As an expat living in Hong Kong in the mid-1970s, I feasted on chicken feet and congee regularly at tea houses, where locals and adventurous foreigners spend a good part of the morning sipping tea and eating many forms of dim sum. This activity is also called yum cha, or to sip tea—the beverage of choice at these establishments.
At the entrance of traditional Cantonese teahouses are simmering cauldrons of rich broth for noodle soups and congee, and a boiling pot of water for blanching vegetables and noodles. A small stove with a long-handled pot is used to heat up each order of congee while stirring in either freshwater fish slices or pork liver and kidney. Each item is cooked to order within sight of customers.
This typical Hong Kong teahouse layout and the simple half-page typewritten menu of 10-15 items (siopao, siomai, noodle soup, wanton, leafy vegetables, roast pork) were duplicated to the last detail by a small eatery called Hap Chan, which opened in Ermita in 1997, making Manila-based yum cha lovers delirious. The food was excellent. Every bite transported me to the narrow streets of Wanchai and the lively night jade market beside the Jordan Ferry.
The simple teahouse Hap Chan was an instant success. Even on rainy days, senators and tycoons were seen lining up outside the restaurant while waiting for one of the 25 chairs inside to be available.
While it’s true that there had been small panciterias in Binondo before 1997, Hap Chan was the first to open outside Chinatown, with an ambience that welcomed non-Chinese: English menu, English signs, cold beers. Other foodies might argue that Kowloon House on Mabini Street near Herran was the first. But Kowloon House did not have the open kitchen with noodle baths, cauldrons of soup stock, and a chef chopping fish heads in full view of diners.
Fond memories of Hap Chan and Hong Kong teahouses drove me to a lunch meeting with friends in far off Taytay, a bustling town that’s growing so fast it is now the third most populous municipality in the entire country. The once sleepy town now exudes youth, vibrates with energy, and shows glimpses of bigger developments at every turn. And the proof of progress? Taytay now finally has its first Chinese restaurant, not just any restaurant but a branch of the Philippines’ biggest Cantonese restaurant chain, Hap Chan.
Before noon last week, the restaurant was full, with 80 or so executives, employees, expats, and family groups ordering meals served family-style. By 2:30 p.m., the restaurant had fed close to 140 diners. The town has so embraced Hap Chan that last Mother’s Day, there were people waiting outside for tables to be vacated.
Entering the restaurant, I missed the look of the original hole-in-the-wall Hap Chan. There were no boiling pots by the door, no apron-clad chef with a giant cleaver. Instead, there was a spacious room with simple, Chinese-inspired décor, as well as an all-stainless, spotless kitchen barely visible behind a counter.
My heart sank; changes like these normally mean food quality is affected. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so I reserved judgment until after lunch. My verdict? Good food and reasonable prices combine to assure continued success for all 52 branches of Hap Chan from Isabela in Northern Luzon to General Santos in Mindanao.
My host Johnny plans to open at least three more branches soon in Baguio, Lucena, and a still-undisclosed location outside Metro Manila.
Hap Chan operates efficiently like a military organization. A full service commissary south of Manila supplies Hap Chan branches in the Calabarzon region; another one in Bulacan is for Central and Northern Luzon branches. This system assures continuing deliveries of kitchen necessities at uniform sizes, color, and quality.
The commissary has a noodle section to make pancit canton and mami fresh noodles, using flour imported from Canada. Another portion makes all the siomai and wanton wrappers.
A number of Hong Kong chefs regularly drop in unannounced to inspect branches and taste-test every item on the menu. Thus, Filipino chefs at all branches are on their toes constantly about following original Hap Chan recipes to the letter.
Our group was large enough to order several dishes. In addition, I just had to have chicken feet dim sum, which was exactly like I remember from the original tea houses: fleshy, sweet, sticky, red, chewy, and sliced perfectly with no bone splinters. The hakaw (shrimp siomai) contained large whole shrimp of impeccable freshness.
Two bestsellers, beef broccoli and sweet and sour pork were many notches above what one normally gets in other restaurants. The beef slices were thick, cut from the tenderest part of the cow. The crisp emerald green broccoli florets tasted like they were harvested that morning. Pork, lightly coated in imported starch, was properly streaked with just enough fat and lean meat, and napped with a very smooth sauce. We ate all with non-greasy yang chow rice, which contained so many ingredients it could be taken as a one-dish meal.
Hap Chan Restaurant in Ortigas Extension, Taytay, is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 02 650 2500
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