The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Simon Wu's Luxury Eastern Chinese Cuisine opened in Sunnyvale in December.

Wu caters to clients with mild-mannered palates

By Steve Enders

Simon Wu's Luxury Eastern Chinese cuisine has only been in existence for a month and a half, and it's banking on a quality Cantonese flavor to bring in customers.

Wu, a resident of South San Francisco, has 15 years of restaurant experience under his belt. He says he drives to Sunnyvale every day because he thinks this is where people want a restaurant like his.

The commute is "crazy," Wu says, but worth it.

"Here the people know what they like," he explains. "People will like to try it for the right price."

Someday, Wu says, he hopes to expand the size of the restaurant and his staff, which right now consists of only three people. Two staff members work in the kitchen, and Wu tends to customers.

"A smaller restaurant is easy to control," Wu says. "It's easy to take care of people."

He says that a majority of people looking for a Chinese restaurant are turned off by large, pricey restaurants. He also says the opposite is true--that people are turned off by a menu that's too inexpensive.

Luxury Eastern fits somewhere in the middle, Wu says.

He says his restaurant specializes in takeout lunch and dinner specials but has plenty of room for sit-down customers as well.

The food is light and not too spicy--different from Hunan-style Chinese food, which is strong and very spicy, Wu says.

Wu should know. He's lived in America for 15 years, moving here from Hong Kong, where he started working in restaurants when he was about 20 years old.

That experience, combined with his two-man chef staff who have 30 years of Chinese cooking between them, makes for a quality menu.

Also, Wu says, "We're one of the healthiest restaurants in town."

An $8.95 lunch special includes a spicy chicken salad, won-ton soup, stir-fried prawns with candied walnuts and barbecue pork-fried rice.

The menu is mostly separated into combination specials chosen by the chefs. Dim sum items can also be found on the menu at reasonable prices.

"I know the area and the neighbors," Wu says. "They want good regional Chinese food fast and hot."

Luxury Eastern Chinese Cuisine is at 1235 W. El Camino Real and is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, February 25, 1998.
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