Dimsum ‘n Dumplings

We’re talking here of dimsum, folks. Dimsum ‘n Dumplings (DnD) owners Andrew and Sandee Masigan confess that their products are X-rated. X-rated, as in, “extraordinary.”

“We make everyday dimsum extraordinary because our dimsum is hand-made,” says Sandee. “It’s healthy and delicious. If our only kid can’t eat it, then we don’t serve it in our stores.”

According to Andrew, who grew up observing the food business in his late dad Virgilio Masigan’s restaurant OZ, DnD has grown from one kiosk to 100 kiosks and outlets all over the country. Andrew says they are the current challenger to the market leader.

 “We don’t really want to be the biggest, but the better one,” says Andrew. “We wanted to be more focused on what we are, which is dimsum. Dimsum and tea go together. We were saying that there’s no way we can beat them in terms of advertising. But through the product itself, we just want to be better. We don’t want be the biggest, we want to be better.”

“Each of our products has a story,” continues Sandee, daughter of the late Sonny Siytangco and his wife, writer and TV host Deedee Siytangco. “A story of how that product came to be, the trips, places and people behind that product.”

DnD has 28 different dimsum varieties and 35 different tea concoctions in its DnD tea bars, and the couple make no pretensions about their being 100 percent Chinese.

“From the start, we never claimed to be really Chinese-Chinese. I like to call it Oriental. ‘Oriental’ has spun so many cultures. From that we take our cue, our inspiration. It’s not just all Chinese although Chinese is the main. And even our regular dimsum, they’re not traditional Chinese. We’d like to think that we’ve modernized already,” says Sandee.

So they have practically all the combinations. From the basic pork siomai to the bacon and cheese dumpling, from the spinach dumpling in a dimsum to the fried seafood dumpling, from har-gaw (steamed crystal prawn with bamboo shoots in a translucent, delicate dough) to crabstick roll (which has zero carbs), their menu is anything but ordinary.

Another perennial bestseller of DnD is its chili garlic oil, which is sometimes ordered by the case by balikbayans. It is my favorite chili garlic oil, because the oil is always fresh, never stale or rancid (maanta).

Vacations here and abroad become field trips for the couple, who don’t mind the food tasting and the research because for them, work is a feast. Some of the dishes on the menu, especially in the tea bar, were inspired by Sandee’s mom Deedee and the Siytangco family’s favorites, like chicken feet and lechon Macau.

“I love chicken feet,” points out Sandee.  “Andrew didn’t like it before. When we put up the first restaurant, I said, you have to serve chicken feet. He said, ‘I don’t like chicken feet.’  I insisted, ‘You have to, every Chinese restaurant has chicken feet and dimsum.’ Ayaw talaga. So I would bring samples from all places in Binondo that my dad and my lolo would bring me to. And then finally, I got him to eat it. After six months, chicken feet found its way to our menu.” DnD’s chicken feet dimsum is now the favorite of the couple’s only child, eight-year-old Amanda Julia.

* * *

A finance major, Andrew first tried his hand as an employee in a Japanese firm before he realized what he had known all along deep inside him: He was cut out to be his own boss, and not somebody else’s employee.

“You know, I learned the business through that family business of ours. So when it was time for me to make a decision if I wanted to continue being a professional employee or career person or an entrepreneur, I opted to be an entrepreneur. And since I knew the food business already, that’s what I got into,” recalls Andrew.

He was exposed to everything in the food business –– including the dishwashing. Sixteen years ago, Andrew set up a DnD kiosk, and despite some challenges, has built up a business that is going full steam ahead.

“The most important thing I learned from my dad is instituting systems. Systems of control or inventories, systems of cash control, really the basics and then, the operating system of a restaurant. So those three. You know, you can be making so much money, but without proper controls, all of it is going to the basura. A lot of people can cook well, but if they don’t control their variable costs, that sometimes causes the failure of the restaurant.”

How does the restaurant control costs and still retain the food’s extraordinary flavor?

“Well, there are allowances factored in. When we price a product, we price according to the classification of the raw material. So, it’s built-in already. Let’s say, spinach dumpling, if the classification is to use the spinach leaves, my costing of the spinach factors out the stem. It’s only the leaves so I could use only the leaves and throw away the stem. And that’s built-in already in the cost. I don’t make tipid in a way na I’ll put the stem also there to increase my recovery,” says Andrew, revealing one of the ingredients to his success.

Andrew reveals that there is also a secret scent to success, and DnD is about to unleash theirs.

“Now, we’re trying to control the odor of our store. I don’t know if you know it, but it works. Most restaurants, especially abroad, they control the odor. For instance, a certain doughnut store has patented its scent, so you know from afar it’s them. It’s a chemical that you add to the shortening to produce a scent. You go to a pizza store, the ionizers, it’s very distinct. So, the more established chains, I suppose, have to control every single aspect of the sensory experience. Because we’re tea bar, it’s so easy for us to come up with like, let’s make it smell like mint. But what odor really works to give you that holistic experience. Sandee is coming up with that particular odor for the store.”

Sandee says that her role in DnD is to do “whatever the president (Andrew) asks me to.”

Andrew, for his part, says Sandee is his inspiration, aside from the fact that she designs the look of their outlets and tea bars.

 Asked which of their products best describes their relationship, Sandee answers, “The chili garlic oil!”

Why?

“Because it’s a bestseller, and it gets better the longer you keep it,” she explains.

“And because it’s spicy!” her mother Deedee, who advises the couple on how to have a relationship as beautiful as the one she shared with her late husband, adds.

See, I told you this article was going to be X-rated.

(You may e-mail me at [email protected])