Golden Rincon Restaurant serving up best Chinese foods in Moruca

By Alva Solomon

It has been the talk of Moruca, Region One (Barima-Waini) since the start of the year. In fact, since December last year, the name Golden Rincon Restaurant has been at the centre of most food conversations in the North West District sub-region of Moruca.
The destination of fine Chinese cuisine is the brainchild of brothers Lanzer and Mario Fernandes, and according to the young proprietors, it has been a dream which was finally realized in December 2022.

A serving of Chinese Chicken Chowmein available at Golden Rincon Restaurant and Bakery at Moruca

Started on Regent Street
Lanzer Fernandes told Guyana Times that he and his sibling were born and raised in Albouystown, Georgetown, and from as early as age four, he wanted to learn how to cook Chinese food.
Fernandes’s mother hails from Moruca, and he noted that, some 15 years ago, she moved the family back to that area. “My mom is from here, so she’s the reason we moved to Moruca,” he said.
Lanzer related that he had to find employment, and in 2011, he found what he was looking for: a job at a Chinese restaurant. He was elated when he received a call from the popular Seiko Restaurant, then based at the corner of Regent and Oronoque Streets, Georgetown. He said he and his brother worked at that restaurant, and from there they moved to three other Chinese restaurants in the city.
“Our desire was not merely for the salary, but learning how to prepare good food. We worked until we learned all the ins and outs of Chinese cooking, and developed our own techniques,” Fernandes said.
In 2018, the boys’ mother encouraged them to go home to Moruca, and cook and sell food at the village of Rincon, which sits within walking distance of the busy Kumaka Waterfront. The brothers took their mother’s advice.

Customers enjoying their meal at the open-air restaurant at Rincon, Moruca.

“We bought some utensils and a few Chinese ingredients and came back to Moruca with nine thousand dollars in our name,” Lanzer related. He added, “That’s all the capital we had to start the business.”

Constant improvement
“The first day, we sold six boxes of fried rice, and it kept improving from there,” Lanzer said, noting that from that day it was always a hustle. He said initially they hadn’t a location “in which we could distribute our food.”

Lanzer Fernandes showcasing a Chinese-styled meal which he and his brother learnt to cook while working at the popular Asian restaurants in the city

He said they walked and sold their food from wood-handled market bags. He said they undertook the exercise from August 2018 until December 2022.
“We walked every day and did our sales on the road through rain and sun, never missing a day,” Lanzer said as he beamed with pride. “We saw that everyone who bought food from us always wanted somewhere to sit and eat, but there was no place available, so we decided to do something about it,” he noted.
In December 2022, the brothers built a place for their customers to sit and eat at Rincon. They had to find a name for the building, and decided to go with “Golden Rincon Restaurant and Bakery”.

What’s on the menu?
He said the restaurant serves only Chinese dishes, no creole food. Among the dishes are chicken fried rice, mixed fried rice, pork fried rice, chowmein with various meats, sweet and sour chicken, and spicy pepper wings, among other dishes.
Fernandes said the business also does catering for weddings and other special events. In addition, they sell cakes and pastries and pizza – the latter being a favourite of their growing customer base.
Fernandes said the plan was then, and still is now, to give people value for their money. “To provide good quality food at an affordable price, that leaves the customers satisfied,” he added. Fernandes said he often refers to his favourite quote, by Henry Ford, which reads, “Produce the best quality goods at the lowest cost possible.”