March 15, 2007 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Online Editor Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or Winner of One |
Local retaurateurs survived Cambodian holocaust
For most restaurant owners, the 24/7 grind of the business — the relentless details, the non-existent personal life, the vacations and hobbies that have to be forsaken and the countless other sacrifices — may be a dystopian burden that can never be repaid by mere money. But compared to what they experienced during the Cambodian holocaust of the 1970s, Kim and Huoy Ngov smile in their restaurant, Jasmine Asian Bistro in Glenside, as if they are on a permanent vacation, so happy are they to be able to operate their own restaurant without fear of intimidation, persecution, government theft, arrest, torture or worse. “My children were pushing me to retire,” explained Kim, 55, “but I just couldn’t. What would I do if I retired? I have to be working; I am still young, and I really do love the business. I could be back in the kitchen cooking, but I love being out here (in the dining room), seeing old customers from our Flourtown restaurant (Szechuan Rose Garden in the Genuardi’s Shopping Center, which is now run by a brother).”
No doubt one reason for Kim’s unvarnished enthusiasm is that there was a time when he had reason to believe he would not be allowed to live much longer, much less be allowed to operate a restaurant again. His father, a native of Shanghai, had moved the family to Cambodia (before Kim was born), where he opened a restaurant. Kim and his four brothers all grew up working in the restaurant. In the early 1970s, however, the Khmer Rouge (Cambodian Communists, led by the murderous dictator, Pol Pot) took over the country from the benign rule of Prince Norodin Sihanouk. Through a campaign of widespread brutality morphing into mass murder, similar to the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s but even more violent, they purged the country of all vestiges of Western influence, higher education and private enterprise. Those who were not killed or imprisoned were stripped of everything they owned. In all, possibly a third or more of the nation’s population of about six million were murdered.
“My family was actually very lucky,” stated Kim. “Some local commanders (installed by the Khmer Rouge) were not as brutal as others, and the one in charge of our county was actually a reasonable person. They closed down our restaurant because it was an example of capitalism, and we were forced to work on a farm (around the clock). We had to turn over everything we grew to the Khmer Rouge, and in turn they gave us a little bit of rice. It was not much, and we were always hungry, but at least they allowed us to live, and my family all survived. My wife’s family, on the other hand (who lived in another part of the country) ... ” (At this point, Kim moved his head from side to side and crossed and uncrossed his hands, indicating that his wife’s family members were all killed.) Eventually the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia and dislodged the Khmer Rouge from power. During the chaos, Kim and Huoy, who is now 56, escaped from their village at nighttime in 1980 and walked/ran separately through rural and forested areas with no belongings until they eventually crossed over the border into Thailand, where they were put into a refugee camp operated by the Red Cross. The couple was at the camp for two years. Kim worked at the camp post office and was paid nothing, but the work did help him learn English. Eventually, he and Huoy and their first daughter, Zorn, who was born in the camp, were sponsored by the National Council of Churches and allowed to come to the U.S. in 1982.
For six years Kim worked at Szechuan Royal, a Chinese restaurant in Penn Valley. Then, like so many other refugees before him who started businesses, he pooled his savings and opened his own restaurant, Szechuan Rose Garden, in the Flourtown Shopping Center in 1988. Kim, who lives with Huoy in Flourtown, also opened a second restaurant in Richboro, Bucks County, in 1993, which is now run by a brother. (All four brothers now live in the Philadelphia area, and all four are in the restaurant business.) In 1995 they opened Szechuan Mandarin in Elkins Park Square, a shopping center, which they closed last November because “the shopping center was so quiet at night.” Shortly thereafter, the Ngovs found the Glenside location and decided to open Jasmine Asian Bistro, despite the protestations of their daughters, because “this is an up-and-coming area, and because we thought a lot of our old regular customers in Flourtown would find us here, and they have. We have people coming in that we haven’t seen in 10 or 15 years; they say, ‘Do you remember me?’ which makes us so happy because they are like members of our family. We have old customers coming here from as far away as New Jersey!” The couple’s daughters — Zorn, 26, a graduate of Drexel University; Lisa, 24, and Leena, 22, both graduates of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School — all chose not to go into the family business. Our first visit to Jasmine Asian Bistro was in late February to experience their eight-course Chinese New Year’s Banquet, which was an almost unbelievable bargain. The eight-course feast was $24.95 per person, and the restaurant is BYOB! The approximately 80 seats were virtually all occupied by 8 p.m. During our return visit last Friday night, the tables were again all taken by about 8 p.m. When nearby customers saw us taking notes and photos, they began telling us how much they loved the food — and the owners — at Jasmine Asian Bistro. An editor at the Local who lives just a few blocks from the restaurant also commented earlier in the week that he regularly gets takeout from Jasmine. “When you have a two-year-old child,” he said, “you really can’t eat much in restaurants, but we have been very satisfied with the food and the prices at Jasmine.” The prices at Jasmine compare favorably with those of other traditional Chinese restaurants in the area. We loved the hot and sour soup, which was chockablock with slivers of beef and pork ($1.75), the pu pu platter, which has two each of a half-dozen different items for just $9.95 (it is literally a meal in itself), and the aesthetically presented “Lovely Couple,” a very healthy portion of jumbo shrimp and tilapia lightly breaded in a spicy mango sauce ($17.95). There are 35 luncheon specials daily, priced from $4.75 to $6.45, which all come with either pork fried rice or steamed rice. There are also dozens of vegetarian options, many of which have wheat, soybean or flour gluten imitation versions of chicken, beef, duck and pork. Jasmine is beautifully appointed, with comfortable booths, colorful artwork from Asian nations, a waterfall with its liquid meandering over small stones, and near the entrance, a huge, stunning wood sculpture (probably teakwood) carved from a single root into figurines of sea life such as turtles and crabs. The restaurant is at 138 S. Easton Rd., just a few doors past Waverly Road (on the left) and less than a minute drive past Produce Junction. Jasmine is open seven days a week for lunch, dinner and takeout. For more information, call 215-885-4333. |
