Por Kee’s Guide To Starting Over
Text and images by Sheere Ng @ Makansutra
A Chinese saying goes like this, “It is better to deal with something you are familiar with, than to take a risk with something that you don’t know about”. But Deng Phak Weng goes against the grain. In 1997, he wind up the dim sum business that his father set up nearly 50 years ago to focus on the operations of a seafood restaurant that he himself opened just a year before.
If you think he must have been skilled or at least knew a thing or two about cooking seafood, you are wrong. The 64-year-old may not even know how to steam a prawn. Through his restaurant manager, he managed to hire an experienced Malaysian chef to helm the kitchen– another move that goes against the Chinese belief of being dependent on no one, especially an outsider.
Despite of that, Deng thought what he did was necessary as the seafood restaurant, Por Kee Eating House, was his only hope to keep the Por Kee brand alive. “The business at the tea house was losing money, so there was no point keeping it opened,” he laments.
Luckily, his risk-taking paid off in no time. Within a year, families, working adults and even CEOs of big companies packed the restaurant every night. In 2002, Indonesia’s ex-President Megawati Sukarnoputri patronised the restaurant during an official visit to Singapore. From then on, Indonesians form the largest group foreign customers there.
But what really calls for a celebration, or rather, a sigh of relief, is the chef’s loyalty to the restaurant, which the owner hinted was won over by a fat pay check. Among the many dishes that the chef has created, Champagne Pork Ribs is the most well received. “The secret, besides the champagne, is to add a combination of carbonated drinks to sweeten the meat. These beverages are preferred because they do not taste excessively sweet like sugar,” he says.
Cereal Prawns are a fairly common dish available in most restaurants, but the one at Por Kee is a cut above the rest. Deng explains, “Many cze char stalls cook the prawns and cereal separately, hence the meat often tastes remotely of the cereals or butter. Here the chef cooks the cereals mixture until it is 70 per cent cooked and then he tosses in the pre-fried prawns and flips until the cereals cling onto the prawns. In this way, the prawn shells are not only crunchy but also flavoured.”
The Thai-style Steamed Fish is a hit among everyone, fish or non-fish lovers. The broth that comes in a separate bowl is tangy, salty and slightly spicy, somewhat similar to the clear Tom Yum Soup. But instead of lime, the chef uses sour plum, which is Cantonese and Teochew style, so the sourness does not prickles one’s throat.
Even though business has been good, he has no plans for expansion, explaining that it is impossible to hire new people in this current F&B labour crunch, and a good location, like its current place, is also hard to find. Besides the good food, what also draws the customers to Por Kee is the big carpark within which the restaurant is nestled.
But even if there are solutions to address his concerns, he will still not change his mind after all. “I might consider that if I were 10 years younger, but I’m too old now to take another big leap,” he says.
