Pinoy Food & Other Cuisine :: Food PhotoBlog and Events |

Chowking’s line of noodle soups are going to get even better now that the restaurant made a tie-up with the Lao Dong chain of restaurants in Taipei. Lao Dong was established in 1950 by the father of award-winning Chef Liu Zheng Hsiung.

The restaurant chain is known for their mouth-watering beef noodle soup, prepared by boiling fresh beef for 24 hours and seasoning the meat with a secret concoction of Chinese spices. Besides beef noodle soup, Lao Dong is also renowned for their curry-based soups, tomato dishes, and Chinese desserts.

Chef Liu is in Manila right now (September 1-6) to conduct a training program for Chowking’s cooks, as well as to meet with the owners and managers of the Jollibee Group food chain. Mr. Liu has had fifteen years of experience as a chef and now manages the Lao Dong restaurants. He is responsible for improving the quality of Lao Dong dishes, and there’s no doubt that Chowking’s noodle soups will be just as superior as Lao Dong’s once the chefs have gone through his training program.

While Chef Liu demonstrated the preparation of beef wanton noodles, I could already smell the heavenly aroma of the beef! During the bloggers’ Meet and Greet event with Chef Liu, I asked him if he withheld the secret of the Chinese spices from Chowking. You’d expect chefs to be very possessive about their recipes but to my surprise, Chef Liu replied, “I have no secrets. I gave them all away, with love.” Clearly, there are no secrets between the Chowking and Lao Dong partnership. The secret to all that good food, I suppose, is the chef and his positive and open attitude.

Chowking president Erwin M. Elechicon

Chowking’s joint venture with Lao Dong is part of their strategy to increase its presence abroad. Not that their presence isn’t already felt worldwide. Currently, Chowking has 382 stores in the Philippines, 12 stores in the United States, 10 in the United Arab Emirates, and five in Indonesia.

By sheer coincidence, Erwin approached me before the press conference and introduced himself as the batchmate of my late brother. I was so surprised to meet him. I thought he was part of the press who were covering part of the event and much to my embarassment, he introduced himself as the President of Chow King.