Lunch with Philip Chiang at the newly opened P.F. Chang’s at World Trade Center Mall — a first for the capital — is a laid-back affair, much like the man himself, who co-founded the restaurant 20 years ago in the United States.
Wearing a T-shirt, jacket, jeans and shoes without socks, Chiang is at ease chatting about street food, stories from travelling with his staff and exchanging food photographs with his daughter.
The Chiangs moved from Shanghai to Tokyo before settling down in San Francisco, where Cecilia Chiang, Philip’s mother, missed authentic Chinese food so much that she decided to serve nothing less at her restaurant, Mandarin, which opened in the early 1960s.
Chiang went on to art school in LA and upon graduating was trying to make it in the real world when his mother asked him to look after her restaurant while she made a trip to China. Before long, Chiang had opened his own Chinese eatery, Mandarette.
“My mother’s restaurant was very upscale. I wanted a restaurant where my artist friends could hang out,” says Chiang. It was there that he met the restaurateur Paul Fleming, a regular at Mandarette. When Fleming moved to Arizona and noticed a dearth of good Chinese restaurants, “he came to me and suggested we open a restaurant together”, recalls Chiang.
P.F. Chang’s (P F stands for Paul Fleming) was born in 1993 in Scottsdale, Arizona, where, to this day, core staff undergo a 16-week training before any new restaurant is launched.
The chain, which now boasts more than 240 franchises worldwide, has four branches in Dubai, with plans to open two more in the capital – at Abu Dhabi Mall in April and at Yas Mall next year.
Our lunch begins with chicken lettuce wraps. As Chiang scoops chicken, mixed with water chestnuts, mushrooms and a soy-based sauce, into the lettuce cups and adds rice sticks, he’s eagerly talking about the importance of texture and simplicity in food. It’s a theme that comes up throughout our meal.
The wraps are crunchy and full of flavour. Chiang says the original recipe used squab, but because it doesn’t have much meat they switched to chicken.
He suggests tasting everything before adding the sauces on our table – Chinese mustard, vinegar, soy and chilli sauce. But when the steamed dumplings arrive, he suggests adding vinegar. It does heighten the taste.
We try an array of dishes. The standouts are Mongolian beef and Chang’s spicy chicken. The coconut curry vegetables get a thumbs-up for being mild yet packing a punch.
Dessert affords more lessons. Red beans, says Chiang, are not what most people here associate with dessert. “So our desserts are made for the western palate,” he says, as a great wall of chocolate and banana spring rolls with ice cream are brought out. The warm-cool combination of the spring rolls trumps the chocolate dessert.
As we’re saying our goodbyes, I ask him where he learnt about cooking and the restaurant business.
“I picked it up,” he says. “My mother didn’t have any training, either.”
As it happens, his mother is no ordinary cook. Regarded as the Julia Child of Chinese cuisine, she is credited for changing American attitudes towards Chinese food. Now, her son is promoting a concept that, while not strictly promising authenticity, is inspired by Chinese cuisine in its spirit and simplicity.
• P.F. Chang’s is on Level 1 at the World Trade Center Mall in Abu Dhabi. Call 02 612 0888
kramgopal@thenational.ae
