By JOSEPH TANCHEE
Chef Julian Ee believes that there’s a thin line between Thai and Chinese cuisine, and with his new restaurant, he’s out to prove it. Located along Banawe St. in Quezon City—a Chinese culinary hub second to Binondo—Chef Ee’s Chan Dara has fashioned a traditional Thai menu peppered with Chinese-style dishes.
Popular Thai fare, from Pad Thai (stir-fried rice noodles, showered with ground peanuts and bean sprouts, topped with shrimp) to the hot and sour soup Tom Yum Goong, mix with wanton dishes and Chow Mein (Chinese egg noodles stir-fried with vegetables).
 |
|
Chef Julian Ee with Chan Dara staff | | Thai dishes like the Priew Wan Pla (fried Parrot fish fillets, with a variety of vegetables and pineapples in a sweet and sour sauce) bolster the chef’s claims, as they are quite similar to Chinese sweet and sour. Given the restaurant’s fresh start, Thai cooking dominates the menu. But, with a few more months, expect Chan Dara’s line-up to grow bigger.
However, the benchmark of what he professes could very well be Chan Dara’s success. The question remains whether Chan Dara’s cuisine would sit well with Banawe’s predominantly finicky Chinese dining crowd. Nevertheless, palatable to Banawe diners or not, there’s no mistaking that Chef Ee dishes out some fine and flavorful Thai, with clear flavors and deliciously blended spices.
Chef Ee, of Malaysian descent, started cooking for his family at the tender age of 12. He perfected his craft working for a Thai kitchen in the US. After marrying a Filipina, he ended up opening, Ayutthaya, a Thai restaurant in SM Fairview.
If you were to ask whether his cuisine is authentic or not, he would probably say no. Most of Chef Ee’s dishes are influenced by his five-year stint in the US.
However, he likes to keep things as Thai as possible. All of the restaurant’s ingredients are imported from Thailand, from their fragrant, sweet Thai iced tea (made from Thai tea leaves and different spices thickened with cream) to their tableware. In addition, Chef Ee grows his own Kaffir lime plant, one of the most essential herbs in Thai cooking.
Meals in Chan Dara best start with a Yam Goong Salad, which has a good crunchy texture from its fresh greens, onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Moreover, its savory grilled shrimps balance well with its unique, citrus kaffir lime dressing.
Their Tom Yum Seafood Soup, laden with shrimps and mussels, has a mild citrus and lemongrass overtone. Its sour consistency is similar to that of sinigang, but it has a mild ginger-like zest from chunks of galangal.
For main courses, a must-try is their Pandan Chicken, which is deep-fried boneless chicken wrapped in fragrant leaves of pandan. The chicken is best eaten dipped in its mildly sweet chili dipping sauce showered with sesame seeds.
Their Panang Beef, slices of tender beef, peas, carrots, and green bell peppers in brown curry, has a mild spicy tang and flavored with kaffir lime rinds.
The spicy Mussel with Basil, stir-fried mussels soused with chili paste in oil, is topped with whole fresh basil leaves. Lastly, they offer grilled Chicken Sate served with a rich peanut sauce.
For dessert, their Thai Pandan Flavored Sago with Coconut Milk Topping is highly recommended. This simple dessert is flavored and fragranced with pandan leaves, and its sweetness is wonderfully contrasted by hints of saltiness.
Chan Dara also doles out homemade tarts in the flavors of lotus, pineapple, and monggo.
Chan Dara has about four different kinds of curry. If one were to tire of them, they have a number of vegetarian dishes, from vegetable curries to a Tofu Pad Thai.
Other recommended dishes include the Angel Wings, golden brown boneless chicken wings stuffed with minced chicken, mixed vegetables, and sotanghon; Rad-Na Chicken, stir-fried hofan topped with vegetables, and doused with gravy; Spicy Garlic Beef, slivers of beef stir-fried in garlic and pepper sauce.
Chef Julian Ee’s Thai pandan flavored sago with coconut milk topping
Ingredients:Sago - 120 gm
Pandan leaves - 6 pieces
Sugar - 80 gram
Salt - ¼ teaspoon for sago
- 1/8 tsp for topping
Coconut milk (gata) in can - 2/3 cup
Procedure:
Sago:
- Boil 1.8 liter of water in a medium
size pot
- Wash 120 gm of sago and put into the
boiling water
- Add 6 pandan leaves knotted
- Cook sago till transparent, stir
occasionally
- Add 80 gm sugar
- Add ¼ tsp salt
- Cook until sugar and salt dissolves
- Take out pandan leaves
- Leave for 5 minutes
Topping:
- In a small sauce pot, heat 2/3 cup of
coconut milk.
- Add 1/8 tsp salt.
- When coconut milk starts to boil and
the salt dissolved, turn off the fire.
- Let it cool.
To serve:
- Put sago in about 10 – 12 cups.
- Spoon about 2 TB of coconut milk
on top.
- Can be served warm or put in chiller
and served cold.
|
