Penang: A taste of eclectic Asia

When I was in Singapore more than a month ago, I was able to listen to nitty-gritty blues at the Crazy Elephant Bar in Clarke Quay and taste a spicy, batchoy-like, Singaporean dish called bak kuh teh in a soup joint along Orchard Road. When I came back, I missed the pseudo-utopian appeal of the Lion City which was beautiful in an antiseptic sort of way. That was until I stumbled into a restaurant called Penang at the third floor of The Podium which offers Singaporean/Malaysian cuisine, and stared into a menu that includes (well, you guessed it) bak kuh teh.

Nothing beats food that gives a heady dose of flashbacks that’s my personal Penang experience. But that's just me. According to one of the owners, Raymond Gonzales, Penang is part of a growing trend. Before, people contentedly saturated themselves with spaghetti, pizza, fries and the obligatory cheeseburger; now, they’re gravitating toward more esoteric Asian cuisine.

"The Filipino taste buds have become more sophisticated," Gonzales observes. "Even in the States, there was an influx of Chinese restaurants followed by Thai establishments. Here in the Philippines, dati spaghetti okay na. Now, when you offer the customers roti, they want it fluffier or less spicy. Our taste has already become global."

The reason, he adds, is the mushrooming of malls, with the restaurant business becoming very competitive because of this. "In our family alone, competitive na. My wife, Tess, owns a restaurant. So does her brother. My sisters and I own Cul de Sac in Glorietta. It may not be good for the businessman, but it definitely is for the consumer. So those of us opening restaurants are looking for new concepts that they can bring to Filipinos."

And for Raymond and his business partners, Malaysian/Singaporean cuisine is an excellent direction. Both countries are a hodgepodge of different cultures (Chinese, Thai, Indian, Malay, Singaporean, etc.) and, ergo, different and eclectic cuisine. "So, we’re able to touch a whole wide range of Asian foods in one concept, under one roof."

For starters, there is the Indian flattened bread with curry dip called Roti Canai. Which is very good. Especially for India-fixated individuals like myself who love Indian-inspired music (pieces by John Coltrane, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and the Beatles), literature (Salman Rushdie, period) and, now, food (Penang’s roti) as well. And Roti Canai is very filling. A meal-in-itself.

Other appetizers include Satay Kajang (beef/chicken/pork barbecue with peanut sauce), Fried Asian Spring Rolls, as well the Vietnamese variety which is minced pork, glass noodles and vegetable wrapped in rice paper with a really tangy dip.

Guests also have a choice of chicken (Thai Barbecue Chicken, Chicken Curry Kapitan, Hainanese Chicken Rice), lamb or beef (Lamb Curry, Beef Rendang), rice and noodles (Nasi Goreng, Mee Siam, Char Kuey Teow), as well as seafood. Penang offers Ikan Rendang (lapu-lapu fillets with rich and spicy gravy), Udang Goreng (fried prawns in chili sauce), Flaming Seafood Curry (assorted seafood in curry sauce wrapped in foil and flambéed), as well as Chili and Sesame Crab.

"We offer crabs depending on the freshness," says Gonzales. "They should be up to our standards. If they aren’t fresh enough, we won’t serve them that day. So, there are times the chili and sesame crabs are not available. With seafood, we are very careful."

Penang has been open for only about a month, and the response has been tremendous. "At this point," Raymond stresses, "it’s hard for us to determine by pesos and centavos whether we’re doing well or not, but we know people come back a second, a third, a fourth time. We’re quite happy with the way things are turning out."

It took the owners almost a year of preparations (getting the right recipes, looking for the right site, etc.). Gonzales and his sisters, Gina Mok and Cristina Tuason, wanted a restaurant with an effective theme – from cuisine to the interiors. "We wanted to create the feeling that our guests are in an Asian restaurant. So we used a lot of bamboo, stone... even our chairs have banig and rattan accents. Even if you don’t know the name of the restaurant, you know right away that it serves Asian cuisine. You’re not going to be served a cheeseburger," says Raymond laughing.

I was fascinated by those huge crimson and purple lanterns hanging from Penang’s ceiling which I thought were indigenous Malaysian ornaments. You just can’t ignore them. Gonzales reveals that they were made by a friend using materials bought in – surprise, surprise – Divisoria.

"I designed the lanterns with my friend Sandy Choy," says Raymond, who was also responsible for the restaurant’s overall design. "We needed something very big for our high ceiling and I saw the lanterns in a Malaysian design book. Sandy used aluminum wire for the ribbing and red and violet Divisoria fabric."

I met Gonzales’ business partners, and they’re equally enthusiastic about Penang: Gina Mok handles accounting chores; Mike and Ernest Sy, investment bankers, help out in marketing; Mark Licaros, who owns a foot reflexology center, manages the kitchen; and Cristina Tuason, whose field is offshore investments, also helps Raymond out in promoting Penang.

I asked them if they’ve experienced creative clashes or encountered the inevitable snag in operations.

"So far, so good. No clashes yet. We’ve only been open a month. Talk to us in about a year," they chorus. Raymond adds that the partnership has been very healthy. "Everybody has his own way of contributing to the success of the restaurant. Everybody has found his own special niche he can specialize in. Which is definitely good for our business."

The first obstacle they hurdled was agreeing on where to set up Penang – whether in Makati or Libis. They reached a consensus: The Podium in Ortigas Center. A wise choice, they agree in hindsight. The partners, notes Gonzales, seem to thrive in deliberations.

"We’re constantly working on what we think would be a hit to Filipino palates. For a restaurant to be successful, it has to evolve. You have to offer new dishes, new gimmicks, new attractions. That’s what we want to do in Penang – evolve, reinvent ourselves, find new dishes that would be accessible to the Filipino taste buds. We see a lot of potential for the food we offer."

I tried to say "Amen" but my mouth was filled with roti.