By Sharon Challenger.
After we finished our meals at Po’s Rice & Spice restaurant, Higganum resident, Po Fong took time to speak to us about her business.
Po’s family decided to move from NYC to CT in the late 1970’s because they wanted a better life for their children. Her father worked for a friend, Mr. Shu at Wong’s Restaurant on Washington St. in Middletown, CT.
In time, her family opened their own restaurant in a plaza in East Hampton, CT. This is where Po trained and worked as a young girl. It is where she learned some of the best techniques from her father and the chefs there. They taught her which ingredient made a dish spectacular.
Her parents closed their restaurant after 26 years, but years later the town asked her to come back and open a restaurant. She had just had her first child, but after months of planning decided it was time “to bite the bullet.” She laughed saying, “Two days before Christmas! Who does that?”
She never thought she’d go into the business because she grew up with it. She didn’t get to join school sports because she always had to work. Eventually, she moved to NYC. Oddly enough however, she found herself returning home every weekend to work with her family.
Today she wishes she had professional teaching. Yet, her food speaks volumes, she did have “professional” training, and it was from a Master, her father.
Wanting to learn some of her skills, I asked about her Tom Kha (A Thai soup) flavors because I had never had any that was as flavorful. The ingredients she uses include chili bean paste, lemon grass, lime leaf, coconut milk and Thai ginger. The chili bean paste adds another depth to the flavors and gives the soup a light peach color.
Her Egg Drop soup technique is to “gently pour” the scrambled egg in a circle around the edge of the pot. The stove must be off, so the broth is not boiling. After you pour the egg in, you must let it set, and then gently stir the soup. She learned this technique from her father when she was young. She laughed as she recalled that if she tried to stir the soup too briskly, he’d gently tap her wrist and say, “You have to be patient.” Her father was a great Chef and made everything from scratch. She remarked, “he could make anything.”
Her father told her, “if you open a restaurant you have to make your own bases and sauces.” She begins with a base and adds a lot of ginger, scallion vinegar, hot oil, and chili peppers. The Duck dish I ordered came with a honey & ginger sauce. The Mongolian Beef comes with a Szechwan sauce, and the Peking pork chops have a sweet ginger and rice wine sauce.
Her staff is “like family” and has been with her a long time. The chefs do the cooking and she only steps “behind the line after 5:00 p.m. when it gets busy.” After work, they sit and dine together. Her mom is often at the restaurant, but in spring and summer, she stays home to care for her large garden.
Po and her family live in Higganum. During Covid, her husband Mark suggested that they deliver meals to Higganum (HES) and Middletown. This helped to keep the business going, and they continue to do the deliveries weekly.
Mark, recently opened The Overcomer Training Center, a place where “at risk” youth can wrestle, exercise and be mentored, in Middletown, CT. He is also a teacher and coach at Middletown High School where he has worked for 25 years.
Their son Zach attends Xavier and is 14. Her daughter Samantha is 8 and attends Burr Elementary in Higganum. Po refers to her son as her “Rice” and her daughter as her “Spice.”
I asked her if she cooks for her family when she is home and was surprised to hear that she only cooks Italian meals! She added that she loves cooking brunch when they have company.
She concluded, “If you are passionate about something, you can make it happen.”
Po’s Rice & Spice website: www.posriceandspice.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PosRiceandSpice
Overcomer Training Center: https://otcct.org/programs
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Overcomer-Training-Center-CT-108803887922999
Photographs by David Challenger.
