A Culinary Concerto

By Jun Wang

Concerto Fusion Cuisine

Location: 2 S. Delmorr Ave. Morrisville, PA 19067
Phone: 215-428-2899
Offers: Dine-in, Full Cocktail Bar, Party Room, Gourmet Sushi Bar
Cuisine: Euro-Asian Fusion Cuisine
Signature Dishes: Thai Salsa Beef, Vegetarian Treasure, and Aromatic Duck Salad
Capacity: 120
Year of Establishment: 2006

Man Wong, owner of Concerto Fusion Cuisine is a classically trained chef from Hong Kong who has traveled around the world trying the best of ethnic cuisines in an effort to find new inspirations. Years of experience being a chef, and then a Broadway actor have endowed him with profound insight into the restaurant industry. One day he envisioned it was time to do something completely new—start a culinary revolution.

“In America, Chinese cuisine has been long maligned as being greasy and unhealthy, I want to dispel customer doubts, and let them know that the culinary revolution in our kitchen has allowed us to attain an even higher standard,” says Wong.

The revolution starts from the menu design. Deeply rooted in the flavors of a number of Asian influences, including Chinese, Japanese and Thai, the menu offers Euro-Asian fusion cuisine with a special emphasis on traditional cooking that is done in a modern and innovative way. It is a style of food that is originally rooted in regional cooking that has now been modernized through combining the best of Asian cuisine and European style.

The main focus of the revolution is to provide healthy cuisine made using only locally grown and fresh ingredients. Even the sauce making process is much more delicate and complicated. In fact, it’s completely different than other Asian restaurants. One example is the Hawaii style Mahi-Mahi sauce. It consists of fresh fruit juice and exotic seasonings imported from Switzerland that are then condensed. The result is a delectable concoction of all natural ingredients, free of MSG, sodium, cornstarch and trans fat.

“We focus on dishes that not only look beautiful from the outside, but also cater to our body’s needs,” Mr. Wong states, “We go back to natural and organic ingredients, because they make a perfect match without overburdening our body. They are all easy to digest. ”

The signature dishes include the Vegetarian Treasure ($16), Thai Salsa Beef, and Aromatic Duck. According to Wong, home style dishes can be transformed into the culinary treasures you see served at five-star restaurants. He does this by insisting on choosing the finest and freshest organic ingredients that Morrisville has to offer. The Vegetarian Treasure, this seemingly standard dish consists of garden fresh vegetables with rich colors and multi-layered tastes. Your taste buds well celebrate when they taste the fresh water chestnut, asparagus, luffa melon, fresh lily bulb, shiitake, abalone & enoki golden mushrooms which are all supplied from local farms. The fresh produce gives the dish a somewhat pure, natural and sweet kick, but that’s not all. It is then infused with chicken consommé creating a scrumptious dish that balances natural taste with nutrition.

“Chinese cuisine is great; restaurants tended to use salt, sugar, or MSG to enhance the flavor. Now it has completely changed and a lot of organic produce is available. We have eschewed tradition and instead cook in a more modernized way,” says Wong. 

However, Wong is not content with this; he did further research in an effort to seek out the root causes of why Chinese cuisine isn’t as well received as French or Italian cuisine. The cultural discrepancy has resulted in a divergence of culinary concepts. To get closer to customers, Wong throws out old cultural roadblocks, trying to demonstrate its identity through using bundles of American spices and seasonings, such as butter, rosemary and chives.

“Chinese cuisine is like a ‘second language’ for customers, and we cater to their needs and make them feel comfortable by using ingredients that they are familiar with,” explains Wong.

Wong also extends this philosophy of “throwing out cultural context” to the interior design of the restaurant.

“I want to create a dining experience similar to going to a world-class concert at the Lincoln Center in Manhattan. All the patrons have to do is just enjoy the ambiance, the food and our attentive service,” says Wong. 

Tucked away in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, Concerto Fusion Cuisine is a stylish contemporary establishment that combines healthy dishes, with great taste, and artful interior design. Wong has worked hard to design and create an enticing and comfortable environment that is devoid of tired traditional decorations, and instead has molded it into a restaurant without any cultural barriers or international boundaries. It focuses on pleasing all the senses—especially sight, hearing, and taste.  

“We created the décor to help stimulate our guests; when they first come in it gives them a gentle nudge, starting them on a journey of thought where they can really start to open up their imaginations. But we don’t limit the experience or try to control it in any way. We want customers to feel free and invigorated,” says Mr. Wong.

Vogue and chic are the only two words that can accurately describe this avant-garde restaurant. Combining a soothing indoor waterfall and an enchanting koi pond, the restaurant has a lively and vibrant atmosphere. Guests will also enjoy the soothing music that flawlessly complements the already laid-back vibe. The restaurant seats 120 people, including a private party room that holds 25 people (perfect for business meetings, small gatherings or conferences).

Elegant Dining
The French concept of “elegant dining at a slow pace” is also one of the revolutionary notions that Mr. Wong has strived to instill in the mind of customers. The reverence for time spent eating is evident in French cuisine, and it makes the long and complex preparation process worthwhile. Steak plays an important part of Western cuisine. Concerto Fusion Cuisine has its own version of steak drizzled with special sauce that pours even more delicious flavors into this hard-to-prepare dish. First, extract the juice from fresh carrots, celery, rosemary, and chives. Then combine the beef broth and wine before finally concentrating the consommé and brining it to a boil. This method creates a wonderful taste that brings together the fruity hint of juices, mellow of wine and also the rich beef broth.

Preparing steak is not an easy job to do. The steak is presented after a bevy of appetizers, accompanied by savory wines and lively discussion. You might think that customers would be able to wait for the entrees. But, even with the great environment and service at Concerto, the main attraction is the food. Patience pays off at this restaurant as diners are treated to steak that is juicy, succulent, and so tender that it almost melts before it hits your tongue.

Keeping Up with Trends
The chefs at Concerto Fusion Cuisine are all masters of their own culinary realms. To keep the chefs' inspired, Wong invites experts and advisory consultants to the restaurant to sit down with the staff and discuss what is going on in the industry. This occasional training enables the chefs to come up with astounding innovations that they might not have considered preparing before.

Concerto is adept at turning ordinary dishes extraordinary. Even simple offerings like Sesame Chicken, General Tso's Chicken, and Broccoli with Chicken have been enhanced, turning comfort food into flavorful culinary renditions that delight even the most finicky foodies. They are an interplay of flavors mixed together, creating a multi-layered sort of culinary expression infused with vivid colors and vibrant textures.

Wong was once a Broadway actor, someone used to performing in front of a crowd. This experience has endowed him with excellent aesthetic taste and a unique understanding of how to effectively run a restaurant. To him, running a restaurant is like performing a Broadway musical. It takes months or even years to prepare. But through hard work, and sheer determination, the show is finally finished. Then it astounds those attending its premier; the skilled acting and enchanting story dazzle the jaded thespians in the audience—turning frowns to smiles and resulting in a thunderous standing ovation at the end of the show.

“All the hard work has paid off; no feeling can be compared to that feeling I get when my restaurant receives recognition. My goal is to astound all my customers,” explains Wong. 
 
Awarded “Best Find” by Philadelphia Enquirer,” Bucks Best Restaurant” by Bucks Magazine, and also “Land Mark Towns of Bucks County: Business Excellence Award-2009”, Concerto Fusion Cuisine has set a new standard for the Morrisville dining scene.

Message from the Owner:

I want to start a culinary revolution, a revolution that will inspire foodies and chefs everywhere while also improving the image of Chinese cuisine. When people talk about Chinese cuisine, I want them to be enamored with it and its possibilities.