The Weekly Eater

By Nadine Kam
Star-Bulletin

Thursday, October 31, 1996

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Diners should deal Sadec
a full house

ONCE it starts, Empty Restaurant Syndrome is hard to cure. The syndrome starts a week or two after a restaurant opens. There's a trickle of people who, owners hope, soon will turn into a stampede. These days, unless you've got a celebrity chef, the stampede rarely materializes.

When full, restaurants exude warmth, energy and glow. When empty, they represent little more than sterile retail shells. Nothing could be more unappetizing. Hence, full restaurants are nearly always full and empty restaurants nearly always go empty.

There's nothing much an owner can do once the syndrome strikes, short of hiring extras to pack the joint for a week or two. This is not a bad idea for Honolulu, a town where acting jobs are scarce and even the nonactors dream of stardom, turning out by carloads at open casting calls, as for "Atlantis." There always will be those who would work for food, scraps, anything.

The restaurant that adopts this tactic wouldn't necessarily be cheating. Call it a pupu party, just a chance for people to come, taste and perhaps convert.

Such a tactic might help Sadec Vietnamese Restaurant. It's not always empty, but situated on the second floor at Hawaii Kai Shopping Center, it's not nearly as full as it deserves to be.

With its Beef Ball Noodles ($5.25/$5.95) and Sour Squid ($7.25) - which is actually sweet-sour squid stir-fried with cabbage, carrots and broccoli - the restaurant may be too ethnic for Hawaii Kai, where diners are more accustomed to seeing Asian ingredients tempered by Euro techniques and presentation. Or maybe the neighbors want to eat here but they have to stay home and pay for their mortgages.

IN either case, there's no need to stay away. Any local will recognize such basics as meaty Wonton Min ($6.25) in a sweetened pork broth, here dubbed Hoanh Thanh Mi, and BBQ Pork ($7.50), albeit with Vietnamese-style presentation of noodles, mint leaves, basil and cucumber - all meant to be tucked by you into rice paper wrappers at the table. The payoff is delicious for this iota of work.

You can get away with dining on the cheap. It's plain old curiosity that kills most budgets. Dishes such as Lemon Beef and Chao Tom (Sugar Cane Shrimp, $8.75) will definitely have you wondering, "What's that?" Gotta try 'em.

The former is a zesty appetizer, with beef sliced thin and seasoned with citrus juices, mint and cilantro.The latter features raw shrimp, mashed like fishcake, shaped in a ball around a stick of sugar cane, then steamed and lightly grilled. The resulting mass has all the flavor and texture of grilled shrimp, but makes for unusual presentation. This, like the pork above, is also served with wrappers and greens.

These rice paper specials are Sadec's strength. When it comes to family-style entree plates such as the squid mentioned above and Spicy Chicken ($6.20), sauces tend to lack depth, as if they came straight from a jar.

For those who tried these dishes first and vowed not to return, I suggest giving Sadec's specials a second glance. I'm seeing too many restaurants succumb to Empty Restaurant Syndrome and it's not pretty. In some cases, the restaurant needs to cure itself, but sometimes only the public has the remedy.

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Sadec Vietnamese Restaurant

Where: Hawaii Kai Shopping Center, 377 Keahole #201

Hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. daily, except Wednesday

Prices: Lunch or dinner for two about $12 to $25

Call: 396-3020

- excellent;
- very good, exceeds expectations;
- average;
- below average.