Luks so good to eat

MANILA, Philippines – Gee! It’s congee — the ultimate comfort food! And for the past 28 years, whenever we needed a bit of comforting — we were probably nursing a little cold or a broken heart — there was invariably one place we hied off to. Stop, look, it’s Luk Yuen!

Then and now, rain or shine, Luk Yuen never fails to fill the stomach and warm the heart with its steaming hot congee (or lugaw) that comes in many time-cherished variants: shrimp, century egg with lean meat, pork liver, chicken with button mushroom, lapu-lapu fillet, halo-halo, sliced beef, and pork ball (bola-bola). A bowlful is enough to soothe weary spirits at the end of a nerve-wracking day.

And show me the siopao, especially the jumbo Hong Kong siopao that’s the size of a saucer and has everything in it — giant bola-bola, bite-sized asado, and salted egg. Egg-cellent!

Ah, the asado siopao is just so good, especially if you fill it with a dollop of its sauce that’s a combination of hoisin sauce, mushroom sauce, and soy sauce. Soy yummy!

What about the toothsome dim sum, of which there are over 20 choices? Over the years, my personal favorites are: deep-fried taro puff, fried shrimp balls, spring rolls, radish cake, stuffed eggplant, and deep-fried beancurd. But some of my friends and family members like it hot so it’s gotta be dumplings in hot chili and chicken feet with chili for them.

Simply tops are the rice toppings — roasted duck, 2 BBQ combination (asado/soy chicken that’s soy good), white chicken. There are more rice toppings in a bowl, like the deep-fried chicken steak rice, sweet & sour prawn dumpling rice, beef brisket rice, taosi spareribs, chicken with black mushroom, pork chop with vegetable curry, fried rice with chicken and salted fish, fish fillet with ampalaya rice, and the traditional fave yang chow fried rice. Many years ago, when excess weight was the least of our problems, we could demolish an overflowing bowl of rice with assorted toppings. On top of that, we would even unabashedly order extra rice. We certainly knew how to rice to the occasion!

Of course, if you don’t feel like eating rice, there are oodles of noodles and dumplings you can try. The current menu has all of 19 choices. These include the truly beefy beef brisket noodle soup, wanton noodle soup, stir-fried udon with seafood, braised e-fu noodles with seafood, King Dao pork noodle, ravioli with ginger and onion, fried noodles with shredded pork, and not to forget, the good old-fashioned chicken noodle soup.

“Our noodles are freshly made at Luk Yuen using a recipe that dates back to 1981,” says Celia Angeles, restaurant manager at the new Luk Yuen in Glorietta 5,Makati. “It’s traditional Cantonese noodles that combine all-purpose flour and wheat flour. Out of the noodles, we also make our own wrappers.”

Luk Yuen started as a tea house, like the ones you’d find in Hong Kong. The first Luk Yuen opened at Makati Commercial Center on July 4, 1981. Back then, a bowl of congee could satisfy hunger pangs for only P15 (now, it’s nearly 10 times more).

Now, Luk Yuen is a full-fledged restaurant affiliated with the Maxim Group of restaurants that also includes Peking Garden and Kimpura. Luk here, the new Luk Yuen with its high ceiling and chic interiors reminds you of the restaurants in scintillating New York City.

But wait a New York minute, if the food at Luk Yuen is authentically Hong Kong, it’s because of its Hong Kong chef Allen Lamb who’s been cooking for Luk Yuen for the past 25 years. 

“We’re now serving our third generation of customers and we’ve come up with more dishes,” relates the gracious Celia, who’s been with Luk Yuen from day one and is often mistaken for the owner.

New on the menu is the Shanghai bun made of pork and cabbage. It’s great on the palate and easy on the budget — only P70 for three generous buns.

Shrimply delicious are the shrimp balls made of minced all-shrimp mixture with the breading springing out.

And now, Luk Yuen is happy to present its Chinese Bento (personal combo) at only P200 for an ample box. The choices include: Chicken Bento with deep-fried chicken and stuffed eggplant, Pork Bento with sweet and sour pork and fried tofu, and Fish Bento with fish fillet with taosi and spring rolls. All bento orders come complete with soy noodles, fried rice, and sesame balls.

As if its current food offerings aren’t staggering enough, Luk Yuen now also has new a la carte dishes for lunch and dinner. Choices range from soups to meat treats (pork, chicken, beef dishes), seafoods, and sweet temptations like the jello crystals, the good old almond jelly with lychees, herb jelly with fruit cocktail, Momo Chacha (Chinese ginatan, but more on that a wee bit later), and Pihng Pihng Tien Tien (it’s Chinese halo-halo, and believe me, it’s better eaten than pronounced). A scoop of ice cream (vanilla, mocha, or chocolate) sits in the middle of a crystal-clear glass, hemmed in by lots of sweetened dates, beans, black, red, and green gulaman, and silver fungus that’s good for cleansing.

We happily yield to the sweet charms of Momo Chacha that’s got mashed gabi, coconut milk, peanuts, bilo-bilo, and lotus cream. Real cool, isn’t it?

So in these days is take-out food. Luk Yuen has its Lunch Pail, where your regular rice toppings and a la carte orders now come in convenient microwavable lunch pails, Party Platters good for eight to 10 persons, and Dimsum, where for every 10 regular orders, you get one free order.

In its 28 years of dishing up good food, Luk Yuen has earned a legion of loyal clients. And for Luk Yuen, there are no shortcuts to success. “Even now, we still prepare our own broths with our Chinese condiments,” Celia is proud to tell us.

At Luk Yuen, there are enough delicious memories to last you a lifetime. You just have to Luk!

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The new Luk Yuen is located at Glorietta 5, Makati with telephone numbers 856-5199 and 856-2081. Also, look for Luk Yuen at Cash & Carry, 856-5778; Greenhills, 721-2620; SM Megamall B, 633-4396; and Alabang Town Center, 772-4967.