The Gems of Jade Garden

It’s been two decades since Jade Garden started shining like a jewel on the erstwhile staid restaurant row. Today, it celebrates 21 years of good food – make that great food – with what else but a culinary feast from Sept. 7 to 30!

More, a 20 percent discount is offered on all Chiuchow (we assure you it’s better eaten than pronounced) dishes for both a la carte and special set menus.

21 in 2001 – the catchphrase does not only sound good, it also tastes good as Jade Garden brings in Chiuchow cooking direct from China.

Chiuchow (Chaozhou) is a coastal region north of Guangzhou (Canton), which is famous for its extremely light cuisine made only of the finest ingredients and the most natural of flavors. That means the food does not hide behind a wall (the Great Wall?) of excess spices.

More or less, Chiuchow means less or no grease. As in the plain-sounding (but palate-tickling) mashed spinach with minced chicken, which is prepared in such a way that it resembles a large green and white yin-yang symbol – the green being a spinach puree and the white, a glutinous chicken and egg white broth.

But what’s a Chiuchow feast without China’s most expensive soups: shark’s fin and bird’s nest soup?

"Shark’s fin, bird’s nest soup and abalone are our most expensive dishes," says restaurant manager Raymond Ho who’s from Hong Kong. "We get them from China."

The real bird’s nest, a rare and expensive delicacy in China, can cost a fortune. "If you don’t mind spending, we can cook it for you into soup or dessert," says sales supervisor Sylvia Chan.

At Jade Garden, a big bowl of bird’s nest soup, good for 10 persons, costs P3,000+ (no tax, only service charge). You can have your bird’s nest soup with crab roe, with crab or with minced chicken. A single serving costs P570 to P600.

Hmmm, sounds delicious! Does Jade Garden also have the famous Buddha Jumped Over the Wall which is, for some, to die for?

"Yes, we do!" says Sylvia. "It’s a Chinese herbal dish that’s hard to find. You cannot just buy it anywhere, it has to have the exact herbal ingredients, which is why it is very expensive. Here, you can have it for only P8,000 for 10 persons."

You’re invited to a Chiuchow feast. Jade Garden rolls out its red carpet and a barrel of surprises and discounts for lunch and dinner. There’s a lot more to choose from at much less prices. There are three set menus offered at 20 percent off. Menu 1 gives you a fill of Chiuchow cooking for only P1,472 (from P1,840). Take a peek into what’s on Menu 1, which serves four:

Soyed duck and bean curd
Mashed vegetable soup and
minced chicken
Stewed shrimp with cucumber
Fried chicken with Chinjew sauce
Deep-fried cuttlefish roll
Steamed Chiuchow dumpling
Fried rice with minced pork and olive leaf

Good for 10 persons and priced at only P4,448 (from P5,560), Menu 3 has everything on Menu 1 plus fried beef with satay sauce, stewed Chinese cabbage with minced Chinese ham, and sweet Chiuchow dimsum pastries (like deep-fried dumplings with peanuts and chilled crystal cake with red beans).

Fact is, for 21 years now, Jade Garden has been known for fine dining at prices that you will find, well, quite fine.

"Times are hard so we try to ease people’s burden by not increasing our prices despite the peso devaluation," Sylvia says with a toothsome smile. "Aside from the regular a la carte menu (where the traditional bestsellers include the Peking duck, blue dotted fish and crabs), our manager Mr. Ho has also introduced a monthly promo where we cook up new dishes."

Loyal Jade Garden patrons will probably remember that it opened on Sept. 7, 1980 at the then Makati Commercial Center (now Ayala Center) where Makati Supermarket used to be. In 1986, it moved to its present site at Greenbelt Mall on Greenbelt Drive, Ayala Center.

Pioneer employees Sonia Sazon, Arnold Mendova and Jun Manansala, who will each receive a best in service award at anniversary rites today, remember fondly the way it was at Jade Garden 21 years ago. Back then, the place was already being frequented by rich and famous clients like Imelda Marcos who’d come with some guests, the Enrile children, and former Presidents Joseph Estrada and Fidel Ramos.

Then as now, Jade Garden habitues (who are far from jaded) have been won over by its Cantonese cuisine. Canton (Guangzhou) is considered the culinary capital of China. Even the burger-eating Americans are most familiar with this southern-style Chinese cooking. Most overseas Chinese come from the province of Guangdong. These hardy immigrants brought with them their southern food, establishing Chinese restaurants in practically every corner of the globe. Southern-style cuisine is said to be the most highly sophisticated and aesthetically refined – and most diverse, too – culinary culture in all of China. It relies entirely on fresh natural ingredients and the cook’s consummate skill to bring out the best in what Chinese cuisine has to offer.

In addition, Jade Garden offers an all-vegetarian fare for all health buffs who have turned a new leaf and decided to turn to leafy greens. Fresh produce are sourced from China as well as here. Mushrooms, bamboo shoots, bean curd, Chinese cabbage, Taiwan cabbage, lo hon (assorted veggies) are cooked just the way you like them.

What’s more, guests can request that MSG (monosodium glutamate or vetsin, which causes the so-called Chinese restaurant syndrome) is not used in their food. This is specified in the menu card: "Kindly advise your order taker if you wish to omit MSG or pork from your dish." We wish more restaurants would be this thoughtful!

Jade Garden, recipient of Tatler Philippines award for outstanding fine dining restaurant, is an affiliate of the renowned Maxim’s Group of Restaurants, the biggest restaurant chain in Hong Kong.

To ensure that its food is of the same quality as that of its Hong Kong counterpart, five Hong Kong chefs, with their corresponding specialties, man the kitchen. It’s open from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch, and from 6 to 10:30 p.m. for dinner.

Jade Garden can seat 600 persons, with 60 tables for 10 persons each. For private parties, Jade Garden has six function rooms: Pearl, Diamond, Amber, Ruby, Coral, and Jade. All function rooms may be opened to accommocate bigger groups. For wedding receptions, Jade Garden provides floral arrangement for the presidential table plus the dove and wedding bell for the couple. For banquets, it’s got varied set menus – from the most affordable at P3,800+ per table of 10, to the most exquisite at P24,800+ per table of 10.

So where can one park?

Jade Garden has a back entrance that can be accessed from the second level bridgewalk of the Greenbelt parking area. As an added treat, Jade Garden is giving customers free parking coupons.

Is all this luck due to the fact that Jade Garden was feng shui-ed?

"We don’t really believe in feng shui," comes Raymond Ho’s instant reply.

He adds that the place’s real gems lie in its good food, good people, good service, good prices. Good answer – we agree with a hearty burp!