Family Dinners at Hap Chan, SM Manila

Whenever I want cheap but delicious Chinese food, I only go to North Park (they currently have two stores along Macapagal Blvd.!). Now, there's also Hap Chan Tea House to satiate my Chinese food cravings. Since they opened a branch at SM Manila last year (I stand corrected), we've had family dinner there a couple of times already and each time, my family and I were satisfied.



Below are our some of our must-orders there:



Yang Chow Fried Rice (P230) and Lumpiang Shanghai (P250). I liked how their fried rice was not oily at all and contained lots of small shrimps, pork asado bits and veggies. Their shanghai rolls, on the other hand, were crispy, meaty (unlike others that had more veggies than pork meat) and seasoned just right. Their lumpiang shanghai actually got my mom's nod of approval at first bite.



Their Quail Egg Siomai (P75) hit the spot! It's now officially my fave siomai in the entire Metro Manila. Haha. I liked how each piece of dimsum was plump, juicy, packed with meat (and not just fat!) and was seasoned just right. No umay factor here.



These two were soya-based smoothies (P60-P65 per glass). The one on the left was strawberry and the one on the right was chocolate. I prefer the latter because it tasted more chocolate-y than tofu-flavored.

One time, we also tried their Buttered Chicken (P250) which was very good. Our order had around six to seven small chicken pieces which were fried to perfection. I could taste the butter in every bite so I could tell they didn't scrimp on ingredients.

Another time, my mom and I had dinner there and availed of their rice meals which were okay, too. Priced at P120-P150, they were quite delicious and filling.


with my mom and my two younger sisters during one of our family dinners at Hap Chan, SM Manila

Hap Chan
4/L SM City Manila
Natividad Almeda-Lopez, Ermita, Manila

(+632) 484-3229


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Dimsum All You Can at Kung Fu Kitchen, The District Imus

Strolling around The District Mall, Imus in the afternoon of Chinese New Year, the hubby and I passed by Kung Fu Kitchen which, at that time, was having a promo – Dimsum All You Can at P298 per head. (If you’ve been following this blog, you may have known by now that I love Chinese food!) I attended the opening of Kung Fu Kitchen - SM City Manila before and from what I remember they serve good Chinese food at affordable prices. So I asked the hubby if we could give this unlimited dimsum offer a try, to which he agreed without hesitation. And so our dimsum adventure began.


smiling and hoping for the best with this dimsum all you can offer

The dimsum all you can turned out to be our early dinner. By the way, as per the photo of the promo board below, it’s served from Monday to Thursday (the promo poster seen from the outside of the restaurant says it’s served from Monday to Saturday, though), between 2:30 pm to 6:00 p.m and with additional 10% service charge. If I’m not mistaken, we went inside the restaurant at past 5:00 pm already.



Since there were a lot of options, we only ordered some familiar items and a few more which sounded interesting to us. Below are the items that landed on our table (in order of appearance):




clockwise: pinsec frito, radish cake, lumpiang shanghai


bola pao and beancurd roll


clockwise: Yang Chow fried rice, hot chicken salad, stir-fried noodles and pork siomai


Yang Chow fried rice, steamed brown rice with pork and shrimps and stir-fried noodles

Our top favorites were the pinsec frito, pork siomai, lumpiang shanghai, beancurd roll and stir-fried noodles (the hubby said this was too salty for his liking but for me the saltiness was just right). Their pinsec frito were still as good as ever: crispy and tasty deep-fried dumplings which had a good meat-fat-wrapper-oil ratio.

The Yang Chow fried rice and the steamed brown rice with pork and shrimps were okay, too. The hot chicken salad was forgettable while the bola pao hit the spot. We appreciated the fact that all our food came straight from the kitchen so they really arrived on our table steaming hot. Yes, not “cold” like when we had unlimited dimsum at The Original Salido Restaurant.

Out of the 20 items on offer, we got to try 14 and mostly one serving for each item only. That was because most of our re-orders fell on deaf ears (of the waiters we talked to). Like when we would try to re-order, we had to talk to at least two waiters and make a follow-up with two more before they would serve us more food. Eventually, we got tired of re-ordering because from the 14 items we re-ordered, we only got about 6. Frustrating, right? And that said a lot about their service.

When it was time to have desserts for us, we asked for buchi and mango sago only to be served with just the mango sago, and that’s after a 15-minute waiting time and two follow-ups with two different waiters and the guy who looked like the manager of the resto (he was not wearing a uniform and was staying behind the counter most of the time). By that time, we lost our patience completely and asked for the bill immediately so we could get out of the resto ASAP.

During our visit, only a few tables (4 tables the most) were occupied, so I really wondered what went wrong. It seemed like there was a communication problem between the waiters and the kitchen staff. They should look into it to improve their overall service. Sayang kasi ang sarap pa naman ng karamihan sa food nila!

Kung Fu Kitchen
G/L The District Mall
Imus City, Cavite

0917-6247749


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Le Ching Tea House at Shoppesville Arcade, Greenhills

Right after the blogger launch of Globe UnliMail at Blue Water Day Spa-Ortigas Branch, Edwin and I headed to the nearby Greenhills Shopping Complex for dinner. Though we already had sandwiches in the event, I was craving for some noodle soup so off we entered Le Ching Tea House at the basement of Shoppesville Arcade. With just a few minutes away from closing time, the restaurant still had several of its tables occupied.


Hakao, P80. This shrimp dimsum was delicious but I found the wrap over-steamed. This was four pieces per order, not bad since each hakao had a whole medium-sized shrimp that tasted fresh. Oh and, have I mentioned that their chili sauce was the best? It had the right kick that awakens the taste buds and bites the tongue, if you know what I mean.




Chicken with Mushroom Rice, P115. This is one of the topped rice on the menu. It was like Singapore's national dish 'chicken rice' minus the flavor and double the fat. The chicken pieces on this dish were more on the bony and fatty side that I thought I only got 10% lean meat. I found it bland, taste wise. I didn't like it and I won't order this again. But in fairness to this dish, the rice was sticky and fragrant which was very good to eat with dimsum. Perhaps, I'll order the Spare Ribs Rice next time which most people rave about. Well, that's if I haven't eliminated pork in my diet yet.


Beef Brisket Noodle Soup, P112. This is the winner among the food items we ordered! The soup was flavorful and the beef was tender. It also came in a big bowl that was good for two people which I thought made it worth its price.

For drinks, we got some iced tea that sells for P35 per glass. I found it amusing that they use ordinary straw for this drink. It looked weird since the glass was small and the straw was long (see photo below). Actually, I ordered bottled water and not iced tea but these were what the waiter served us. He, by the way, was not so friendly with us and looked tired, must be because they were about to close the resto already. It was not a big deal for us, though.




Edwin and I shared everything and we thought we had value for money as the prices at Le Ching are competitive.




Ambiance at Le Ching-Greenhills is more like canteen style with its low-rise tables and desk-type benches. I guess they chose this kind of setup for easy turnover of diners since it is located in a busy shopping complex.




Have you tried Le Ching? What are your favorite dishes there?


Le Ching Tea House
8-10 Level A, Shoppesville Arcade
Greenhills, San Juan City


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