When his family came into possession of an empty two-storey commercial space near Philadelphia’s Chinatown that was previously a garage and storage space for a construction company, Wong, who used to work in construction and building design, jumped at the chance to open a restaurant.
Originally, he envisioned a place serving dishes with a modern take on Japanese cuisine, but going through the bureaucratic hoops of building codes took years and the Japanese chef that Wong hoped to work with ended up moving on to other things.
So Wong changed tack and decided the restaurant’s theme would be near and dear to his heart.
Far East Descendant’s decor is modelled after the film’s titular inn, a dimly lit space with a wooden front door and dark-stained timber planks on the ceiling, a bar with a dragon motif seared into the timber, and hanging red lanterns.
Upstairs, there is an outdoor rooftop dining space. It is decorated with weapons used in martial arts such as spears, swords and nunchucks.
“I thought it was cool for the restaurant to have that old martial arts feel,” says Wong, who did some of the interiors himself. “There is basically an inn and there was a restaurant, and the cook was skilled in martial arts [in the movie].”
Wong says the name Far East Descendant comes from the term descendants of the dragon, and its acronym, of course, is Fed.
Wong opened the restaurant in April 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic began spreading around the world. Not knowing how long it would last, Wong pressed on, and these days the restaurant has a mix of clientele, Asian and non-Asian, young and old.
Although Wong’s parents, who immigrated to the United States in the 1970s from Hong Kong, ran a Chinese-American takeaway, he wasn’t trained in cooking. However, he had a lot of ideas about what to put on the menu at Far East Descendant.
He mostly uses traditional Cantonese ingredients and techniques with a few innovations in flavouring and presentation.
The restaurant serves siu mei, or roast meats, including siu yuk, or crispy pork belly – but it’s seasoned with wah mui, salty plum powder, an ingredient that Wong loves.
“I dehydrate [wah mui] and put it into a spice grinder to turn it into a powder. I mix it with other spices and then we sprinkle it on the pork belly,” he says.
He also makes ginger spring onion powder by dehydrating ginger and spring onions, and what he called “phoenix powder”, using dehydrated and ground up chilli peppers. He has plans to package these spices into products for sale in the future.
Wong is also proud of developing his own char siu sauce, using beetroot to create the russet colour instead of a dye.
Not only does the restaurant make char siu from pork, but also beef. “Obviously pork is a staple for Chinese [people], but a lot of people in the US don’t eat pork for religious reasons, or they just don’t eat it.”
These meats are featured on Far East Descendants’ Beast Boards, a Cantonese version of a charcuterie plate; there also options for shrimp toast, sour plum flavoured duck, fried sticky rice with shrimp and lap cheong [Chinese sausage], along with the Five Venom Fries, and seasonal vegetables.
Other menu items include sandwiches made with mantou – steamed buns filled with chicken, pork belly or vegetables – and clay pot rice featuring sour plum duck thigh, pork belly, steak or char siu beef.
The cocktails are also Chinese inspired: one uses the fiery rice wine spirit baijiu mixed with mango, amaretto, fresh lime and orange; Hong Kong Yinyong has cold-brew coffee with milk tea and a splash of rum; and Kowloon Mule blends vodka, ginger syrup, salted plum flavour and fresh lemon.
The restaurant also carries Master Gao beers from Nanjing, and Young Master beers from Hong Kong.
Even though his parents worked really hard in their takeaway business and advised their two sons not to go into the restaurant industry, Wong says they are pleased he has opened a place like Far East Descendant, which appeals to Chinese-Americans who, like him, have watched Hong Kong movies or enjoy Cantonese food, and those who are interested in martial arts.
In the future, Wong has plans to organise tastings, and invite diners to have an immersive experience with themed menus like Hong Kong cinema and sampling food from movies, and food from cha chaan teng and dai pai dong.
“We try to tie in the ingredients, culture and food. It’s not easy. It’s an ongoing process,” Wong says.
Far East Descendant, 251 N Clarion St, Philadelphia, United States
