Asian Steaming: Soups In (2/3)

Many Asian restaurants, especially Chinese restaurants, offer a daily soup menu in “Soup of the Day” as an effective way to innovate the menu, and to lure more lunch traffic. A seasoned Asian chef would take the one or two customer-tested-and-approved soup base or a popular flavor broth, and add different ingredients to easily create a variety of soup items. Chef Wong from the Hunan House (S.F., CA) used his signature hot and sour soup, kept the soup broth, replaced the tofu with house-made shrimp wontons, added freshly chopped celery and assorted vegetable chunks. He then served the soup with a side dish of a variety of noodles by the customer’s choice. There he effortlessly created another house specialty as a main dish: Hot & Sour Noodle Soup Specials. The bowl became an instant best seller, not only in the winter, but also throughout the year. Taking the same approach, Chef Wong tried on the chicken wonton soup, replaced the wonton with a selected combination of vegetable chunks, and served the soup with a side dish of sliced chicken breast or pork short ribs. The kitchen staff loved the chef’s new recipes so much because they did not cause any fuss in preparation and cooking. In fact, the cooks welcomed the new menu items since the soup bowls are easy to assembly for fast kitchen production. Soups Provide Flexibility For Menu Planning A soup can be served as a course or as a meal by itself. Hot & Sour Soup and dumplings can be paired up to be a perfect winter meal. A whole meal out of soup and dumplings can make great takeout options to feature your restaurant’s winter menu. A Thai spicy shrimp rice soup, A Vietnamese Pho with meatballs or shrimp and noodles, or a Korean Man Du Gook (dumplings with green onion and egg soup) is all by itself a splendid soup meal to warm up the cold-beaten souls of your diners. Soups Give Nutritious & Healthy Messages To Attract Customers! The hot and sour soup is found a better remedy than plain chicken soup for opening the sinuses if you suffer from a bitter flu. A Japanese Miso Soup with Udon Noodles is very flavorful and offers a satisfying texture than ramen noodles. The miso soup broth can have two variations. Creamy fresh white miso makes this soup full-bodied, while seasoned red miso intensifies its rich flavors. The savory flavors bring you what the Japanese call umami - that ultimately delicious state when complex flavors attain perfection! In Japan, miso is valued for its energizing qualities, and miso soup is the perfect soy food to energize your day. The Korean Kitchen (Fremont, Calif.) features eleven soups and stews on its lunch menu, and four entrees of casseroles (hot pot dinner) on its family dinner menu. Priced $6.95 - $8.95 per soup meal, all of the lunch soups in the Korean Kitchen come in a big bowl, and are served with a small bowl of steamed white rice and plenty of side dishes of pickles and kimchi. Outside the restaurant, on its large glass windows, big color posters of tempting Korean hot pots and steaming pots of spicy tofu soups attracted steady following of diners from the surrounding business parks. Hot & Steaming Business Soups business is getting more steams, “hot” as in profitable. The success of Vietnamese Pho is exemplary. Noodles & Co., Big Bowls, Mama Foo’s, and other Asian noodle chains that are based on the soups concept have enjoyed steady growth in business.