An Asian odyssey

Cuisines, and the restaurants that serve them, are in a constant state of flux. While every kind of cuisine relies on tradition, there is always a drive to break culinary boundaries, to stimulate taste buds that have grown accustomed to the usual fare. There will always be dishes like sushi or steamed dumplings or clam chowder, for example, but in every restaurant there’s always a chef back in the kitchen thinking, "What if I add this ingredient? What if I cook it in a different way"?

Because of this we have fads, and popular movements in restaurants, like Asian fusion, or all-vegetarian, or South Beach menus. Today, more diners are becoming increasingly sophisticated, with mass media and cheaper, more convenient travel exposing them to more foreign cultures, to seeing what other people from other countries eat. Being more health conscious, the diner becomes more demanding, requiring not only satisfying but healthier food: less calories, less fat, less sugar, less starch, organic ingredients, but with the same (or more!) flavor.

This also spurs the chef onto higher levels of creativity, providing a kind of mutual give and take between chef and customer: the sophisticated diner wants something new, so the chef provides it, which makes the customer more savvy and broadens his horizons even farther, raising his expectations higher. This building momentum is made apparent by the increasing rate of turnover for restaurants: in a span of a year or two, one place can have a Chinese eatery open, then close, then be replaced by a wine bar, which can in turn be replaced by an Asian fusion restaurant with South Beach dishes. A restaurant can, and does, revamp its menu or image to make it fresher, more appealing and up-to-date.

Tucked into a corner of the second floor of Rustan’s Ayala Center in Glorietta 4, for example, is what used to be a restaurant called East Creative Asian.

Now simply called East Café, the place is capturing a wider Asian feel: what used to be a menu that comprised of predominantly Chinese and Japanese dishes has expanded to embrace the rest of Asia.

The chef de cuisine, Him Uy de Baron, is making a creative take on traditional Asian fare: "I wanted to move away from doing Asian fusion, and just go back to tradition. We’re not combining Western and Eastern flavors, we’re now giving diners a predominantly Asian manu. We’re giving them a taste of Asia."

The Tom Yam Gung, a Thai soup of shrimp and lemongrass akin to our native sinigang, is usually very strong and spicy in other Thai places, but has been made so the hot, spicy and sour bite is softened to a subtle tang, making the different flavors of shrimp and ginger and chili more noticeable. It’s a surprising take on the traditional Thai dish, but is refreshing.

For those in the mood for a stronger fare, try the Crab Cake and Mango Salad: fresh shredded strips of green mango, carrots and cucumber served with crab cake, a great mixture of crunchy textures from the carrots and unripe mango with the sharper and much stronger bite of sourness. It’s a salad, but a very solid one.

East then continues to give the diner a taste of Thailand with Tuna Satay, a dish of tuna skewers in peanut sauce. Again, the chef has made clever interpretations of the recipe, using fish instead of the usual chicken or beef, served with a creamier peanut sauce with coconut milk.

The odyssey then moves to Indonesia with Lamb Rendang, prepared so carefully that the tender meat is firm, but practically melts in your mouth. The lamb, we are told, is cooked for four hours over a slow boil to make sure it comes out that tender.

Chinese fare is still very much there, made apparent by the Steamed Fish with Chinese Ham and Soy-Orange Sauce. The freshness of the fish mixes with the citrusy bite of the sauce, and the smoked flavor dripping from the Chinese ham – it’s a clever dish, deserving of praise and second servings, along with the Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings – an exercise in subtlety, with the sweetness and sourness being controlled with delicate restraint.

The menu is a strong testament to why one can always revert to tradition. With other dishes like Tofu and Asparagus Stir-Fry and Pad Thai noodles, East Asian Café proves that, by moving a step back, one can always come up with something new.