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)
April 21st, 2008 at 9:42 am
This is a great start to taste something new in Metro Manila.
I have tasted almost all the dishes in Nasi Lemak Resto.
I have been in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia and this NASI LEMAK resto is superb because it serve food with real good taste of Asian food cuisine at a very reasonable price! You really have to try it to know it from yourself…
Thumbs up to Ms Cora and of course to the Chef and Business Consultant Mr. HK Tan!
Cheers;)
Juliet
http://www.pinoyvision.blogspot.com
April 21st, 2008 at 1:19 am
Singapore is a fusion of a number of cultures and the cuisine that goes with them. If this restaurant carries that theme, then it should not matter what name it takes to promote the business. If it is truly singaporean, I don’t think a lot of people will notice except for those who know exactly what it meant to be authentically singaporean. The good thing is, it delivers something new to those who have a more adventurous pallate. And yes! Nasi Lemak is one good meal for a start up.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:51 am
I agree with cleo. There is just something wrong with the name of this restaurant. Nasi Lemak Authentic Singaporean Cuisine. One look at the name and you know its not authentic anymore. Why not change the name to Nasi Gila? The place might even get the attention from locals of Jakarta staying in Manila.
April 20th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Just visited the restaurant tonight (4/20/08) and it was packed with happy faces.
We had the Kueh Pai tee (most delicious appetizer), Sambal Fish, Japanese Tafu Shrimps, Hainanese Chicken and the famous Singapore laksa. The food taste delicious, Hainanese Chicken was tender and taste good with their in-house chilli sauce. The Jap Tofu was interesting and extremely tasty. Laksa was rich in gata and one of the best I have tasted, just like being in Singapore.
Cost was reasonable too.
Atmosphere there was very busy, but waitressing staff were smiling and paytient in explaining the dishes and how best to eat them. We are impressed!
The air conditioning was cool despite the number of customers there.
Wish them luck.
April 20th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Get a grip Cleo. Why can’t we just celebrate the fact that we are now able to add a good restaurant to our country’s growing stable of eating establishments. Why even promote a Chinese versus Malay issue. You sound so insecure of your Malay heritage having to bring it up like this. Grow up.