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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Binond Food Trip: Unlimited Dimsum at The Original Salido Restaurant

A few weeks before the Chinese New Year, the hubby and I were able to visit Binondo again for a food trip. This time around, we were armed with two Cash Cash Pinoy vouchers (worth P299 each) that entitled us to unlimited dimsum + drinks and desserts (originally valued at P600) at The Original Salido Restaurant on Ongpin St. It was a dimsum-filled afternoon that we half-heartedly enjoyed. Read on to know why.



Here are the nine (9) kinds of dimsum featured in the unlimited dimsum promo of Salido:


Beancurd Rolls


Pork Siomai


Sharksfin Dumplings


Hakaw (soggy wrapper, overcooked shrimps)


Pork Spareribs with Tausi


Japanese Siomai


Chicken Feet


Chicken something (sorry, I didn't get the name)


Fish and Kani something (this one tasted old and fishy!)

I will get straight to the point here. What made us disappointed about our dining experience was the fact that our orders were served to us cold. Like they stayed in their bamboo steamer baskets for hours without steaming or some heat to keep them warm. We came at around 2:30 pm and it was hard not to entertain the idea that the dimsum we were feasting on could just be left overs from the batch served to the other diners who arrived before us. Too bad because I even posted a photo in my Instagram account sharing my excitement upon seeing (meaning, not yet tasting) the baskets of dimsum laid out on our table one after the other!

Salido interiors

But still, we ate the cold dimsum and hoped for the best in the taste department. We even ordered Yang Chow fried rice to go with everything. (I have high praises for it because it was tasty and not oily at all. ) Among the dimsum we tried, the hubby and I favored their two kinds of siomai (pork and Japanese), the bean curd roll and the chicken feet (which I ate alone as the hubby doesn’t eat chicken feet). The rest were just so-so and tasted nothing special primarily because they didn’t have any sense of warmth in them (they were served to us cold, remember?).

Another thing that made our dining experience not so pleasant was the service. We had a hard time getting the waiters’ attention. When it was also time to order more dimsum, the waiter that got our re-orders returned to our table initially with nothing. Like all the dimsum supply in the kitchen suddenly ran out. But it seemed that wasn’t the case (buti na lang kundi umuwi na talaga kami agad, agad!). The waiter informed us some of the dimsum were already not available and the ones that were available were still being cooked in the kitchen.

Soon enough, our re-orders of pork siomai and beancurd roll came to our table steaming hot! At least, out of the four kinds we re-ordered, we were still served with two, and they were hot not cold. Amazing. Haha.


the hubby and I

What I realized after this dining “incident” was that not all dining experiences and dining promos (courtesy of Groupon sites), for that matter, are equal. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t. To lessen your disappointment, you just think of happy thoughts. Like how you enjoyed the company of the people you ate with, or how you got to the restaurant safe and got home safe as well. At the end of the day, there are still many restaurants (and a lot more still in their conceptualization phase opening sooner or later) waiting for you to try them out.

If you'll ask me if I'd eat again at The Original Salido Restaurant, I think I might. I'm a self-confessed Chinese food lover, after all. But if ever I'd dine there again, I'll make sure to order straight from the menu without availing of any of their promos. :)

The Original Salido Restaurant
839 Ongpin St.
Binondo, Manila

(+632) 521-3333


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Family Lauriat Lunch at Gloria Maris, Gateway Mall Branch

The Sunday before last, the hubby, my SIL and I treated our families to a lauriat lunch at Gloria Maris Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Gateway Mall, Cubao. We were actually celebrating three special occasions then: my mom's birthday, my MIL's birthday and my in-laws' wedding anniversary. Most of us were Gloria Maris first-timers and we used a Cash Cash Pinoy voucher for this one and so we really didn't have much expectations on the food. Our lauriat lunch set was good for 10 persons and came in the form of one soup, one appetizer, one fried rice item, one noodle dish, five main entrees and one dessert. For just P2950, we were one in saying that it was a good deal, albeit some minor drawbacks.


We were supposed to go as a group of 10 adults but my brother begged off at the last minute so only nine of us went to the restaurant. It turned out to be an advantage because we had more food to share among ourselves. Haha.

This particular branch of Gloria Maris at the fourth level of Gateway Mall has just opened recently. It was dark inside at first but when the other diners started arriving, they turned on more lights to make the interiors bright. They were still on soft opening and we could tell because of the slow service. The wait staff wasn't as attentive, either. In fact, we had to tell the waiter assigned to us that we already wanted to start eating even if we had been there for almost 30 minutes already! But that's okay, I hope things will have gotten better on our next visit.

Anyway, judging from our lauriat lunch set, I can say Gloria Maris serves delicious Chinese food although I must admit, I find King Bee's food offerings more superior in presentation and taste. Some of the dishes we had are better than the others, but generally, they passed my standards. I'm not Chinese nor Filipino-Chinese, but I love Chinese food and choose to have it whenever I can and so when I say it's good, I really mean it.

Here are the food we had in their order of appearance on our table (followed by my comments):


Birds Nest with Chicken Birds Egg Soup

This soup was served to us piping hot and we liked it that way. Nothing beats a warm soup that has a delicate taste and simple flavors like this one.


Barbecue Cold Cuts Combination

The cold cuts were nicely done, big in taste and flavor. The meats were tender, too. Among them, I liked the refreshing jellyfish salad best!


Gloria Maris Fried Rice

This fried rice was ordinary and the quality of the rice used wasn't that good. I've had better fried rice before.

Fried Spicy Spareribs

The spicy spareribs had just the right amount of heat and flavor. I can say the same thing with the pork's meat, bone and fat ratio. The tender, pink meat was a plus point!


Gloria Maris Fried Chicken

The fried chicken was too salty for my liking. And I heard the same sentiment from all of my companions that day. I had to pair it with spoonfuls of rice in every bite to balance the saltiness. Even the crispy skin couldn't save it from disaster. The kropek that came with it was its only saving grace. Still, I was disappointed with this one.


Sauted Brocolli with Shrimp Scallop

The brocolli was half-cooked which gave it pleasant crunch and nice flavor. The shrimps and scallops were cooked just right that they were able to retain their fresh taste.


Sliced Chicken with Asparagus Bokchoy

This was supposed to be with asparagus and not bokchoy, as what was written in the deal. I didn't make a big deal out of it anymore because my family liked it naman. The chicken meat was tender and flavorful and the sauce was tasty and enough to cover the veggies and give it added flavor.


Runner Beans with Minced Pork

This was yummy! The beans were crunchy and tasty and the minced pork packed a lot of flavor.


Fookien Misua

Another dish in the lot whose saltiness went overboard. I stopped eating this after a spoonful because the saltiness of the fried chicken was too much for me to take already.


Taho

The taho was smooth and velvety, just like how my mouth wanted it to be. As for the taste, it's exactly how your neighborhood taho tastes like. The same can be said about the small tapioca balls whose tenderness and sweetness remind me of my childhood days in the province. Haha.


Gloria Maris drinks (buko, four seasons and green mango shakes)

The drinks were not part of the voucher so we had to pay an additional amount for them. And one more thing, for those who have also bought the same deal from Cash Cash Pinoy, expect to pay 10% service charge for the P2950 worth of food you'll get.

Since the food we had at Gloria Maris came as a set using the Cash Cash Pinoy voucher we bought, I can't tell you their individual price. But in fairness to them, the food servings were more than enough to feed all nine of us and we even had a few dishes wrapped up to take home. :)


group shot

Gloria Maris
4/L Gate Way Mall
Cubao, Quezon City


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Happy 1st Anniversary to King Chef Seafood Restaurant, Lucky Chinatown Mall!

Last Saturday, I, along with my Superf Nicely, attended the first anniversary of King Chef Seafood Restaurant at Lucky Chinatown Mall in Binondo. It was well-attended by members of the media, bloggers, investors, suppliers and friends of the famous Chinese restaurant. The guests were treated to a sumptuous lauriat lunch composed of King Chef specialty dishes. Everything we ate was delicious and as we had expected, the feast they served us was fit for a king. Now, that's the King Chef promise that they deliver to their customers every single day.





While the lauriat lunch was being served, there was a program that featured some slideshows and speeches from the people behind King Chef as well as parlor games where the lucky winners received King Chef GCs. Everybody, including yours truly, went home with a happy tummy and of course, wishing King Chef - Lucky Chinatown branch more fruitful years in the competitive dining scene of Binondo.



Below are food photos from the lauriat lunch we had:


Assorted Cold Cuts Combination (the perfect start to a great lauriat lunch)


Dumplings in Seafood Spinach Soup


Deep-fried Suahe with Salted Egg (this was made of awesome!)


Stir-fried Kung Pao Chicken (enjoyed the sweet, tangy and spicy flavors of this delightful dish!)


Fried Spareribs with Eight Spices


Stuffed Eggplant in Japanese Sauce (I didn't know eggplant could be this tasty!)


Fried King Fish in Mango Sauce


Typhoon Shelter Crabs (these big, fat, juicy crabs were the highlight of our lauriat lunch!)


Birthday Noodles (my current fave noodles!)


Almond Fish Gelatin (delicate gelatin with just the right sweetness, this is King Chef's own gourmet masterpiece)


Mango Balls (loved this yummy buchi with fresh mango filling!)

King Chef first opened in Banawe, QC on June 30, 2011. It's the baby of the Ang couple -- Michael and Maritess. Today, King Chef already has three branches: two in Banawe (King Chef Fine Dining and King Chef Dimsum Kitchen) and one in Binondo (King Chef-Lucky Chinatown Mall). It's amazing how in just a span of two years, King Chef has already made a name for itself and gained a loyal following among Filipino-Chinese families and Chinese-food lovers alike.

King Chef owners Michael and Maritess Ang with the managers and staff of King Chef-Lucky Chinatown

There's only one way to find out how King Chef has won the hearts (and tummies!) of a lot of people this early in their existence, and that is simply to dine there. Yes, to see (and taste!)is to believe. For reservation and inquiries, call them at the following numbers:

(+632) 720-8594
(+632) 466-5765
King Chef Seafood Restaurant
2/F Lucky Chinatown Mall
Binondo, Manila

(+632) 410-4919
(+632) 413-6619
(+632) 441-4177
(+632) 352-7534
(+632) 697-7781
King Chef Fine Dining / King Chef Dimsum Kitchen
987-989 Banawe St., Quezon City

For promos and updates, you may want to visit the King Chef Facebook Page.
Happy 1st Birthday again to King Chef and thank you to Glenn Arvin Reyes (PR of Megaworld Lifestyle Malls) for the invite! :)


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