NEAR THE FAR end of Tomas Morato Avenue in Quezon City, a new restaurant has been quietly luring diners these past seven months with its authentic Asian cuisine. This is Nasi Lemak, a small cozy restaurant just across the big McDonald’s outlet with French fries on its roof.
There’s a queue at lunch and dinner on weekends, and during weekdays at peak hours, the restaurant gets almost full too. And it’s all due to word of mouth, as satisfied customers rave about the tasty dishes, mostly Singaporean, at reasonable prices.
Restaurant consultant H.K. Tan, a Singaporean, says they are very particular about the quality of the food they serve, to the point of being paranoid. “We import ingredients to be assured of consistent quality,” he says. They also don’t scrimp on the ingredients to be used in the dishes so as to give customers the real deal.
But it’s a true blue Filipina, Cora Lelina, who owns the business with her family. Cora worked in Singapore for 20 years as personal assistant to a paper industry executive. In the course of her work, she would travel to many countries with her boss, exposing her to a lot of cuisine.
Since she was based in Singapore, Cora developed a taste for Asian food, and can cook it well. In the end, when her boss passed away last year, Cora decided to come back home to the Philippines. “I have been abroad for half of my life. I went back here to try life here,” she says. And since she has long planned to have a business, Cora invested in the food business in the Philippines upon the advice of her longtime friend, H.K. Tan.
Tan has been coming to the Philippines for business for the past 10 to 15 years. He noted that there are many Spanish and Italian restaurants here already. As for Chinese restaurants, most of them use vetsin which isn’t really healthy. This is why he advised Cora to go for Singaporean food, and offer other Asian dishes as well, without MSG of course.
Popular items on the menu includes Kueh Pai Ti, a sort of fried lumpia with lettuce, turnip, carrots, and prawn on top to be popped in whole in the mouth.
There’s Hainanese Chicken, a favorite in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong; the lightly spicy Malaysian Sambal Fish, which is crispy outside and tender inside; Japanese Tofu Sautéed with Prawns; Singapore Laksa, a noodle dish with spicy coconut gravy which you can have with either prawns or chicken; and Stir-Fried Kang Kong with Blachan, among others. Of course, there’s Nasi Lemak, a dish like our binalot, which is rice cooked with pandan and coconut cream. The Onde Onde dessert is like our pichi pichi but with a filling consisting of palm tree nectar.
“We didn’t expect this kind of success,” Tan says. It’s Cora’s first business venture. But they’re handling it well, putting a premium on customer service. Tan takes the time to train the chefs and educate customers on the dishes and how best to eat them. They also offer delivery service. And there’s free wifi too. This early, they’re already looking at opening branches in other locations.
(All photos courtesy of Nasi Lemak)
May 27th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Belle:
I hope you’re not Filipino, because if you are, then we all know what you will smell like…”Crab,” as in Crab mentality. Or maybe you would appreciate it more if the restaurant was French and not any kind of Asian? Either way, the owner did not put up her business in order to please your ignorant and biased taste, but to do her best and provide service to Singaporeans who want a taste of home and to Filipinos who want to appreciate something different. But if you are Singaporean, then you need to be ashamed of yourself for putting down a restaurant that you yourself did not help form from the very beginning. Or maybe you never heard of, “practice makes perfect.” Even if the business has shortcomings, it’s bound to improve over time. or maybe they never taught you that in Singapore?
May 27th, 2009 at 10:59 am
For Cleo:
So if we were to follow your logic, then LUMPIA, should not be considered Filipino food anyways, since the word Lumpia is originally a Hokkien Chinese word for fried egg-roll? Why consider it as Filipino food then? Just to make it more exotic? Please think before you talk.
February 21st, 2009 at 5:54 pm
I was taken to 3 different Malaysian restaurants during recent business trip to Phils. Nasi Lemak in QC is the most authentic serving all the familiar dishes I come to enjoy when I am at home in Singapore.
(1) Dim Dum dishes such as Hakao & Pork and Shrimp Sionai, the prawns are fresh and Siomai much bigger than the ones I ate in Singapore. The chilli oil they used there is very good, just like home food. P108, good value.
(2) Bak Kut Teh - Pork rib soup popular in Singapore and Malaysia. The kind served here is the light herbal type found in Singapore, I heard this kind is more acceptable in Manila. They told me filipinos do not like the taste of cinammon and various type of chinese herbs as they are tending to be stronger in tasting.
(3) Fried Squid with Salt and Pepper - not a Singapore dish, but I like it especially they make the batter (Flour) coating crispy. The salt and pepper dressing is an enjoyable companion. I need to get my local cook to do it someday when I get home. P188 - good value.
(4) Of course we cant forget the Kang Kong Blachan, the waiter offer to cook it Malaysian style. Wow, they do that just to cater for different customers… cool idea. P138 - V Cheap.
(5) Penang Char Kway Teow is so authentic at P148, I can eat 2 plates on my own in one sitting if I did not order so many dishes. They add extra chillis for my dish.
The atmosphere is good so is the soft vocal music.
The front counter staff are well trained and knowledgeable about the food.
According to them, All ingredients are imported.
February 13th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Thank you Belle for your feedback last Nov 16, 2008.
It is unfortunate that you had a bad experience with Nasi Lemak. We apologize for any shortcoming we have caused you.
We are constantly improving on our food quality and services. We welcome feedback from clients from you. We would like to invite you to visit us again so that we can make it up to you.
Kindly get in touch with either Cora or Gina at 3766108 for the date of you next visit. We look forward to seeing you at Nasi Lemak again.
Sincerely
H K Tan
January 14th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Looks good, got any information if they currently Franchise?