Steamed eel with black beans and chili (photo by PINGGOT ZULUETA)

The Chinese believe that the higher the position or the title you have in life, the greater chance it is for you to receive abundance in luck and in blessings to last a lifetime. Deeming this true, the Li family then named their luxurious eating place President—the highest position a man or a woman could ever achieve in the country.

As a likely result, the more than three-decade-old restaurant is still thriving and gaining new patrons by the minute. But if you think good feng shui is the sole reason why the President hasn’t been neglected by foodies all these years, even after it closed and reopened its doors back in August, think again. Because as one gets to know, it’s their scrumptious, decadent, and genuine Cantonese fare that really does the trick and makes customers—two Presidents and a former first lady, even—to keep coming back for more.

Despite the profusion of Chinese restaurants in the metro, finding and dining in an authentic Chinese place proves to be difficult, as everyone is claiming their dishes as the real thing even when they’re not. Luckily though, authenticity is taken very seriously at the President Grand Palace Restaurant on Ongpin St., Binondo, what with Chef Shui Wai Sing, from Kowloon, Hong Kong running the President’s kitchen. With over 35 years of cooking experience, Chef Shui is a master in Cantonese cuisine and does not settle for anything less than what Cantonese flavors should taste like. He always calls the shots, says one Filipino kitchen staff.

Also, owner Morning Glory Li says that most of the raw ingredients they use for their menu are imported from Hong Kong and China. They have regular suppliers there, she says. They get some of their seafood from Dampa, and they grow their freshwater eels themselves, she discloses.

The restaurant’s specialty is its steamed eel with black beans and chili. Morning tells that people within and outside the metro really dine at their place just to sample their noted eel dish. Served in a large rectangular platter, the dish consists of slices of eel in a bed of parsley, marinated in the sweet and spicy chili sauce that balances the eel’s slimy and overwhelming fishy taste. Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, former President Joseph Estrada, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, and former first fist lady Imelda Marcos favor this dish among others, Morning reveals.

Ideal for the barkada or for a large family is the fried pieces of squid. Mixed with salt and pepper, the deep fried squid is a memorable dish one may just have to order in the restaurant again and again. The squid is fried to perfection—crisp on the outside yet tender on the inside. It isn’t gummy and won’t give one’s pearly whites and jaw a tedious time. Take advantage of the dish when it’s hot, though, to experience its full-bodied flavor. Pair this viand or pulutan with a cold glass of beer.

If you’re a big fan of duck, then you’re in luck, as the President serves up Peking duck in three ways. The restaurant could skin the duck for you, letting you savor the hefty sinful pieces of crunchy duck skin. They could mince it to your liking and then roll the duck flesh in a lumpia wrapper along with tangy fresh leeks, and they could add the duck to a broiling soup.

Not to miss in the President’s yummy repertoire is its stuffed whole and deboned chicken happily swimming in oyster sauce. Inside the juicy chicken are sticky rice, bits of Chinese sausage, salted eggs, lotus seeds, pork asado, and some vegetables, among others. Eating it is like filling yourself up with manna from heaven. It is simply delicious, and a fitting reward to an empty stomach! It is tasty in itself and is not wanting in flavor, as it has a good mix of eclectic palate pleasers that will definitely enhance your dining experience. Another thing that we liked about the chicken is its universal appeal—kids won’t have a hard time appreciating its goodness.   

You may also try the restaurant’s broccoli flowers with scallops (which you may dip in Chinese bagoong), its misua guisado, its sautéed lobsters with butter sauce, its sizzling oyster, its steamed lapu-lapu, and its commendable fried crab in ginger and garlic.

All in all, a visit to the President is like a trip to flavorful and festive China in hectic yet homey Binondo. It’s the go-to place for families and friends—and for fun-loving epicures who swear by good conversations over good (Chinese) food.

Visit the President Grand Palace Restaurant at 746 Ongpin St., Binondo, Sta. Cruz. Manila. For more information, call 244-5886 or 242-1473.