By George! A four-in-one food destination

MANILA, Philippines - A year ago in June, one man’s all-consuming passion for food, glorious food sparked the creation of four restaurants in Fort Bonifacio’s entertainment complex: K-pub BBQ, Modern Sichuan, Tony Roma’s, and YummySoy.

“The reason I opted for four concepts in one dining place is because I wanted to create a family destination,” says seasoned restaurateur George Pua of his four one-year-old “bouncing babies.” “If you want Chinese, you have a Chinese option. If you want Korean, you have a Korean option. If you want American, you have an American option. If you want dessert, you have YummySoy.”

But if you want ’em all, you can have ’em all. You can order from any (or all) of the restaurants and these will be delivered to whichever resto you choose to dine in.

“I noticed that if there are 20 members of the family (now that’s a big family, each one with probably a big appetite), each one will have a different food preference. The kids will want something different from what the adults want,” George thoughtfully observes. “I know for a fact that this is happening to a lot of families. I want the whole family to be intact and to be eating together in one place.  Now, with the four restaurants, they can cross over. ”

Why families have come to love George’s  restos is really no secret.  George, a well-traveled foodie, personally picks everything on his restos’ menus. In addition, he has brought in some foreign chefs. “I believe that if you open a foreign resto, like Japanese or Korean, you should have a chef from those places, otherwise the taste will be different. You will not be able to maintain the quality of the food.”

He adds, “And we give value for money on the quality of food we’re serving.”

Surely, for George, the customer always comes first. “Diners now are more adventurous and a lot of them are well-traveled they look for something they must have seen abroad.”

George likewise believes that the best accolade a restaurant can get is the word-of-mouth endorsement, when those who have tried it recommend it to the others.

K-Pub: A-Ok promos

OK, let’s start with K-pub. If you love Korean food (I do, I do), spiced up with a little drama (and I don’t mean Korean telenovela), K-pub is A-OK. Grab a kgrub of Korea’s well-loved specialties dished up by a Korean chef. Some hot favorites: bibimbap (but of course!), bulgogi sliders, spicy rice and fish cakes, K-pub fried chicken, skewers, kimchi quesadilla, skewers, kimchi pizza, and japchae.

So, what else is hot at K-pub? The Eat & Run Beat the Clock promos! Promo A is an unlimited offer of all-you-can-eat dishes for only P499+ (regular price is P899+) for a limited one-hour period. Provided you’re not an extremely slow eater, one hour should be more than enough time to down all the beef sukiyaki, pork belly, Korean-style bacon, pork chop, marinated chicken in sweet & spicy sauce with kimchi fried rice, salad, and side dishes you can eat.

“This is inspired by the Korean buffet I saw in LA priced at $9.99,” George relates. “I translated it to the Philippine context and made it P499 with seven kinds of meat freshly cut from the kitchen and delivered to your table in two minutes, and which you can grill by yourself.”

You can level up with Promo B for only P699 + (regular price: P1,199+), which includes a lot more dishes (15 or so).

For an unlimited buffet (of 18 dishes with rice, salad, bibimbap, side dishes, and soup) with no time limit, there’s Promo C priced at only P899+ (regular price: P1,399+).

Then again, if you want to go all out  (to the max ), there’s Promo D for only P999+ (regular price: P1,499+) for 27 all-you-can-eat assorted meats and seafoods with rice, salad, side dishes, dessert, and Korean ice cream. Cool, don’t you think?

To further heat up the scene (as in sizzling hot) for its 1st anniversary celebration, K-pub BBQ features June Band Nights with live bands for the whole month: Accoustic Sound Paolo Santos, Fat Session, Riser Inc., Southborder, Freestyle, Zoo, and Side A.

K-pub, a happening place is a favorite venue for parties, events, and product launches. It’s got a big video wall that can be used for presentations and a theater-style setting.

Awesome Dimsum at Modern Sichuan

For the most awesome dimsum choices and then some, Modern Sichuan Restaurant is the place to go. Think siomai, hakaw, spinach shrimp dumpling, steamed spareribs taosi, seaweed rolls with shrimp. Plus well-cherished Sichuan specialties like honey garlic spareribs, Chinese strip beef tenderloin, lemon chicken, 3 cups chicken, salt & pepper cuttlefish, fried fish fillet with corn sauce, minced pork string beans, sauteed Taiwan pechay with garlic, beef with ampalaya. Dimsum, soup, a choice of three main courses, rice, and dessert will cost you only P1,488 + (good for four, lunch or dinner, Monday to Saturday).

For those craving Peking duck, order one whole (P2,500++ done one way) at Modern Sichuan and get one free dish (like a whole fried chicken or panfried short rib beef steak or flower lapu-lapu or live crabs).

Rib it up at Tony Roma’s

Twenty years ago, George was at Tony Roma’s in the US and he loved the ribs so much that he just had to bring it home — I mean the franchise.

Today, Tony Roma’s ribs it up with its offerings of great value lunch specials that start from P188+ — original baby back ribs, bbq half chicken, chicken carbonara pasta, tenderloin steak. Then there’s the set dinner for four at P2,999+ with a slab of St. Louis-style ribs, a main courses, and a pasta, or there’s a set dinner for six at P3,999+.

Tony Roma’s is a great venue for kiddie parties, too, for a minimum spend of P5,500. It also caters for all occasions (birthdays, weddings, private/corporate events, parties; call 847-2178 or 828-4435).

Soy Yummy, Soy Good!

For a healthier soy-based beverage and snack alternatives, George Pua brought in YummySoy from Singapore in March, 2013. YummySoy offers healthy soy products that are surprisingly delicious, too, like flavorful chilled beancurd (taho to you and me — choose from a variety of flavors such as strawberry, hazelnut, white chocolate, dark chocolate, orginal, and almond), refreshing chilled and hot soymilk, on-the-go beancurd slurpy for those on the run, all of which are made from the highest quality non-GMO soy beans. For a chewy topping to your favorite YummySoy product, there are add-ons like pearls, strawberry pop, grass jelly, coffee jelly.

For a healthy alternative to your favorite junk food, try the soy munchies or flavored soy-based chips that come in three flavors — cheese, sour cream, and sweet chili.

What’s more, there’s also the four restos’ sister restaurant Modern China on the ground floor, Glorietta 4 (facing Glorietta 5 and Park), Ayala Center, Makati. Here, you can have more of the authentic Chinese dishes. No wonder the restaurant is frequented by businessmen and Chinese diplomats who talk shop over Peking duck and braised lapu-lapu in a hot pot amid a relaxing ambiance.

By George! What will this innovative restaurateur bring in next? We can only guess something really uniquely delicious.

* * *

K-pub, Modern Sichuan, Tony Roma’s, and YummySoy are located at 5th Avenue, corner 28th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. For inquiries on K-pub, call 847-1961 or 847-3098; like it on Facebook at kpub bbq & the green room. For Modern Sichuan Restaurant, call 828-9352/856-0470, or mobile number 09175951515. For Modern China, call 752-8728 /752-8729 or mobile number 09228770091. For Tony Roma’s, call 847-2178. Tony Roma’s also has a branch at the ground floor of Glorietta 4.