King Chef: A royal dining experience

MANILA, Philippines - Amazing food and a pleasant atmosphere are two of the most sought-after things when people look for a restaurant to dine in, which is why restaurateurs these days structure their restaurants to have that homey and feel-good vibe to make customers stay longer. Of course, on top of the ambiance must be an impeccable dining experience that will keep customers coming back.

In a small nook along the busy street of Banawe in Quezon City is King Chef, a place where fine dining is not a luxury but a right, given to each customer by the restaurant’s friendly and capable staff.

“King Chef comes from ‘King of Chefs, Chef of Kings,’” says Maritess Ang, owner and proprietor of King Chef Fine Dining Restaurant, explaining the restaurant’s two-pronged meaning.

“A king crab is the greatest of them all, right? So King Chef means the greatest of all chefs. And then ‘chef of kings’ because only the best chef is chosen to serve the king,” Ang explains further.

Fir for a king: King’s Style Crab Rice, a Xiamen-style fried rice that includes deep fried live crabs as its main ingredient.

Born out of Ang’s determination to provide a cure for her husband’s stomach ailment by concocting her own herbal soups, King Chef Fine Dining opened its doors on June 29, 2010. And in just a short span of time, King Chef was able to flourish amid stiff competition and was able to attract a large and loyal clientele.

“Especially in the Banawe area we have families who celebrate birthdays, businessmen come here for work lunch or meetings and young professionals, too,” Ang shares. “When we started, we weren’t targeting a particular demographic.”

Upon entering the restaurant, you immediately feel the “royal” vibe of the place. It has wood elements that are easy on the eyes and the soft orange glow of the lights offers a very intimate and warm feel to the surroundings. But the thing that makes the place very special is the aroma of the food that comes from every table in the room. Just the smell is enough to make you want to sit down, ask for a menu and try some of their house specialties.

Shrimply delicious: Prawns in Mango Sauce is loaded with deep-fried prawns topped with a tangy sweet and chili sauce combined with mango, cucumber and bell peppers to enhance the flavor.

The Chicken Fortune Bags is a great dish to start your dining experience at King Chef. That first bite of plump and juicy dumplings made of tasty chicken and mushroom (made even tastier with oyster sauce) and you are immediately welcomed to the King Chef dining experience.

Another is the prawns in mango sauce. The prawns are deep-fried, topped generously with tangy sweet chili sauce combined with mango, cucumber and bell peppers to enhance the flavor. The mango in this delicious dish is sure to make you order another round.

A great addition to the aforementioned dishes is the King’s Style Crab Rice, a Xiamen-style fried rice that includes deep-fried live crabs as its main ingredient.

The Spareribs with 8 Spices is something you would never forget once you’ve tried it. The deep-fried crispy spareribs are cooked to perfection, making it juicy and tender. The dish is made using eight spices specially concocted by the restaurant’s chefs. The aroma of this dish was so appetizing that people from the other table ordered it, too.

The crispy fried pigeon is a great alternative to satisfy one’s cravings for chicken. It is tasty down to the last bite, and to the bones.

King Chef being a Chinese restaurant, people would always look for the Peking duck on the menu. Though the restaurant does offer it, the crispy fried pigeon is a great alternative to satisfy one’s cravings for poultry. It is tasty down to the last bite, and to the bones.

King Chef is proof that patience and hard work are rewarded. Maritess Ang’s sheer determination and courage to put up a business paid off and she now has a successful restaurant that she plans to expand in the next two years.

“We have already accepted the offer of Megaworld to open up a branch at Lucky Chinatown Mall in Binondo,” Ang reveals.

Above all, Ang is doing what she likes best: cooking. As a woman trained in the art by her mother, the passion for food runs through her veins. She says that she gets ideas from her travels and tries to infuse them in her cooking. “I travel a lot. I get ideas from the places I’ve been to.”

Lucky 8: The spareribs with eight spices is deep-fried and crispy spareribs cooked in eight spices specially concocted by the restaurant’s chefs.

Elegant interiors, a friendly and capable staff and above all, a menu that can accommodate people of varying tastes because of the level of customization the chef allows in serving the food, and it’s no wonder King Chef is being patronized by loyal customers.

“You’re going to be treated like royalty,” Ang says. “Sometimes, some orders aren’t on the menu anymore, but when the chef can do it, we give it to the customer.”

The thing that separates King Chef from other competitors is the thought, attention to detail and the personalization that they provide their customers.

“As long as we can accommodate the request, we go the extra mile to give it.”