Ultimate noodles and ultimate discounts at North Park

In this tough economy, P200 is a big deal. P200 is the cost of a dish for four at Chinese restaurant North Park, so P200 taken off your food bill is an offer you can’t refuse.

But that’s precisely what North Park, in partnership with Citibank, is offering diners from Dec. 2 to 16 — P200 subtracted outright from a minimum spend of P1,000, which is an easy total to achieve if you’re dining as a group of four.

“To jumpstart our campaign, we do these fall-off-your-seat offers that’s never been done in the market,” says Martha Aguila-Borja, Citibank’s vice president, Partnerships and Alliances, Card Business Group. “The idea is that loyal patrons of North Park will come here, and those who have not tried North Park will come because it’s a good offer.”

I am one of those loyal patrons of North Park, the noodle house that has become an institution with twirlers and slurpers of those fine, yolk-colored strands languoring in rich broth that are ubiquitous in Hong Kong and China.

Comes with everything on it: North Park’s Ultimate noodles (P238), served in a stone bowl and topped with fresh prawn dumplings, beef, mushrooms and vegetables, is big enough to be shared.

A certified noodle freak like myself has been going to North Park ever since it opened its first branch on Wilson Street in Greenhills 16 years ago. There, I fell into addiction with its fresh prawn dumpling-and-Nanking beef noodle soup, washed down with fresh lemonade and always, always followed by my favorite dessert, fried bread with cream dip, a.k.a. condensed milk.

I’ve since followed North Park to its 24-hour Makati Avenue branch, where I’ve seen the interiors become more modern, but though the menu has expanded in size, the dishes that I’ve come to love have stayed the same in quality and value for money.

But the P200 outright discount is hardly the only value deal. Once that two-week offer ends on Dec. 16, another special promotion begins that will last until July 14, 2011: “For a minimum purchase of P1,000 we’re giving P200 cash coupons to Citibank card holders who use their card at North Park,” says Germaine Salvador, North Park’s marketing consultant. “The coupons are valid on the next visit.”

“We call it the best dining-privileges program in the Philippines because Citibank has put our stamp on it with a best-deal promise,” Borja says. “If another bank offers something better, then we will reimburse the cardholder the difference.”

So many diners are fans of North Park’s value proposition that Citibank took notice and quickly enlisted them for their Dining Privileges program.

Great with tea: The spicy seafood XO chami partners perfectly with North Park’s cooling Nai Cha jelly milk tea.

“They’re one of the top Chinese fast-food destinations in the country and when we choose our partners, of course we look into where our customers spend,” Borja says. “We saw that a lot of our cardholders would come to North Park.”

Families and friends would order signature dishes like the special toasted noodles, a tangled nest that stays crisp even when you mix it with the mushroom-laden sauce it cradles inside. Or the stir-fry beef with broccoli, for which you can choose either Chinese kailan or imported broccoli florets. Or another house (and personal) favorite, salted garlic squid, lightly battered pieces of savory cuttlefish cooked with green chilies for the perfect kick.

“We try to stick to what we call ‘Chinoy comfort food,’” Salvador says. “It’s Chinese food presented in the familiar Filipino way. For example, Yang Chow fried rice — when you travel to China they won’t do fried rice the way we do Yang Chow. The way it’s done here tastes better.”

Contrary to popular perception, North Park is not an imported franchise but a homegrown business conceived by the enterprising Soon family. Brothers Raphael and Gabriel grew up with their parents serving mami and siopao in pre-World War II Binondo.

“We started Golden Peking in 1974,” recalls Raffy, who’s now North Park’s group proprietor. “We brought Peking duck to the Philippines.”

Bestseller: Stir-fry beef with imported broccoli flowers, P228

In 1988, the original North Park opened on T. Pinpin Street in Chinatown as a seafood restaurant, but the brothers decided to resurrect it as a different type of eatery when they opened in San Juan in 1994.

“We started small-scale as a noodle house because it was easy to operate,” Raffy explains. “Ever since, it’s always been about comfort food. We are a family of foodies and cooks. When we started, we didn’t think it would grow this much.”

Today North Park has 17 branches and four sister brands: Next Door, Kopi Tiam, Tiananmen Bar and a small value brand called Ma Chicken Mami House, which goes back to North Park’s roots as a mami-siopao house.

But the mother company never stops innovating: “This year we did something bolder,” Salvador says. “We’re trying to introduce teatime to the Filipinos, for people to consider North Park for merienda. We see a lot of customers for lunch and dinner but we try to tell people that North Park is a good merienda alternative, so we added this lineup: Fortune Pao, fried siopao with ham and cheese inside; lechon wrap, a wrap with the popular North Park lechon Macau; seafood XO chami, which is spicy and the perfect partner with the Nai Cha jelly milk tea.”

The price range for all this pica-pica? P76 to P158.

“In the three years I’ve been with the company they only raised prices once,” notes Salvador. “One of our objectives is to give customers really good value for money.”

With such delicious, comforting Chinoy food at perennially affordable prices, it looks like I will keep walking to the Park for as long as it’s in operation.

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North Park’s newest branch is in SM Muntinlupa. Another branch will open this December at Araneta Coliseum. For more information, visit www.northpark.com.ph or call the North Park delivery hotline at 73737.