And why the hell not, I should retort – especially if you come up with the concept where the dishes are as impeccable as five-star hotel food but as affordable as food-court fare. Fortunately, the term "value-for-one’s-money" has not been exiled forever into the annals of commercial myth.
Before, people had to haul themselves to Hong Kong or Singapore, go trough all the hassles of traveling just to welcome into their palates pure, authentic Cantonese cuisine, gobble up a few spoonfuls, bleed their wallets dry, return to our sad republic, and entertain the nagging pangs of regret into the living rooms of their mind. Those times are over, says George Pua, who owns Kwang Tong Cantonese Cuisine on the second floor of Glorietta 4. That is, if you’re resilient enough to find it – like a cowboy looking for a needle in a haystack, like a modern-day Diogenes looking for one honest man in the monkey-house of Representatives.
"That is our problem – we’re badly located," says Pua. "We have no mall access. People think we’re inside Glorietta 4. Lots of them keep on looking for our restaurant hanggang sa mapagod sila at kumain na lang sa iba (laughs). Kailangang talagang dayuhin. That is our disadvantage. But I think it’s just a matter of time before people discover how good the food is, how reasonable the prices are."
Pua says keep these simple directions in mind: Look for the entrance beside Oakwood, climb a few steps, turn right when you see that very poppy Italian restaurant, and – drum roll, please – you’re in a restaurant that purveys authentic Chinese dishes and then some.
"Our chef, Nip Sing Hing, used to work at the Heritage Hotel in Manila and Treasure Seafood restaurant in Hong Kong, and he’s really good," Pua enthuses. "He also likes doing carvings as well – fruits, vegetables, garnishing, everything."
Presentation plays a key part in the food at Kwang Tong. Looking at the dishes being served, one can’t help notice those intricately carved cucumbers and carrots that ornament already visually appealing dishes like bean curd with shiitake mushroom and fried taro (which is sculpted into a brown fish). Another thing to rave about are the interiors: bright greens and reds dominate the space, as well as dragons (just like the ones decorating Bruce Lee’s jumpsuit or Jimmy Page’s velvet pants).
"We wanted to reinforce the authenticity of our cuisine, and its origins – if you’ll notice, even our interiors and decor reflect the traditional style of cooking in China. We want people to feel like they’ve stepped back in time into Imperial China, and are dining on food fit for the Emperor’s table," says Pua.
The restaurant opened last July. From the name, the interiors, the concept, everything – this is George’s baby, all the way; unlike his other food outlets which are all franchises. How inexpensive is it to dine at Kwang Tong? "You can get rice or noodles good for five persons for P150, and rice toppings or pork spareribs with chicken feet for one person for only P100." Still, what a feast it is for us.
For starters, we are given the dim sum platter. One of my favorites is the fried Szechuan dumpling, which is both meaty and crunchy. Also, the steamed spinach shrimp dumpling is packed. When eating siomai, one usually has the sensation of eating meat garnished with a lot of air and water – a rip-off, indeed. But at Kwang Tong, the shrimp dumpling is packed with meat and has a distinctively shrimpy taste to it. I am getting full and I still haven’t gone past the appetizers yet.
Too bad because the chef is so versatile: He is like the McGyver of Cantonese cuisine. Pua explains, "As long as he has the ingredients, he can prepare anything. Puwede dito made-to-order. We always have the chef’s choice for the day. Chef Nip could come up with dishes na ang sasarap. He can also cook strips of meat with some Chinese herbal things and… heaven. He always surprises us. I’m so proud to have him with me."
Kwang Tong observes two rules in purveying dishes: 1) All dishes are prepared from scratch; and 2) no MSG is used.
"Personally, my head swells whenever I eat something with MSG, and I get dizzy, and we don’t want our customers to experience that. We prepare our food from scratch, unlike those restaurant chains that cook food in a commissary and regenerate. Now, when you regenerate you lose about 30 percent of the taste of the food. We don’t sacrifice quality."
For Pua, who dabbled in theater for many years (with the likes of Baby Barredo and Joy Virata), business – as in life – comes down to one thing and one thing only: liking what you do, having a passion for it.
"I have to like what I sell," says Pua. "We have dishes that I like to eat always – peanut shrimp dumplings, beef tenderloin with tomato sauce, yang chao fried rice, etc. In theater, you really need to have passion for it because the pay is not very good. And I brought that same passion to the food business."