Sweet, sour, spicy, savory!

MILLIE: What makes Classic Savory tick? The man behind it, of course.

Ramon C. Tan, tall and unassuming, wearing an ever-ready bedimpled smile and always with a kind and gentle word for everyone, tells us his story. He brings us back to pre-war days, circa 1940s, when his father, Tony Ting, one of four brothers, migrated to this country from Xiamen, China and established Tops Café on Rizal Avenue. Unfortunately, the café had to close during the Japanese occupation but reopened as Savory Luncheonette in Escolta in 1951, after the liberation. In 1961, the restaurant relocated across the street to the building of Estrella del Norte. In the ‘70s, the four brothers decided to part ways, dividing the properties, and Tony Ting got the Padre Faura branch. Although the branch eventually closed down after five years, son Eduardo started his own Savory years later.

Three years ago, yielding to persistent clamor from friends and convinced by the nice things people had to say about Savory, Ramon decided it was time to revitalize the business and allow it to grow. To differentiate it from other existing Savory outlets run by his cousins, Ramon opted to brand his line Classic Savory. His guiding principle: to adhere to the old chicken recipe from the 1950s. His strategy: to offer great food at reasonable prices with strict quality control. His approach: to provide excellent service by crew and managers trained by professionals. Ramon attributes his success to his highly professional team led by operations manager Toby Ting and Larry Mallari, best friend and business partner who takes charge of product development. Ramon practices good time-management habits and is somewhat grateful for modern technology, which allows him to monitor the business from a distance. The awakening happened three years ago as a result of constant prodding by the Sy brothers, especially Herbert who was his classmate at Xavier. Two and a half years since he opened the first Classic Savory at the SM Mall of Asia, Ramon now has 25 Classic Savory outlets and projects opening five more this year, branching out of Luzon with two branches in Cebu and one in Davao by this month. Imagine, 30 Classic Savory branches on top of 80 Photoline stores nationwide! Whew!

Ramon may be bursting with luck, which they say is the main ingredient for success. I say it’s good karma that brought about his good luck and success. Inspired by happy, satisfied customers and employees, Ramon believes that “profitability becomes secondary once you’ve reached the threshold of satisfaction. Reach out and do more for the people around you and leave a mark.” Words of wisdom from a man of few words.

KARLA: Dr. Larry Mallari, a dentist by profession, the lead pianist of the famous 8 Track band and an absolute foodie at heart, plays a very big and important role in the operations of Classic Savory. On top of his busy schedule, he explains how he dedicates three days for his dental clinic, three days entirely for Classic Savory and the evenings for 8 Track gigs around the metro and various events or for discovering new dishes and restaurants. Ramon Tan and Dr. Larry are the kings of time management!

Dr. Larry, in charge of product development and quality control, works with four roving chefs to help him develop his perfect dishes, trains the chefs in the various outlets, especially making sure that the quality of each of the dishes is upheld. Strict controls are the key to maintaining quality. When going on rounds to the different outlets, Dr. Larry makes it a point to grab a tasting spoon and taste for himself the Classic Savory Chicken gravy each and every time. He creates and develops dishes inspired by his travels both here in the Philippines and abroad and through watching cooking shows on TV. With his imagination and creativity, Dr. Larry is constantly on the lookout for new ideas and products to develop. He recounts this experience as a long and tedious process since the dishes are still presented to a panel for comments and judging. It takes a lot of research, hours of experimentation in the kitchen, critiquing and a couple of pounds from food tasting to get the perfect dish worthy of a spot on the menu.

Savoring Savory

Our favorite merienda dishes at Classic Savory are the fried pork and shrimp dumplings, fried shrimp relleno roll, and the lomi. The fried pork and shrimp dumplings come in a platter with 10 golden-brown deep-fried dumplings accompanied by sweet mayonnaise with chopped egg bits. The carefully wrapped fried shrimp relleno roll with the tail sticking out is the perfect snack with sweet and sour sauce. The lomi, a typical merienda dish, is something Mom and my Lolo Joe truly enjoy at Classic Savory. But of course, aside from these, there are more high-profile items on the menu as listed below.

The top five best-sellers, aside from the Classic Savory chicken, are: 1) pancit canton, 2) shanghai rolls, 3) Wawi’s crab foo yong, 4) mixed seafood broccoli and 5) spinach seafood soup.

The top five new dishes are 1) lechon con tofu, 2) malunggay seafood noodles, 3) beef ampalaya, 4) fried vegetable lumpia and 5) wanton soup.

One of Mom’s favorites at Classic Savory is Wawi’s egg foo yong. With Ramon’s approval, we would like to share the recipe with our “Food For Thought” readers. And for all those readers who are wondering who “Wawi” is, well… that’s another story. We’ll be giving away a treat to those who can guess it right. Send in your guesses to milliereyes.foodforthought@gmail.com and karla@swizzlemobilebar.com or leave us a message on Facebook: Food for Thought by Millie & Karla Reyes. Classic Savory outlets are all around the metro. You may call or text the Classic Savory Hotline at 0917-584 7157 for more information.

Wawi’s Crab Foo Yong

Ingredients:

50 grams crab meat

20 grams monggo sprout

20 grams shiitake mushroom

10 grams onion leeks ring

30 grams pre-cooked shrimp (90-110 pcs)

4 fresh eggs

10 grams carrots (diced)

10 grams Knorr oyster sauce

10 grams potato starch

5 ml sesame oil

5 grams white sugar

2.5 grams iodized salt

Procedure:

Foo Yong

1. Bring water to a boil, stir in crab meat, sprout, shiitake mushroom, shrimps.

2. Make the egg mixture, mix the other ingredients in the mixture.

3. Pour the mixture into a frying pan.

4. Put cooked mixture in a mixing bowl, then press to create a mountain look.

5. Transfer to a nine-inch dinner plate.

Sauce

1. Pour soup stock into a saucepan.

2. Thicken the sauce, add dark mushroom sauce.