New Hong kong Cafe - Banawe St. Quezon City

A lot of new restaurants are opening and closing in the Banawe area, and having a sign with bright lights does really get our attention so we decided to try this place. Place was... you can say empty....only two tables occupied.... not a good sign... anyhoo.. we ordered and crossed our fingers with what we are about to partake...

Chicken Baked Rice

Elle: Hmm… I have to think of how to describe this one. It’s forgettable. Sure it was cheesy, it had to be! The rice was hard…it tasted like it was cooked three days before it was served. The mixed veggies included in the rice were also tough especially the peas! I had to go through the strands of cheese to be able to taste the chicken. The chicken itself was bland and I was expecting a tastier chicken to contrast the cheesiness of the dish. I was very disappointed L

Cody: I first got to taste baked rice in Hong Kong.. then here in the Philippines.. got to try it in Mr. Choi at Robinsons Galleria.. So, we ordered and.. we ate.. and I was disappointed.. it was tasteless.. the rice was dry.. the cheese was scarce.

Fried chicken

Elle: Again…the rice! Serving size was good and I actually liked the gravy although it was a bit too buttery for me. They added 5-spice to the chicken batter and I actually liked it. 5 spice has this strange likeable taste that I look for.

Cody: Dont be deceived with pictures... I think the problem with our restaurant indutry here is the quality tends to suck.. I would serve an egg looking like this, unless the customer will request for it.. The chicken did taste good, and the skin was fried to the perfect crisp. The sauce was not good, the rice was again dry and hard.

Hong Kong Milk Tea:-

Elle: Again…bland. Milk tea should give you that comforting feeling after the first sip and I didn’t get it from this one. It was not as tasty as the other milk teas I have tried.

Cody: I like that they serve it this way, you know that it is made fresh and not powdered form. But it lack in taste also...

Oh well... we are guessing this place will soon fold up unless they change a lot of kinks in their food and system..

Wan Chai Tea House - Benavidez St, Manila

Wan Chai started as restaurant in the Binondo area that serves dimsum and ala carte items hot and fast. Later on, it had opened branches in different cities around the Metro. We have always loved going to the original branch in Binondo. And here is our food trip
It tends to get crowded during weekends so be prepared to wait for a seat..

Chicken feet
Elle: The chicken feet were large! Glad to not have been served just “chicken bones with skin”. It was spicy and slightly different in taste form your average chicken feet.
Cody: now this is chicken feet, unlike some restaurants that would serve under nourish feet, this was good…
Soup
Elle: I really liked this soup. It was clear and refreshing but still very tasty. There was a good amount of chicken, vegetables and other ingredients.
Cody: no MSG detected… the soup captures the essence of the chicken… Huge quantity of ingredients also.. very filling even if it was not cream based.

Fried rice
Elle: Comfort food!! Yumyum! it had lots of shrimp and was not too tasty which makes it go well with other viands.
Cody: If a Chinese restaurant in Binondo cant cook good fried rice, they should close… this one does it well, delicious, has lots of “sahog”.
Crispy Fried Chicken w kropeck
Elle: The meat was soft and the skin was crispy.
Cody: Tender, juicy with crispy skin, no complaints here.
Vegetables with century egg
Elle: I LOVE century egg! This one had large chunks of century egg and soft veggies. Perfect combination!
Cody: The gravy went well with the veggies and eggs. Veggies were cooked just right, bright colors! i also love the whole roasted garlic.. sweet
Shrimp cake
Elle: Now this is what shrimp cake should be! It was loaded with shrimp! The cake was soft but the edges were golden brown and crispy. Even without the sweet and sour sauce the cakes were scrumptious!
Cody: My fave Wan Chai dish.. u can taste the shrimp here and not flour unlike other restaurants.. crispy exterior.. perfect to pair it with sweet and sour sauce.

Shang Palace- Shangri-la Makati Makati City

Shangri-la Makati Hotel - Arguably the best hotel in Metro Manila.  Being the best hotel, they are suppose to house the best restaurants. Circles is indeed one of the better buffet restaurants. RED is really not out type, it is.. for us, a bit overrrated. Inagiku is indeed a wonderful japanese restaurant. But for today we are concentrating on SHANG PALACE

Dimsum:  Elle:The dimsum wrapper was so shiny, glutinous and gummy…I loved it! Super chewy and delicious! No scrimping on ingredients here.  Hakao had a ton of shrimp inside, siomai was real pork and not just pork fat.  They were fresh off the steamer and bursting with aroma and flavor! My first favorite would have to be the Steamed crystal dumpling with vegetable. The shiny wrapper was glistening with freshness! One bite had a lot of textures- crunchy, soft, jelly-like.  It had cilantro in it which added a certain freshness to the dish.  The deep fried seafood with mango in rice wrapper was also delicious! The delicateness of the seafood was contrasted by the crispiness of the rice wrapper and the mango sauce gave it a nice twist. 

Cody: This is the pinnacle of dimsum eating here in Manila. Everything was done to near perfection. From the skin to the filling. Everything was made using high standards. It is like you were eating in Hongkong and not in Manila. My favorite was the Hakao, delicate skin yet it holds everything inside. Inside was plump prawn pieces that I could eat everyday. My least favorite was the hong kong style fried roll. It was a bit oily.

Soup:  Elle: The hot and sour soup had loads of mushrooms and it was heartily-good! It was not as spicy and it was really good that way because it wasn’t the kind you’d get sick of after a few spoonfuls. The corn soup tasted like fresh corn chucked off the cob. It was not creamy which I also liked because the corn can get a little overpowered by the cream.  It was a light and refreshing soup.  Something to clean the palate with after a few servings of dumplings.

Cody:  The soups were sad to day, for me,  just ordinary.  It wasn’t as outstanding as I would hope for. 

Vegetables:  Elle: We ordered the Steamed Mui Choy with sliced bean curd. I was a bit disappointed because the bean curd didn’t taste so good. It had a slightly sour unpleasant taste to it that just made the dish taste a bit off.  Bean curd is one of my favorite things on the planet and this dish didn’t live up to my expectation.

Cody: This dish was presented beautifully but tastewise, it wasn’t a hit for me. I like the tofu and the vegetable, but the sauce on top of the tofu wasn’t really to my liking. It tasted like fermented veggies that I think is more of an acquired taste than anything else.

Main dish: Elle:The sauteed scallops with broccoli in X.O. sauce was a winner.  The scallops were sautéed in a lot of green onions which gave the dish so much flavor.  However the picture was so different from the actual serving.  The actual scallops were so much smaller and a bit “drier” in texture than the ones on photo the menu.  Slightly disappointed by the size but it was still delicious. 

Cody: Scallops was cooked perfectly, the veggies was also done right, the problem here was the size, they slice the scallops very thin. Too bad, the sauce was also great.

Elle: The fish fillet in orange sauce was another disappointing dish.  I found it too sweet and too orangey that I couldn’t really understand if it was supposed to be savory or not.  The fish pieces were soft and had a creamy texture but it was overpowered by the sauce.  A little sauce does go a long way. 

Cody:  It was nice that they used real lapulapu fillet. Size was good. Fried perfectly. My rant here would be the sauce that tasted like SUNQUICK.

Dessert:  Elle: Mango sago puree had bits of mango in it.  The sago was a bit too overcooked and had that melt in your mouth texture.  I like sago that kind of fights back when you bite into it.  I was also disappointed with the almond jelly with fruits because it did not have the almond taste I was looking for.  The almond-taste was very mild you’d miss it even after a few bites. 

Cody:  Here is were all the Chinese restaurants fail and falter. And Shang Palace didn’t fare better. It could be done better and I hope they can improve.  The mango sago lacked in taste. The almond jelly was just ordinary.

Kim Garden - Magallanes Commercial Center

Magallanes have lots of different restos, but this place is one of the less known one because of its location.

Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup

Elle: I was surprised since they served the chicken separately from the noodles. The chicken was cooked perfectly seasoned but still complements the noodle soup. The noodle soup had a nice burnt sesame taste to it and the fresh cilantro gave it a fresh clean hint. The noodles were thick and chewy.

Cody: Like Elle i was also surprised that the chicken was served as a side dish. But glad that the chicken was good. The sweet and slightly salty marinade penetrated the chicken well. The noodles are big and fat like japanese udon.. this is the chinese counterpart.

Fried Shrimp Puff

Elle: It looked a bit like a small empanada, the skin was thin and crispy. It had a lot of shrimp (looked fresh cause the shrimp wasn’t whitish it was still a bit salmon in color). It was a bit bland though but the crispiness of the dough made up for it.

Cody: At first i was skeptical, but upon first bite, it was love.... full of whole shrimps... yummy, too bad a serving only has 3 pieces.

Gloria Maris - Greenbelt, Makati City

What's one of the best thing to eat during rainy days?? What else but HOT SOUP!!! One of the best places to drink hot soup is Gloria maris with its famous hot pot.  You can either choose your ingredients or order the combination prepared for two or four persons

Here is what we had:)

Fish Fillet in Sate Sauce

Elle: Yum! The fish was super soft and it had a very creamy texture.  I liked how the fish was coated in a think layer of sauce and how sticky the sauce was.  It’s the kind of fish fillet you can’t have enough of.  It was a combination of salty, sour, sweet and fishy. Grrreeeaaat!

Cody:  I never imagine cooking fish fillet with sate sauce, but this combination was a winner together with the pineapple slices that exudes sweetness that complimented the Sate taste.

Hot Pot

Elle: It had so many ingredients I had a difficult time choosing which one to attack first.  Nevertheless the ingredients looked fresh.  The soup itself was refreshing, not too tasty and salty which I appreciate in hot pot.  The combination of sauces was also interesting because they had Chinese peanut butter, chili sauce, hoisin sauce, sate sauce, garlic and green onions.  The combination compliments the relatively bland broth. 

Cody:  The combination for four was enough to keep everyone full. Fresh ingredients, good amount of meat, seafood, vegetables, noodles.  Be sure to put the things that cook the longest first. And while waiting for it to be cooked, make your own sauce combination with the available condiments. And don’t forget not to each too much, because after eating the ingredients, be sure to have space for the soup cause it will be one of the best tasting soup you will ever taste. 

Taho

Elle:  The taho doesn’t have that plaster of Paris feeling to it (not that I’ve eaten it).  It’s very finely processed that it doesn’t feel sandy in your mouth.  The sugar sauce wasn’t too strong and didn’t have a burnt sugar taste to it.  The tapioca would have been better if it had a little bite or chewiness to it.  Overall it was a great dessert to end the whole meal.

Cody:  This was the first place to got to eat freshly made taho and it was indeed a pleasure to eat.  The fun thing here is that you get to put as much arnibal and sago as you want, The Taho was silky smooth and tasted wonderful.

Hai Shin Lou - Pasay Road, Makati City

Chinese Restaurants are not really a popular choice in the Makati City Area, most of the very good Chinese restaurants are in the Manila, Malate area. However there stood a chinese restaurant in Makati that has been there for quite some time now. And for Cody this was his first time to eat here. 

Freebie- Wanton Skin crisp

Cody: bottomless!!!! Love it, crunchy and seasoned very well, I asked for sweet and sour sauce 3x but it never came….

Elle: crunchy, not oily. A little bit salty

Peking Duck-Skin wrapped in Chinese pancake

Cody: Its nice that u can order half a duck for a small group of people. Pancake was made just right. The duck was tender and wonderful. The skin was very good

Elle : I like the pancake, it was thin and chewy, the duck skin was not really fatty, but it was still oily; as a whole it was very delicious 

Fish Lip soup

Cody:   it was good. Didn’t need the usual splash of black vinegar.

Elle: Warm and filling, not too salty and not too sour. I like it

Chili Garlic Fried Crab

Cody:  Crabs here can be expensive but prepared very well.

Elle: The crab shell was so thin and crispy that I was tempted to eat it. It was cooked with a lot of chili and garlic. The meat was soft. And tasted a lot like the seasoning.

Fried Tofu w Veggies

Cody: not really a dish I would order. The tofu was not of the silken variety. The veggies were cooked perfectly.

Elle: the tofu was crispy but softened by the sauce. This dish is something vegetarians would like.

EFU noodles

Cody: Veering away form the usual Birthday noodles, this is what we ordered. Sauteed quickly with few ingredients. This dish doesn’t have much flavor but it helped in filling up the tummyJ

Elle: I liked the blandness and simplicity of the noodles. It was not too complicated and did not have to much ingredients

Yang Chow Fried Rice

Cody:  They do their yang chow wonderfully. Not oily. Every grain bursting with flavor from the seasoning and accompanied diced meat and veggies

Elle:  their fried rice is really good. Seasoned well, with visible shrimp pieces and roasted pork asado

Minced duck in Lettuce Cups

Cody: After devouring the skin, this was our choice of cooking style for the rest of the duck. Salty and sweet, served with fresh lettuce leaves that are crisp. It was good. Too bad they only serve a few pieces of the lettuce leaves. Didn’t bother to ask for more

Elle: Perfect combination of the soft duck meat and crispy singkamas cubes and fried noodles. Very tasty 

Peppercorn Spareribs

Cody:  Ribs were friend to crispy perfection. The marinade penetrated the meat to the bone. Delicious eaten with vinegar dip

One of he family's favorite restaurant to eat at to celebrate events or just to satisfy Chinese food craving. Always recommended. Always good