Smart Panciteria continues tradition of Chinese cooking
September 18, 2003 | 12:00am
Philippine presidents, from Jose Laurel to Diosdado Macapagal to Joseph Ejercito Estrada, loved to eat there. A man who could be a future president, Raul Roco, loves the restaurant’s ham duck rice. Old timers always ask for their favorites like bomba soup an intriguing concoction made of broth and crackling rice, hence the name.
Smart Panciteria lives on not just in the hearts and minds of those who have enjoyed the restaurant’s superb Chinese cuisine all these years but through its reincarnation at 106 E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave., Libis, Quezon City. Nancy Leoy, a granddaughter of Smart’s founder Leoy Sang, opened her own restaurant using the name her family made famous and its inimitable menu consisting of old favorites such a Smart chicken, fried frog legs, kang kong lechon, lettuce with minced meat and Soup No. 5. What’s great is that all these are still available at Binondo prices.
It was Leoy’s father, Leoy Kwok Yan, who took over the reins of the business after the founder’s death. She herself recalls doing cashier work at Smart while she was in high school and as a toddler, being placed by the restaurant’s cooks inside a water pail positioned atop a table so that she wouldn’t be a nuisance or meet an accident while walking around.
"It was always understood that once I grew up, I would join the business. Talagang hilig ko," says Leoy, who reopened Smart Panciteria.
It was only when her grandfather passed away in 1995 that Leoy learned that her family also owned other restaurants, including an expensive seafood restaurant in Hong Kong.
She adds: "My grandfather really loved the restaurant business. He knew the ropes, from the marketing to actual food presentation. He enjoyed doing his version of old dishes and creating new ones."
The décor of the place is vintage Smart — red, gold and black. The only thing that seems different is that the new Smart is air-conditioned whereas the one in Binondo made use of large ceiling fans to help cool the place. Another new thing is a large mural on the first floor which shows past Philippine presidents on one side and Leoy’s forebears on the other.
But the star at Smart Panciteria remains the food. The menu offerings have retained the authentic taste of Smart cuisine. Although some items, like the "Bomba" Soup, have been omitted from the menu, they are still available if requested one or two days before. To preserve the family’s old recipes, Smart’s old hands in the kitchen continue to do the cooking.
Favorites remain the ham duck rice (succulent pieces duck leg ham and Chinese sausage over a generous serving of rice); kangkong lechon (crispy deep-fried pork sautéed with water spinach or what is known as kangkong): Eight Treasure Soup (clear soup with meat, scallops, shrimp and vegetables): Smart chicken (Hong Kong-style chicken pieces served with a savory sauce) and lettuce with minced meat (minced pork with vegetables, also known as lumpiang hubad).
Other great picks from the menu are fishball soup; chicken with curry sauce; fried dapa with soy sauce; salted shrimps and steamed egg with minced pork.
Although there are plans in the future of introducing new dishes, Leoy says that any new items on the menu will not be far off from the kind of Chinese food that Smart is famous for – unpretentiously simple and no-frills cooking but sinfully delicious down to the last bite.
For inquiries call 395-5147 and 395-5170.
Smart Panciteria lives on not just in the hearts and minds of those who have enjoyed the restaurant’s superb Chinese cuisine all these years but through its reincarnation at 106 E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave., Libis, Quezon City. Nancy Leoy, a granddaughter of Smart’s founder Leoy Sang, opened her own restaurant using the name her family made famous and its inimitable menu consisting of old favorites such a Smart chicken, fried frog legs, kang kong lechon, lettuce with minced meat and Soup No. 5. What’s great is that all these are still available at Binondo prices.
It was Leoy’s father, Leoy Kwok Yan, who took over the reins of the business after the founder’s death. She herself recalls doing cashier work at Smart while she was in high school and as a toddler, being placed by the restaurant’s cooks inside a water pail positioned atop a table so that she wouldn’t be a nuisance or meet an accident while walking around.
"It was always understood that once I grew up, I would join the business. Talagang hilig ko," says Leoy, who reopened Smart Panciteria.
It was only when her grandfather passed away in 1995 that Leoy learned that her family also owned other restaurants, including an expensive seafood restaurant in Hong Kong.
She adds: "My grandfather really loved the restaurant business. He knew the ropes, from the marketing to actual food presentation. He enjoyed doing his version of old dishes and creating new ones."
The décor of the place is vintage Smart — red, gold and black. The only thing that seems different is that the new Smart is air-conditioned whereas the one in Binondo made use of large ceiling fans to help cool the place. Another new thing is a large mural on the first floor which shows past Philippine presidents on one side and Leoy’s forebears on the other.
But the star at Smart Panciteria remains the food. The menu offerings have retained the authentic taste of Smart cuisine. Although some items, like the "Bomba" Soup, have been omitted from the menu, they are still available if requested one or two days before. To preserve the family’s old recipes, Smart’s old hands in the kitchen continue to do the cooking.
Favorites remain the ham duck rice (succulent pieces duck leg ham and Chinese sausage over a generous serving of rice); kangkong lechon (crispy deep-fried pork sautéed with water spinach or what is known as kangkong): Eight Treasure Soup (clear soup with meat, scallops, shrimp and vegetables): Smart chicken (Hong Kong-style chicken pieces served with a savory sauce) and lettuce with minced meat (minced pork with vegetables, also known as lumpiang hubad).
Other great picks from the menu are fishball soup; chicken with curry sauce; fried dapa with soy sauce; salted shrimps and steamed egg with minced pork.
Although there are plans in the future of introducing new dishes, Leoy says that any new items on the menu will not be far off from the kind of Chinese food that Smart is famous for – unpretentiously simple and no-frills cooking but sinfully delicious down to the last bite.
For inquiries call 395-5147 and 395-5170.
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