Chop Suey restaurants in the old days and Aiea Chop Suey was the first, before the freeway was built Aiea was in the countryside. 

As Aiea was an area that once had an abundance of seafood products it is no surprise that the area residents had found oyster dishes in the restaurants near them many years ago and Aiea Chop Suey had a real good Oyster Rolls that were a bit pork with that from the sea taste that oysters tend to give. The combination of Aiea Chop Suey Seafood Cake Noodle would often be accompanied with Oyster Rolls or Gau Gee as the crispiness would compliment the gravy covered noodles with a variety of ingredients of the sea like: shrimp, scallop, squid, and bits of fish. When people would order the roasted duck, the cake noodles, or the saimin it wouldn’t be surprising if they would make some oysters on the grill, mix it with a oyster stew, or fry some oyster katsu as some patrons would do when they wanted to only cook a little and not alot.

Sensational Lemon Chicken, the signature of the family has been the sticky-sweet lemon chicken that has many orders that come in and out from the golden colored sauce that is ever so translucent which makes it so a person can see the chicken underneath. It is thickened with starch and has a mixture of seasonings with it and a natural lemon sauce that in the end takes advantage of Hawaiis interest in sugar, so when home recipes were made it often used raw Hawaii sugar. The dish inspiration comes from the tanginess people really like and is a popular dish in many cantonese eateries and common of Local Chinese run chop suey places rather then the ever so popular American-Orange Chicken. Aiea Chop Suey has been known to be a place that was known for its lemon chicken and is said to be the inspiration for the basis of a home recipe of “Pineapple Chicken” that uses lemon juice. 

The closure hit the community real hard as it was a place that was feeding their families for over four generations and showing people aloha with food. While it was another chop suey place gone in the books it was seen in Aiea as the greatest most delicious Hawaii-Cantonese Cuisine on the island. One customer says “Its just so heartbreaking that im crying…the family took care of me…she took care of my son…they knew my order and allowed me to raise my children who grew up on their food. Now my son is taking his son there for their last chance to eat the food they grew up on”.