A restaurant run by Kolkata-born Chinese couple has been named number three in the top 100 restaurants of Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in Canada.
Talking to DNA, 42-year-old owner of the restaurant Amy Liao who hails from Kolkata's China Town said that they had managed to bring a piece of Tangra-type Chinese food to that part of Canada and popularising it.
"When I arrived here in 1997 with my husband, we had to struggle a lot, putting in a lot of physical labour. There was no weekend for us. Slowly, we made the kind of Chinese food that is popular in Kolkata," Amy said.
Talking about the competition she said that it was conducted by a popular magazine and she didn't even participated in it. "They themselves our restaurant and rated it as number three among 100 restaurants where you can dine under under $50. I was thrilled when the name of our restaurant was out in the June issue of the magazine," Amy said.
While there is a cutthroat competition among restaurants and many have been pushed out of business, this couple of Indian Chinese origin had started off with one restaurant in 1999 and now they own three restaurants. They attribute its success to their stay in Kolkata. "There are many people here from India who love the 'Indianised' Chinese dishes. Many ask me how is our Hakka Chinese food so different from other Chinese food?" said Malcolm Kuo Yin Hsieh, Amy's husband. He said that Faley Gan Ben crispy beef, and pepper shrimp are especially popular among the customers.
"Indians love it when we talk to them in Hindi or play Hindi songs and films at the restaurant. They immediately find a connect. Malcolm loves to talk and sometimes people come just to talk to him," Amy added
Asked if they miss Kolkata, she said, "Of course we do. Not only do we miss all the festivals such as Durga Puja, Holi and Eid but we also miss the empty streets on a 'bandh' day and we used to have a 'no school' day. We go there once in two or three years. I have been living here for many years but I have tried to inculcate the values of India in our four children. You can take an Indian out of India but you can never take India out of an Indian."
