THE vision of a restaurant that could offer a fusion of flavours yet still feel like something from a mother’s kitchen was birthed many years ago. But it was only until seven years ago, in 2012, that Keisha Chung and her husband were able to make this a reality.

“The vision really started since we were young, with our single mother,” Chung, who is the restaurant’s owner, shared. “She cooked basically everything and ensured that all seven of her children learned to cook.”

Their mother ensured that she passed all of her skills in the kitchen to her children, but of the seven hopeful maestros, Keisha proved to be the one that could not cook. As such, she became the dedicated “wares-washer”. As fate would have it, however, this wares washer pursued management studies and alongside her husband, bought the place and just made the vision a reality.

And so, Xie Xie, which translates to ‘Thank You’ in Chinese, opened at the corner of Barr and Alexander Streets in Kitty.

“It’s been an exciting journey for us because I think in the beginning and even now what we have tried to do is really infuse a variety of different foods and cultures into our own restaurant industry,” Keisha related.

The game plan at Xie Xie is that just like clothes and fashion, food evolves and food has trends of its own. And to stay ‘trendy’, Keisha and her crew ensure that the menu and the aesthetic change from time to time, in response to what market research shows the food trends are.

And when it comes to the food, there is absolutely no shortage of variety with the in-house chef- Keisha’s sister and current manager, Alicia Browne.

Keisha related that Browne remigrated to Guyana when their mother passed away in 2016 and took over the reins of the business. Alicia, unlike Keisha, garnered some of her culinary prowess from their mother. The remainder of her culinary skills was gathered through her many years of work with a US consultancy that travelled to various countries around the globe opening restaurants.

“She is such a genius of a chef and I always have to say that I feel like my sister doesn’t get the traffic at Xie Xie for being such a great chef,” Keisha opined while noting that the current menu is really reflective of Alicia and her skills gathered over the years,

But even with the maestro in the kitchen, some things haven’t strayed far from what they learnt at their mother’s knee.

The Mac N Cheese, for example, is made from their mother’s special recipe. And before you even think about Mac N Cheese being just a simple side, mom’s recipe really does give the gooey, cheesy dish an extra kick.

This is the same with quite a few other menu items, according to Keisha. “Lots of the sides and the blends come from the Guyanese and the local background, blended with what we would have gone out and learned from other countries and places,” she said.

The reason for this, according to the woman, is that while you want to bring different foods from different cultures, you also need to find ways to tantalise the local taste buds with foods that are familiar. You just can’t go into a food business and bring a whole menu that people can’t relate to in some way, Keisha said. Really, why wouldn’t you try an Asian Shrimp bowl if you can get it with cassava chips as an appetizer?

Even as much as Xie Xie tries to keep some of the food local, the aim is to provide an option for persons to try the foods that they might not usually have. This, however, is not an easy task.

“I think sometimes we, here in Guyana, are still only stuck on the fried rice and chicken, and curry and dhal puri, which is not an issue because I could eat curry seven days a week but in this kind of business, you want to have an open mind and be able to experience certain kinds of food,” Keisha said.

What she hopes to see, not just at Xie Xie, but with other local restaurants, is that people try to taste different foods from time to time. Furthermore, she explained that restaurants do have to find different niches to fit into to remain appealing and relevant, but also competitive.

In this vein, she also stressed that no restaurant owner or team comes out deliberately trying to mess up a customer’s day or food.

For her, instead of going to bash local restaurants on social media for a bad experience you might have had, the first step you should take is to bring it to management’s attention and try to get the matter resolved.

“I have a hardworking team; some of the girls are single mothers and sometimes them girls would bring their children here and they sit at the back and do their homework while they work in the kitchen. When you discourage people from here or any restaurant for that matter, you are affecting those little people,” she stressed. “Hold restaurants accountable so that we keep the standards very high, but at the same time, use as many measures as possible if you have any issues in house.” To this note, Chung added that the team of any business works extra hard to ensure that customers have the best experience.