Tara, Angkong!

(Angkong Dimsum House’s steamed siomai and fried dumplings. (Photo from Arkitek M. Dayrit’s Facebook account)

FROM artsy interior designs to unique menus, fun and innovative ideas would help a businessman keep pace with the growing competition in the food industry, but who would have thought that a small dim sum place near Dapitan Street would change the game?

Angkong Dimsum House that serves siomai and dumplings is currently taking the UST food scene by storm.

An initial peek at the dimsum place’s humble setting will not make you think it's the Angkong everyone has been buzzing about online.

Starting off as a small enterprise in January 2015, Angkong developed into a paradise for students of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) who are looking for affordable but quality food.

“You can really taste the salty yet savory flavor that their dimsum dishes have. Unlike most dimsum houses, Angkong is able to serve dumplings and siomais that do not have that overpowering taste of flour in their products,” Zea Peñascosa, a third year Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) student in UST, said in an online interview with Dapitan Post.

“Angkong has that kind of dim sum that gives you an authentic flavor that doesn’t taste like a lot of fillers and tastes like the real thing. It gives off that fresh taste of freshly handmade dim sum,” O’neal Guzman, a fourth year Behavioral Science student in UST, told the Dapitan Post.

Vilma Medios, the owner of Angkong, expressed her gratitude on the growing popularity of her business in a span of only two years.

“Masaya talaga kasi hindi namin akalain na mabilis dumami si Angkong. […] Dati, halos ‘di kami pinapansin, dinadaan-daanan lang kami,” she told Dapitan Post.

With its sudden rise to fame, Angkong’s employees became insufficient as the number of customers who visit for a siomai or dumpling meal tripled.

“Nagumpisa ako sa isang tao, hanggang dalawang tao, ngayon […] sampu,” Medios said.

After putting up a branch in Padre Noval recently, Angkong’s plans on expanding its reach to España are now closer to reality.

“Siguro along España, basta kung alin ‘yung may estudyante kasi market namin [ay] students talaga,” Medios said.

Even if their in demand products have been tried and tested, the business will not limit its menu to the siomai and dumplings students love.

“Ngayon kasi, wala yung [spare]ribs, ibabalik namin ‘yan […] saka Yang chow,” she said.

With its growth in only a short period of time, it is not impossible for Angkong to develop and reach even greater heights in the following years to come--capturing the hearts not just of students, but also of the entire nation.

Now you know why you always hear hungry Thomasians say: “Tara, Angkong!” J. Valencia and F.G. Viernes