By Jullie Y. Daza In the innocent but now olden days of my childhood, a Chinese restaurant meant a noisy place to eat in Chinatown that went by the name of “panciteria.” According to legend, the word was a derivative of pancit, or noodles cooked in the Cantonese style, that way being the only way taught by the cooks who came from Canton and passed on their techniques and secrets, if any, to their Filipino apprentices. (In those days, the word chef had not been invented, not in Chinatown anyway, and chef, if it was uttered at all, applied to French cooks only.) Decades and generations later, a Chinese restaurant today can be as snobbish as a jade bowl and a pair of ivory chopsticks tipped with silver. Rightly so, the chefs – yes, chefs – imported from Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and elsewhere – command astronomical salaries as high as those of their European counterparts. Accordingly, their menus are as classy and high-born as the five-star hotels housing them can afford to charge. At the City of Dreams complex, Asian restaurants occupy prime space, the queen of them all being the Crystal Dragon, an intimate, luxurious chamber done in gold and black, a combination that suggests mystery spiced with a touch of royalty, Chinese style. Crystal Dragon’s dishes are creations of Chef Chan Choo Kean, who is as much a classicist as he is a modernist, a true artist who uses his ingredients as a painter uses colors to express his art. When Peter and Elena Coyiuto decided one fine day to try Crystal Dragon after “hearing about it from friends,” Charisse Chuidian, City of Dreams VP for public relations, could do no less than ask Chef Chan for help. Peter and Elena wanted a taste of seafood, and so it was, seafood right down the chef’s alley: cod fish, scallops, prawn, crabmeat. Quite a catch it was, just right for a lunch from which getting back to the office was a call to duty that could not be ignored, alas. Still, there was time to sip tea and, afterward, take pictures. Crystal Dragon is photogenic for its delightful, charmingly innovative cuisine as much as its unique, imperial personality.