When Ben Chong opened Hei Shin Rou on Arnaiz Ave. (formerly Pasay Road) a couple of years ago, it quickly became the Chinese noodle house with a difference, because it specialized in Cantonese seafood dishes. Now reinvented as an upscale fine dining restaurant and with a modification in name, it’s great to find that the unparalleled cooking the restaurant is known for is still there, and that new partners Choy Cojuangco and Al Tengco have brought in a new sensibility to the dining experience. Gone are the fluorescent lights and mediocre décor that we ignored while savoring the fine dishes. Now we have wooden paneling in the private rooms, stone walls and touches of classic Chinese interiors.
Chong is quick to reassure us that in spite of the refurbishing and the spanking new look, the values of the kitchen remain. They have managed to maintain the prices that made dining at Hai such an attractive proposition.
"A very slight increase, but that has more to do with the fact that in order to maintain the quality and standard we’re known for, the importation of ingredients from Hong Kong and China is a must," Chong says. "Even what we source locally, like the deep sea lapu-lapu (garoupa) from Palawan and deep-sea clams from Bacolod come at a premium. But that’s something we insist on in order to keep us at par with the high-end Chinese restaurants you find in the top hotels here in Manila."
Ask the taipans who are Hai regulars and you’ll discover that once hooked, there’s no going back on the kind of cooking Chong’s kitchen is known for.
"It’s mainly Cantonese style, but as the years evolved, I added some Shanghai dishes, some Szechuan, Peking and Chiu Chow viands," he says. "It’s a matter of trying to get the best from the different types of Chinese cuisine and continuously raising the bar on what we can offer our customers. Just recently, we began offering a special fried rice. It’s with seafood and dried olive leaves. That’s a must-try."
Just reading the specialties of the house are enough to make you to go on a mental food trip. There’s the roasted honey eel, prawn with taro fried rice, lobster with sotanghon in hot pot, peppercorned king crab, steamed bakla crab, and stuffed chicken wrapped in lotus leaf.
The roast duck is a must. Served two ways, chopped and sliced, I’d rank it above Peking duck in taste and presentation. The deep-sea stir-fried clams with tausi is another favorite. And if you still have room, order the pork brisket. It’s lechon kawali Hong Kong-style, with the skin extra crispy.
As always, the trick to eating Chinese is to come in a group, order a couple of main courses and share to your heart’s – or is it the stomach’s – delight. Ordering some dim sum for lunch, followed by a main course or two can result in price points of roughly P300 per person. Given that you’re in Makati, plus the quality of the dishes you’ll be indulging in, that makes for excellent food sense.
In fact, part of the ongoing promotion has Hai offering 50 percent discounts on particular dishes every day of the week. Monday and Tuesday, it’s the roasted duck or lapu-lapu. On Wednesday and Thursday, the pigeon and crab are the specially priced items, while white chicken or sea clams are the chosen dishes on Friday and Saturday.
For dessert, the mash taro and the sesame balls are a must. Not to leave space for these specialties is criminal.
Hai Shin Lou does offer catering services, for groups no less than 30. Tastefully decorated function rooms now make the venue ideal for wedding parties and birthdays. A room that can seat a group of 12 to 15 can take in bigger groups by just opening the walls.
Hai Shin Lou is like that haven you’ve been familiar with for a number of years, now all spruced up, but retaining the essence of why you were drawn to it in the first place. And if you’re happily ensconced at home and hunger pangs hit you, its telephone number is 892-7148. For Chinese food junkies like me, that number is seared in our memory banks.