If you're a frequent customer of Chon Saan restaurant, you probably know their phone number by heart. Or maybe you can order through the app with your eyes closed. And that also means you're one of the patrons that have helped keep the restaurant open and operating for half a century.
This past Sunday, one of Belize City's favorite eateries celebrated its 50th anniversary. And over the past decades, Chon Saan Palace has adapted to keep up with its customer base.
Courtney Menzies spoke with the owner, Lee Mark Chang today, before our news team enjoyed a decadent spread of Chon Saan's finest meals. Here is that story.
Chon Saan Palace is a cornerstone of Belize City's Chinese cuisine scene. Located on Kelly Street, it's one of the only places to get take out, dine in and delivery from lunch until late night. And for the past 50 years, it's been serving the residents of the city, day in and day out, through disasters and pandemics and technological advances.
But the owner, Lee Mark Chang, says it's a few simple ingredients that keep Chon Saan at the top:
Lee Mark Chang, Owner, Chon Saan Palace "Hard work and determination. Make sure your kitchen serves only the freshest of foods, cook to order, and the customer is always satisfied."
And that latter part has dictated Chon Saan's menu - Chinese food but with a Belizean twist.
Lee Mark Chang, Owner, Chon Saan Palace
"I believe it is the Belizean culture that has shaped Chon Saan because we have adapted to their palate, their taste, the veggies available in Belize. I would say 95, maybe 97 percent of our meats and vegetables are locally produced so it is Belizeans that have shaped Chon Saan."
"A good example is the chow mien. You don't find chow mien anywhere in this world as far as I'm concerned like the Belizean style chow mien where cabbage, carrots, celery are in it. It's not common, at least as far as I know, because in the States chow mien is made up of only Bak Choy and whatever meats you order and as far as I can recall there's no noodles involved in chow mien in the States."
"But also for example, we generate our own style of cooking like for example, we have the salt and pepper whole fish, where we would fillet the entire fish, de-bone it and then fry the entire fish and then present it also so you could have the bone separate or you could have only meat separate, we use roast pork a lot, a lot of pork shoulder, pork neck, tenderloin steak, beef steak, chicken."
And today, our news team got a taste of that fusion with an eight course meal, chosen and cooked by Chang himself.
Lee Mark Chang, Owner, Chon Saan Palace
"I think we have the salt pepper fish, we have the Singapore chow mien, I made a pan friend tenderloin steak once Jules arrives, that's his favorite, I think we're doing a sweet and sour chicken Chinese style, the sweet and sour jumbo shrimp, we did vegetables also and the vegetables are with garlic, it's an 8 course meal prepared for you guys today."
And it's not just the food that keeps people coming back - but also the restaurant's ability to adapt.
Lee Mark Chang, Owner, Chon Saan Palace
"If you don't adapt to your customer palate or demands, you will fail. You have to adapt to the time so COVID was bad but you have to adapt to the signs of the time and the customer is always right. If the customer has a complain, we either refund, exchange, or cook it the way you like."
And for the past couple of years, customers have been able to use the app to order.
Lee Mark Chang, Owner, Chon Saan Palace
"The app is still growing and there's still many tweaks that we need to fix as we go along. A lot of people love to use it and I encourage them to use it because you don't need to call in and always repeating the same address over and over and sometimes it gets to noisy in here that the person answering the phone have to "huh" and "hee," you might get one number wrong."
So while Chon Saan has come a long way, what does the future look like? Chang says it might soon not include him:
Lee Mark Chang, Owner, Chon Saan Palace
"As I mentioned before, my oldest son Marco has returned to come give me a hand, he is right now on a five year apprenticeship program between myself and him we have agreed to a five year apprenticeship program and if he passes that and passes the five years and is able to take control of the restaurant then I will let go."
Courtney Menzies:
"How hard is it for you to back away and let somebody else run the ship?"
Lee Mark Chang, Owner, Chon Saan Palace
"It's very easy. After doing this for 30 years I'm very tired. The long hours, the toll on my family, my kids, it's very exhausting, at 50 years old, I'm pretty much 60% white already. So it is a toll and sometimes when I'm at home, I just want to relax. I think 17+ years is more than enough already."
But no matter what, Chon Saan's main objective will always stay the same:
Lee Mark Chang, Owner, Chon Saan Palace
"I just hope that they enjoy Chon Saan food and keep on coming back."
And just in case we created any doubt, Dit's on King Street is the oldest restaurant in the city. The classic Belizean eatery on King Street - famous for its pastries - was opened in 1953 by the Craig family.
