MANILA, Philippines - The saying “Too many cooks spoil the broth” does not apply here. On the contrary, the three chefs of different nationalities, under the supervision of executive chef Peter Ayson, inspired the re-naming of the Red Crab’s Crustasia Crabs and Seafood House at the Rockwell Power Plant Mall in Makati to Crustasia Asian Bistro, which is descriptive of the popular restaurant’s new, expanded menu.
“It’s a collaboration,” chef Peter explains. The three chefs — chef Nur Deslianto from Indonesia, chef Chaiyong Wongjandaeng from Thailand, and chef Xue Chen from Shanghai — bring to the Crustasia kitchen the rich flavors of their home countries. “They are good at their cuisine,” chef Peter remarks. His role, he says, is to mentor the chefs’ raw talent; to teach them new cooking techniques and the use of new equipment.
Many of the new dishes at Crustasia are typically hot and spicy, which is common among Indonesian, Thai, Sichuan, and Hunan dishes from these parts of the region. “They are meant to be spicy,” chef Peter says, which they’d rather not change, so as to keep the dishes authentic.”
For starters, take the grand Javanese sampler, which includes Indonesian bread stuffed with eggs and meat curry, stuffed bean curd, spicy dilis and peanuts, shrimp pancakes and corn fritters. Next, the all-meat sate sampler has tasty morsels of beef, pork, and chicken served in skewers resting on a grill on top of a hot clay block. Naturally, you have to have crabs at Crustasia, and the Balinese curry crabs have just the right level of hotness to excite your taste buds. The hint of sweetness in another Indonesian dish, the Beef Semur, which is stewed beef with sweet soy sauce, serves to temper the hot onslaught of the previous dishes on your tongue.
The kung pao fried rice goes well with the kung pao chicken, which is made hot by the sprinkling of slices of hot chili and chili seeds. The Sichuan boiled catfish had the fresh fish simmer in corn and canola oil over low heat. “It’s a new technique,” chef Peter notes. The result is a flavorful fish dish cut in bite sizes and served in small individual bowls with bean sprouts.
Another variation of a popular dish is the Shanghai fried pork dumplings and Shanghai fried mushroom and vegetable dumplings. It’s similar to the steamed shao-lon-bao or pork soup dumpling, but this time, the dumplings are fried or seared, which gives it a nice bite, chef Peter explains.
Since its pungent smell and taste of cumin stays on the tongue, the Hunan cumin ribs dish is usually served last. It is one of the bestsellers in their newly opened restaurant in Shanghai where chef Xue Chen comes from, so they decided to bring it in here, too, chef Peter says.
Chef Xue Chen does not speak a word of English so they had to bring in an interpreter especially for him. Nonetheless, together with the other chefs at the Crustasia kitchen, they all share the same universal language of good food.
Thai iced tea with milk is a refreshing accompaniment to the spicy dishes on the menu. And for dessert, Es Cendol, an Indonesian coconut milk cooler with gulaman and palm sugar syrup, is the perfect sweet ending to a genuinely satisfying hot meal.
* * *
Crustasia Asian Bistro is located on the ground floor of Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Drive, Makati City; call 728-5463.