Hoy, hoy, hoy, Mr. Choi!
March 11, 2004 | 12:00am
Yes, like the local music world’s Mr. Suave, Mr. Choi is oh-so-cool. Mr. Choi’s so irresistible he’ll have you slobbering and eating out of the palm of his hand – quite literally! Mr. Choi is the man behind Mr. Choi Kitchen, which has been attracting hordes of diners since it opened just a little over a month ago at the Level 2 East Wing of Robinsons Galleria.
But Mr. Choi is so low-key you’d think that his is a fictitious name cooked up by the owners of Mr. Choi Kitchen.
"Mr. Choi does exist," says Bernadine Tan-Ong, Mr. Choi Kitchen managing director. "He has been in the restaurant business for more than 30 years now. A Hong Kong Chinese, Mr. Choi believes that Hong Kong and Southeast Asian cuisines appeal to the Filipino people."
Of course, Mr. Choi is not talking about "confusion" cuisine here. "His vision is to serve authentic Hong Kong cuisine (read: cooked by Hong Kong chefs, whom Mr. Choi brought with him to Manila) to the Filipino masses," Bernadine points out. "He wants to bring in the latest trends in the Hong Kong food business (like baked rice and stewed rice, which no other Chinese restaurant in the country has). I think the best Chinese food is in Hong Kong. He wants to serve fresh, good quality food – and healthy food with not too much oil and absolutely no MSG (repeat, no vetsin, which gives Chinese food lovers that unsavory experience called the Chinese restaurant syndrome). And he wants to make all this available not only to the rich by bringing down the cost of food and giving people more value for their hard-earned money."
Certainly, you don’t have to pay for the classy Hong Kong ambience at Mr. Choi Kitchen. "Actually, the place is patterned after a bar in Hong Kong," Bernadine describes. "It’s not your typical Chinese resto (probably the only concession to being one is the all-too-familiar display of hanging roast ducks). Hong Kong na HongKong ang dating. The decor is Korean. Orange is the restaurant’s color motif as the color is associated with appetite. The tables and chairs are made of oak wood, but the chairs are comfortable to sit on because they have cushions covered with velvet fabric."
And to make it accessible to as wide a cross-section of foodies as possible, what better place than the most-visited Robinsons Galleria to put it in?
"Since we opened, we’ve had families, tourists and people working in the nearby offices," says Bernadine.
The day we visited, we saw a lot of ladies who lunch, as well as office people who were probably tired of fast-food fare and didn’t know where to lunch until they found Mr. Choi Kitchen.
"I was walking in the mall one day when somebody asked me, ‘You’re from Mr. Choi, right?’ She said she saw me going around the place. And then she told me, ‘Oy, ang sarap at ang mura ng pagkain nyo!’" an amused Bernadine relates.
We agree with a gargantuan burp!
"A lot of office people are already inquiring if we deliver," Bernadine is happy to announce. "We will soon, but for now, we can only accommodate offices which are just a walking distance from the restaurant."
Mr. Choi Kitchen is quite big on rice – certainly hearty news to rice-eating Pinoys. For one, there’s stewed rice, which comes in the following variants: Supreme seafood stewed rice, seafood with mushroom stewed rice, fish ball with mushroom stewed rice, fish fillet with century egg stewed rice, meat ball and fish ball stewed rice, and beef with vegetable stewed rice. For another, there’s supreme baked rice with the following variants: Soy chicken in curry sauce baked rice, seafood with white sauce baked rice, curry chicken baked rice, pork chop with tomato sauce baked rice, lapu-lapu in cheese sauce baked rice, gindara with black pepper sauce baked rice, asado baked rice and roast duck baked rice.
Care for more rice? There’s also fried rice, which at Mr. Choi is not your good old, plain fried rice. It comes in such variants as seafood fried rice, Fookien fried rice, salted fish with diced chicken fried rice, Shanghai fried rice, yang chow fried rice, and garlic fried rice.
Rice toppings at Mr. Choi are tops, too. It’s got spareribs with tausi rice topping, beef with egg rice topping, fish fillet rice topping, roast duck rice topping, asado rice topping, soy chicken rice topping, pork face rice topping (a specialty of the house, it looks like roast asado but has no fat), special four treasures (roast asado, roast duck, soy bean curd, century egg) rice topping, spareribs with chicken feet rice topping, and chicken with black mushroom rice topping.
Quite a health buff, Mr. Choi has also made available in his extensive food offerings the latest health foods priced at only P128 per generous serving. Like mushroom with vegetable fried rice, tomato with egg rice, mushroom with braised bean curd rice, mixed vegetable in coconut sauce rice, diced meat corn and egg rice, and chicken with tomato rice.
If a previous lunchtime visit of Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit can be used as an endorsement, Mr. Choi Kitchen must be doing the right thing.
Mr. Choi’s kitchen is also brimming with oodles of fried noodles, like, don’t breathe now: Seafood fried noodle in sweet and sour sauce (like sweet and sour pork but instead contains shrimp, fish and squid), beef fried noodle in black pepper sauce, beef brisket fried noodle in curry sauce, pork chop fried noodle with ginger onion, seafood with vegetable fried noodle, vegetarian fried noodle, Fookien style noodle, and birthday noodle.
Any day at Mr. Choi Kitchen may as well be a birthday treat (we don’t mind growing old every day if that’s the case).
A hot fave is the cold cut combination (roast asado, soy chicken, seaweeds, century egg). It gives you that deja vu feeling. Haven’t I seen or tasted this in Hong Kong once before?
Mr. Choi’s dim sum (priced at only P50-P60 per bamboo steamer) is quite toothsome, too. Dim sum lovers can choose from Shanghai siao long pao, sharks fin siomai, steamed or fried dumpling, chicken feet with tausi, Japanese siomai in nori wrapper, taosi spareribs, ham soy kok, seafood roll, asado pao, linyong pao, and mini bun (siopao dough served steamed or fried).
Added treat is that you can watch how the dim sum is done from the glass counter. "We want our diners to see how hygienic our food preparation is," says Bernadine.
And how fresh the ingredients that go into Mr. Choi’s dishes are. "Our fish, meat, veggies and other supplies are delivered fresh every day," Bernadine assures us.
Fresh, indeed, are Mr. Choi’s grilled gindara with special sauce, charbroiled pork face meat (looks like asado but has no fat), charbroiled chicken, charbroiled squid, and charbroiled salmon.
Double that "fresh" experience with Mr. Choi’s juicy offerings: Fresh fruit shakes, orange, lemonade, calamansi, soya milk (served hot or cold).
For the eat-and-run office people, Mr. Choi has come up with short orders (at P160 to P180, meant for sharing). There’s a long list of choices at Mr. Choi. To name some: Fish fillet in garlic sauce, fried prawn with salt and pepper, fried salad seafood roll, beef with oyster sauce, beef with vegetable, fried spareribs with salt and pepper, crispy fried chicken, hot chicken salad (a must-try), mapo bean curd, garlic sauce with vegetable, sauteed broccoli flower.
You cap your date with Mr. Choi with dessert that includes such choices as black gulaman with fruit cocktail, taho, mango sago, sweet carrot ball, red bean soup, butchi, lomaichi.
Now, who wouldn’t drool at the mere mention of Mr. Choi’s name?
Mr. Choi Kitchen is located at Level 2 East Wing of Robinsons Galleria, Ortigas Center. It is open from 10 a.m. for late breakfast, early lunch or brunch and closes at 10 p.m.
But Mr. Choi is so low-key you’d think that his is a fictitious name cooked up by the owners of Mr. Choi Kitchen.
"Mr. Choi does exist," says Bernadine Tan-Ong, Mr. Choi Kitchen managing director. "He has been in the restaurant business for more than 30 years now. A Hong Kong Chinese, Mr. Choi believes that Hong Kong and Southeast Asian cuisines appeal to the Filipino people."
Of course, Mr. Choi is not talking about "confusion" cuisine here. "His vision is to serve authentic Hong Kong cuisine (read: cooked by Hong Kong chefs, whom Mr. Choi brought with him to Manila) to the Filipino masses," Bernadine points out. "He wants to bring in the latest trends in the Hong Kong food business (like baked rice and stewed rice, which no other Chinese restaurant in the country has). I think the best Chinese food is in Hong Kong. He wants to serve fresh, good quality food – and healthy food with not too much oil and absolutely no MSG (repeat, no vetsin, which gives Chinese food lovers that unsavory experience called the Chinese restaurant syndrome). And he wants to make all this available not only to the rich by bringing down the cost of food and giving people more value for their hard-earned money."
Certainly, you don’t have to pay for the classy Hong Kong ambience at Mr. Choi Kitchen. "Actually, the place is patterned after a bar in Hong Kong," Bernadine describes. "It’s not your typical Chinese resto (probably the only concession to being one is the all-too-familiar display of hanging roast ducks). Hong Kong na HongKong ang dating. The decor is Korean. Orange is the restaurant’s color motif as the color is associated with appetite. The tables and chairs are made of oak wood, but the chairs are comfortable to sit on because they have cushions covered with velvet fabric."
And to make it accessible to as wide a cross-section of foodies as possible, what better place than the most-visited Robinsons Galleria to put it in?
"Since we opened, we’ve had families, tourists and people working in the nearby offices," says Bernadine.
The day we visited, we saw a lot of ladies who lunch, as well as office people who were probably tired of fast-food fare and didn’t know where to lunch until they found Mr. Choi Kitchen.
"I was walking in the mall one day when somebody asked me, ‘You’re from Mr. Choi, right?’ She said she saw me going around the place. And then she told me, ‘Oy, ang sarap at ang mura ng pagkain nyo!’" an amused Bernadine relates.
We agree with a gargantuan burp!
"A lot of office people are already inquiring if we deliver," Bernadine is happy to announce. "We will soon, but for now, we can only accommodate offices which are just a walking distance from the restaurant."
Mr. Choi Kitchen is quite big on rice – certainly hearty news to rice-eating Pinoys. For one, there’s stewed rice, which comes in the following variants: Supreme seafood stewed rice, seafood with mushroom stewed rice, fish ball with mushroom stewed rice, fish fillet with century egg stewed rice, meat ball and fish ball stewed rice, and beef with vegetable stewed rice. For another, there’s supreme baked rice with the following variants: Soy chicken in curry sauce baked rice, seafood with white sauce baked rice, curry chicken baked rice, pork chop with tomato sauce baked rice, lapu-lapu in cheese sauce baked rice, gindara with black pepper sauce baked rice, asado baked rice and roast duck baked rice.
Care for more rice? There’s also fried rice, which at Mr. Choi is not your good old, plain fried rice. It comes in such variants as seafood fried rice, Fookien fried rice, salted fish with diced chicken fried rice, Shanghai fried rice, yang chow fried rice, and garlic fried rice.
Rice toppings at Mr. Choi are tops, too. It’s got spareribs with tausi rice topping, beef with egg rice topping, fish fillet rice topping, roast duck rice topping, asado rice topping, soy chicken rice topping, pork face rice topping (a specialty of the house, it looks like roast asado but has no fat), special four treasures (roast asado, roast duck, soy bean curd, century egg) rice topping, spareribs with chicken feet rice topping, and chicken with black mushroom rice topping.
Quite a health buff, Mr. Choi has also made available in his extensive food offerings the latest health foods priced at only P128 per generous serving. Like mushroom with vegetable fried rice, tomato with egg rice, mushroom with braised bean curd rice, mixed vegetable in coconut sauce rice, diced meat corn and egg rice, and chicken with tomato rice.
If a previous lunchtime visit of Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit can be used as an endorsement, Mr. Choi Kitchen must be doing the right thing.
Mr. Choi’s kitchen is also brimming with oodles of fried noodles, like, don’t breathe now: Seafood fried noodle in sweet and sour sauce (like sweet and sour pork but instead contains shrimp, fish and squid), beef fried noodle in black pepper sauce, beef brisket fried noodle in curry sauce, pork chop fried noodle with ginger onion, seafood with vegetable fried noodle, vegetarian fried noodle, Fookien style noodle, and birthday noodle.
Any day at Mr. Choi Kitchen may as well be a birthday treat (we don’t mind growing old every day if that’s the case).
A hot fave is the cold cut combination (roast asado, soy chicken, seaweeds, century egg). It gives you that deja vu feeling. Haven’t I seen or tasted this in Hong Kong once before?
Mr. Choi’s dim sum (priced at only P50-P60 per bamboo steamer) is quite toothsome, too. Dim sum lovers can choose from Shanghai siao long pao, sharks fin siomai, steamed or fried dumpling, chicken feet with tausi, Japanese siomai in nori wrapper, taosi spareribs, ham soy kok, seafood roll, asado pao, linyong pao, and mini bun (siopao dough served steamed or fried).
Added treat is that you can watch how the dim sum is done from the glass counter. "We want our diners to see how hygienic our food preparation is," says Bernadine.
And how fresh the ingredients that go into Mr. Choi’s dishes are. "Our fish, meat, veggies and other supplies are delivered fresh every day," Bernadine assures us.
Fresh, indeed, are Mr. Choi’s grilled gindara with special sauce, charbroiled pork face meat (looks like asado but has no fat), charbroiled chicken, charbroiled squid, and charbroiled salmon.
Double that "fresh" experience with Mr. Choi’s juicy offerings: Fresh fruit shakes, orange, lemonade, calamansi, soya milk (served hot or cold).
For the eat-and-run office people, Mr. Choi has come up with short orders (at P160 to P180, meant for sharing). There’s a long list of choices at Mr. Choi. To name some: Fish fillet in garlic sauce, fried prawn with salt and pepper, fried salad seafood roll, beef with oyster sauce, beef with vegetable, fried spareribs with salt and pepper, crispy fried chicken, hot chicken salad (a must-try), mapo bean curd, garlic sauce with vegetable, sauteed broccoli flower.
You cap your date with Mr. Choi with dessert that includes such choices as black gulaman with fruit cocktail, taho, mango sago, sweet carrot ball, red bean soup, butchi, lomaichi.
Now, who wouldn’t drool at the mere mention of Mr. Choi’s name?
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