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 17th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
For those people who are giving a big fuss about the name, please show a little kindness and just be happy with the success of Cora and her business.
The person is making an honest living. Her success stems from continuous hardwork and dedication which is highly commendable and encouraging.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Read about this restro from the Phil Stars yesterday and decided to check it out today.
Ordered pomelo salad and kueh pai ti very nice, especially the kueh pai ti which is “out of this world”.
The tofu prawn and honey glazed ribs were absolutely very tasty and very tender for the ribs.out this resto in the phil-stars yesterday and decided to try it out today
Pomelo
Unfortunately, the sambal fish was not available tonight.
Thanks, Nasi lemak for serving good food and very affordable price.
Allen & Gina
May 14th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
name can sometimes give wrong info to its bearer. however, reasonable & smart guys know that name is just a cover.
like they say - don’t judge a book …
so guys, the bottom line is - what is inside count the most. all other things? just leave to where it belongs coz those are just big B.S.
these is about food & service. so what’s the point trying to be recognized making very simple things look like any of those unwanted crap? back off.
hey Cora, give me those food please.
( i can’t wait )
May 11th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Dined there again last night (5/10/08) and the it was full house from the time we got there (745pm) and still full house when we left at 915pm.
Love the honey glazed spare ribs, now it comes with the sauce (dip), so tender. Its not sweet like the normal filipino dish, and I can taste the ribs, so yummy just like ham.
Enjoyed the other dishes like…. Laksa (v rich full of gata), Japanese Tofu Shrimps (my favorite), Kang Kong (very much better than our Kang Kong Bagoong, Malaysian chicken curry was very tasty.
The tea tarek (Milk tea) was a good refreshing finishing to the whole meal after savoring the Onde Onde. I will cetainly order 2 orders next time.
Good job, hope they open 1 outlet in Makati.
May 10th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Hi my dear friend cora i’m really proud of you for doing a great job…when i looked all the comments here i’m so thrilled what a big success for your restaurant…and i promise when i come for holiday my first pit stop no other destination only NASI LEMAK RESTUARANT i’m looking forward to taste again your dishes because i already proved how excellent cook you are when we are in Singapore…thiers no question that all your dishes are soooo yummy!!!!