THE Asian dishes served at KK restaurant are at once familiar yet distinct.
The difference is in the subtlety of the flavors. Take for example the asparagus with scallops in oyster sauce or the kangkong with shrimp paste. They do not come swimming in sauce or oil.
Shau Ming Lo, the energetic owner of Cebu’s first Malaysian restaurant, takes pains choosing the freshest ingredients every day. He also has a strict quality standard for the vegetables, meat and seafood he serves.
It took quite some time before he found the right kind of rice and bihon that could stand the rigors of frying.
KK offers special dishes such as curry beef, spicy tofu, spicy lala and bamboo shoots and bakuteh. Chinese immigrants to Malaysia brought the healthy and flavorful soup bakuteh, which is made up of meat (ba), bone (ku) and 18 herbs (teh).
If you chance upon SM, as he has named himself, he will tell you why the soup boosts your energy and improves blood circulation.
“Have it every day and you will have rosy cheeks and a healthy body,” he suggests.
SM also likes paraphrasing Confucius. “Man goes for food and sex. But food comes first,” he says.
The first time SM visited Cebu was in 1994. He was with his wife Patricia, who hailed from General Santos City but lived in Sabah for 16 years.
SM, who worked in the landscape and gardening business for close to a decade, always wanted to own a restaurant and felt Cebu was ready for his Malaysian fare.
Together with his 22-year-old son Walter, who went to culinary school, they opened KK at Unit 6 of the Skyrise building at Asiatown IT Park in Lahug, Cebu City late last year.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia form a rough circle around the South China Sea, and their cuisines have much in common: the rich tastes of coconut, fish sauce, spices and fresh herbs, layered on top of staples like rice, noodles, chilies and soy sauce.
In the region with “one caring and sharing community,” it is good to get to know our neighbors’ cuisine.
