About Us

Since 1992, the team at Golden Sea has strived to provide our dear patrons with exceptional Chinese cuisine prepared with the freshest ingredients and delivered with smiling service!  We truly believe that our customers are part of the family and hope that we can dine together often.

Jack and Amy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once a farmer on the mainland of China, Jack Chung escaped from his unhappy homeland at the age of 17 to seek freedom in Hong Kong.  That was in 1963.  Working at odd jobs there, he soon became a seaman.  After sailing around the world. . .his dream of a better life unquenched, he finally found it – in Newark, NJ in 1969.  Somehow- armed with hope and a willingness to work hard, the words ‘New York’ and ‘Chinatown’. . .and a smile that won’t quit- he managed to make a new life for himself in the New World.

At a Chinese restaurant in New York one day, he met his lovely future wife, Amy Wong, whose sea story was no less dramatic.  A native of Canton, she and her younger brother Joe and three friends also decided to risk their lives to find freedom.  Hong Kong beckoned them as well.  In 1974, they [survived] perilous seas for seven hours in a desperate attempt to escape [China].  Needless to say, they too succeeded. 

Jack Chung says, ‘I am very happy with my life.  I have a lot of friends who remind me how lucky I am.’  And he and Amy repay their many friends and guests with an exceptional menu and rare, hands-on warmth that invites the repeat business that has keyed their success.

Over the years, customers have also gotten to know the Chungs’ son Andrew very well.  Bright and articulate, Andrew often serves as the restaurant’s spokesperson.  He grew up in the business, making his first appearance at Golden Light [our first establishment in Horsham] when he was five years old and continued working there and at Golden Sea through high school.

Education has always been important to the Chungs’.  Both Jack and Amy were among the top two students in their class, which would normally entitle them to go on to middle school. . . But the death of Jack’s father and similar circumstances in Amy’s life prevented their doing so. . .But Andrew has more than fulfilled their expectations.  Not only did he win a scholarship to Harvard University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Applied Math and Economics, but he also graduated with honors. . . [Andrew has since started and sold a tech company, served as a strategy consultant in Hong Kong, work in private equity, graduated from Wharton’s MBA program, and is now a venture capitalist in Menlo Park, CA.  As a musician, Andrew has performed at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Shanghai Conservatory, the Fiesta Bowl, and an off-Broadway theatre.  In 2006, he became the first Chinese-American ever selected to sing the National Anthem at Penn’s 250th Commencement]

[Jack and Amy] opened the Golden Sea in 1992 and say they have been very fortunate to find such wonderful clientele who are willing to try new dishes.  This suits their chef, Ka Yam Yip, very well.  An experienced chef from Hong Kong, he spices up the regular menu with recurring specials like lightly fried Soft-Shell Crabs, whole Chinese Style Sea Bass prepared any way you like it, and the traditional Chinese dish, Shrimp & Chicken with Asparagus. 

After years of tumultuous and gentle seas, Jack Chung says that the secret to success is very simple.  ‘The smile is the international language.  It doesn’t matter how well you speak.  As long as you serve good and fresh food and treat people well, you can be successful.’

 

By Frank D Quattrone, Ticket Editor

Excerpts from a June 16/17, 1999 article appearing in The Ticket, Montgomery Newspapers