Posts Tagged ‘Banawe restaurants’
KimPo Tea House 鑫寶茶樓: Banawe, Q.C.
Posted on: April 3, 2014
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When things are hectic at the store and the parents and I no longer have the time and energy to cook our own meals, we head to the nearby Banawe area in search of food. Apart from having numerous car repair stores, Banawe is known for being the place where restaurants (mostly serving Chinese food) are found left and right. We’ve visited a lot of these places over the years, but only return to a handful of those which offer quick hot meals to satiate our grumbling tummies. KimPo Tea House 鑫寶茶樓 is one of those places.
KimPo has a pretty long list of drinks and food which you could select from. I normally settle for hot tea when eating at this restaurant, but there was one time when my curiosity got the best of me and I ordered a bottle of Mulberry Juice (Php65.00). It’s supposed to have a lot of health benefits, including treating skin problems, enhancing one’s immune system, controlling cholesterol and blood sugar levels, preventing the common cold, etc. It was a mix of tartness and sweetness, which resulted to my Mom enjoying it more than I did.
One other time, I decided to order a bottle of soya milk. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I can drink soya milk anytime of the day. It doesn’t necessarily have to be for breakfast. This brand was pretty good, but it already has sugar mixed in it. Those who prefer to have them sugar-free would have to pass.
Dad enjoys eating noodles and whenever he’s feeling hungry, a good bowl of hot noodle soup is usually the answer. His favorite at KimPo? The Halo Halo Noodle Soup (Php147.00). Before I go on, just a tidbit for my non-Filipino readers: “halo halo” is the Tagalog term which means “mixed”. This dish has several braised beef brisket slices, pork wantons, vegetables and chicken chunks on top of springy noodles. Dad enjoys everything about this, except the beef brisket since it’s a little on the sweet side. Those usually end up getting eaten by Mom.
Here’s a photo of the noodles, which Dad and Mom have only positive words for. If I remember correctly, KimPo didn’t use the same type of noodles before so it was a good thing they switched to this.
KimPo, like most Chinese places here in Manila, offer a wide array of rice toppings. One of my Mom’s go-to items is their Pata Rice. To be honest, we all agreed that ordering this is a hit or miss since there were times when the meat had a very slight foul odor, which affected its taste. The usual explanation I hear about this is the meat probably came from a male pig / boar. I don’t think everyone notices that faint smell, but for those who are sensitive to it (like my Mom), it can be pretty disturbing. To be fair, this doesn’t exclusively happen when dining in KimPo. You may experience the same when eating at other places as long as you’re eating pork.
Another type of popular rice topping is the Spareribs Rice (Php125.00). I know a lot of people which love eating pork steamed with black beans or tausi. I, for one, am a big fan of this and try to order this whenever it’s on the menu. These chunks of pork spareribs are steamed with black beans until they’re very tender. The sauce gets absorbed by the rice once they’re placed on top, resulting to the delightful meal we enjoy. I personally prefer the spareribs rice from another tea house, but my Mom doesn’t seem to notice any differences.
One of my favorite things to order is their White Chicken Rice (Php120.00). It’s a quarter of a chicken, steamed and topped with ginger sauce. It’s not something extraordinary since it’s one of the things we usually serve in our own store, but for a quick fix, this version from KimPo isn’t half bad. I usually end up sharing the chicken with Dad, so it’s really worth its price.
If you don’t feel like ordering any of the rice toppings, there are many other stuff you could order à la carte. One time, I was so tired I wanted us to get home quickly and get some sleep. My parents don’t approve of skipping meals, so I had to order something. I ordered the half serving of their KP Chicken to share with the parents. This was supposed to be their signature fried chicken, which was served with shrimp crackers and banana ketchup. We found parts of the chicken meat too dry from being in the fryer too long. The shrimp crackers were, thankfully, good.
If you’re craving for some carbs, we recommend ordering KimPo’s Yang Chow Fried Rice (Php100.00). A serving of this is good for approximately three persons. We’ve ordered this several times and, most of the time, it turned out to be nicely cooked. Dad can eat this without having anything else with it.
For us, KimPo is really a reliable place for a quick and satisfying meal. In addition, most of the servers here already know my parents and I since we visit this place regularly. I don’t think we have encountered any service issues here. One thing to take note of: they don’t have a very big space, although they still manage to seat a lot of people. Sadly, they don’t have a private function room so if you get seated next to a huge group who’s celebrating an occasion, it can get really noisy.
**If you want to try them out, you can visit Kimpo Tea House at 706 Banawe Street, Barangay Sienna, Quezon City.
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The last time I set foot at Eat Fresh was in 2011, when my brother and I had a tendency to eat out after work since we were both too tired to think of what to cook for dinner (our parents were staying in L.A. back then). This time, I visited the restaurant with my parents. It was a first for both Mom and Dad and they weren’t sure which ones to pick from the menu. There was a pretty long list for them to go through, but it didn’t take them too long to decide since we were all pretty hungry. 🙂
I remembered enjoying their Apple Carrot Juice before, so I made sure I ordered that for myself. It was still really good; something I would continue to recommend to everyone.
Mom really liked their Black & White Gulaman (grass jelly). This drink is available in two sizes: Regular and 1 Liter. The photo above is the regular size.
For our mains, Dad went with the Two Kinds of Sausages Claypot Rice. The two kinds were the standard pork sausage (red ones) and the duck liver sausage (dark red, almost black, ones). We have our own stash of Chinese sausages at home to satisfy our cravings, but sometimes it’s nice to have it elsewhere. This claypot rice was served with light soy sauce on the side.
Since Dad already chose the 2 kinds of sausages, I decided to go with the Chicken and Sausage Claypot Rice. It was served very hot, but the rice sticking at the bottom of the claypot wasn’t as toasted as I expected it to be. Again, similar to the time when my brother and I ate here, I found this dish to be quite ordinary but very filling. My claypot rice was also served with the light soy sauce on the side.
Mom chose the Tausi Spareribs Claypot Rice and found it to be delicious. According to her, the only downside to it was that the meat was still a bit tough.
The three of us decided to order a couple of fried items to enjoy with our main meals. Dad initially wanted the fish cakes, but was informed that it was unavailable. He decided to go with the recommended Stuffed Tofu (Php50.00 for 2 pieces). This dish was supposed to be a small block of tofu with ground pork inside. Unfortunately, none of us enjoyed it since it didn’t have any flavor to it and Dad said that the tofu already had a tinge of sourness to them. We didn’t finish eating these.
I, on the other hand, couldn’t pass up on the chance to order a personal favorite: Fried (Pork) Big Intestines (Php35.00/stick)! Just like what I used to do years ago, I enjoyed these morsels of chewy intestines with the sweet chili sauce provided. I’m glad Dad really liked eating this one too.
We also ordered a stick of Fried Wantons (Php35.00 for 5 pieces) to share among ourselves. Mom found them to be really good with the chili sauce.
***Eat Fresh is located at 100-A Maria Clara Street near Banawe in Quezon City. This branch is closed during Sundays, but is open from Mondays to Saturdays from 9am until midnight. They also have another branch in San Juan. You may visit their official Facebook page by clicking here.
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Disappointment. Annoyance.
These were what we felt when we dined at Tian Pao Wan along N. Roxas Street in Quezon City. It was already a little past the lunch hour rush when we arrived at the restaurant and we noticed that it was still packed. Thinking that this was a good sign of things to come, we went inside and were ushered to our table a minute or two upon entering.
I asked one of their wait staff about their opening date and learned that Tian Pao Wan started their operations on September 11, 2013.
The interiors were, no doubt, pretty. It was something that was easy on the eyes; very simple, with clean lines. I liked it a lot since it didn’t feel too stuffy inside.
After a few minutes of appreciating the interiors, the parents and I perused the menu and decided to order a few items to try. They weren’t offering a lot of items yet so it didn’t take too long for us to choose what we wanted. The wait staff who took our orders looked so flustered and kept rushing me along. He kept looking around the restaurant while we were speaking with him and, after getting our orders, left immediately without doing a recap. That didn’t leave a good impression on us, but seeing that they had these “We’re on Dry Run” signs on each of the tables, I thought I’d try to be a little bit more understanding.
Now, before I show you the food photos, here is a quick rundown of the items which we ordered:
- Xiao Long Bao
- Drunken Chicken
- Fried Rice
- Roast Pork with Rice
- Chinese Broccoli with Garlic
- a type of dessert with mangoes as the main ingredient
- Two cans of soda (no photo)
Please keep those items in mind. Ready? Here are the ones which were served to us:
Being such a big fan of xiao long bao, or steamed soup dumplings, I didn’t hesitate to order an 8-piece serving of their Pork and Crab Roe Xiao Long Bao.
Here’s a look at the inside of their xiao long bao. We found this to be so-so since there weren’t a lot of soup inside the dumplings. We agreed that the xiao long bao from Kao Chi is still better.
A little while later, our Egg Fried Rice with Shredded Pork arrived at our table. This was honestly a pretty small serving for something that was supposed to be good for sharing with the family. Dad liked the rice, saying that it was nicely cooked. It wasn’t dry and was seasoned quite well.
……..and that’s it for the food!
What? Where are the other items?
That’s the very same thing we asked a couple of Tian Pao Wan’s servers, especially after we waited for so long. Most of them either didn’t answer our questions or said that they’ll check with the kitchen. No one came back to tell us what has happened.
After several more minutes of waiting, one of their staff asked us if there was anything else we were waiting for. Trying to somewhat hide our annoyance, we enumerated the items that were still not served. He then goes to say this: “Hindi po ba kayo nasabihan na hindi available yun Drunken Chicken?” (Weren’t you informed that the Drunken Chicken is unavailable?”). We told him that we were NOT informed and to please check if any of the other orders will be arriving soon. He left immediately, not even muttering an apology for the delay AND the wrong information.
Oh, by the way, that server didn’t return either. We saw him going around the restaurant, not stopping at any of the tables, but always looking like he’s so busy! I waved at him to catch his attention but for some reason, he didn’t see me at all.
Later on, we learned that both the Roast Pork and the Chinese broccoli were also unavailable for that day. My parents and I were extremely annoyed that we decided to just settle our bill so that we could leave as soon as possible. What’s funny is, after asking for the bill, it didn’t even take them 30 seconds to hand it to us despite the cashier being so far away. I’m not exaggerating! 
Oh, and one final thing. If you can help it, don’t order canned soda here. They’re absurdly priced at Php90.00 per can, when the average soda prices in a number of other restaurants is only at Php50-70.00.
I normally do not rant about our dining experiences, especially if the places we visit are (relatively) new. Unfortunately, our experience at Tian Pao Wan was the worst we’ve had in a long time. For one thing, putting up “We’re on Dry Run” signs does not give an establishment the free pass to have bad customer service. In our opinion, slower service compared to more established restaurants is forgivable AND understandable when you’re new in the ballgame; having a team who’s not properly trained on how to address customer concerns is NOT. In fact, a new business should prioritize having excellent service as this is the one thing that would encourage their customers to stay around despite a few shortcomings.
I sincerely hope that other customers have not / will not experience the same thing we had when they dined / will dine at Tian Pao Wan. It’s a real shame since I honestly think that this place has a lot of potential. Will we ever go back? Highly unlikely, but if we do, I’ll make sure to write about it. It’s going to be a good way to check if they’ve improved or not.
Fook Yuen
Posted on: October 15, 2012
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Let’s face it: There are a lot of different restaurants located along Banawe, but not all of them offer good food. There are a lot of times when my family and I don’t know where to go for our Sunday dinners.
It’s during times like these when it’s a good thing that Fook Yuen is still there.
Fook Yuen has been open for more than 30 years and is owned by one of my Dad’s friends. It’s a very small restaurant without the fancy stuff, but is guaranteed to serve good comfort food (and no, I’m not saying this because we know the owner). A lot of their customers call them up in advance and then just drop by to pick the food up after a couple of minutes or at the time they indicated. One thing that they’re well-known for are their crabs, which Dad says they can prepare really well!
During our most recent visit, I couldn’t pass up the chance to order one of my favorites: Buttered Chicken! This dish is very far from healthy as the chicken has been breaded, deep fried and then tossed with lots of butter/margarine and garlic. I don’t care, though, because they taste divine! By the way, some people choose to eat this with ketchup too.
Dad also ordered a serving of one of Fook Yuen’s other signature dishes: the Oyster Cake. If cooked properly, this dish is really good. I’ve tried this from other restaurants and usually end up disappointed or with an upset stomach (because the oysters have already gone bad). My brothers enjoy eating this too! I remember I used to order this a lot during my stay in Xiamen (our university cafeteria served this). By the way, I’m sorry for the really nasty photo above; it’s far from appetizing, I know. 😦
For our veggies, Dad decided to go with a serving of Ampalaya (Bitter Gourd) with Pork Strips. This was just so-so. The ampalaya wasn’t as bitter as I expected it to be, but it’s still not something I highly enjoy gorging on. :p
**Fook Yuen’s address: 558 Banawe Street, Quezon City.
Welcome Home!
Posted on: June 1, 2011
- In: Food | Random
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The family went out for dinner tonight since nobody was willing to cook at home. I think that was just right since the dinner served as a “Welcome Home” meal for my parents. We didn’t want to go to someplace which was far from home since the parents are both tired from their flight, so we found ourselves stopping by Chef Vince along Banawe.
Note: I remembered to bring my Nikon with me, thus the better looking photos below. hahaha!
Pancit Canton. Don’t ask me why, but I have been wanting to eat pancit canton for the past few days. Very unlike me, to be honest. Anyhoo, this was just okay for me. Nothing special, but it did satiate the “desire” to eat pancit canton.
Buttered Chicken. Here’s another one of the things I’ve been wanting to eat. The parents found this a bit too salty for their taste, but it was just right for me.
Fish Fillet with Black Bean Sauce. Dad mentioned that he wanted to eat this dish so we made sure to order it during dinner. It was served really hot (which is a definite plus!), but I had to agree with the parents when they said that this dish was very salty. If you skip the sauce and just eat the fish then it’s okay. We used to order this whenever we dropped by Chef Vince before and it was never as salty as it was tonight, so the incident may be just a one-time thing (hopefully!).
Polunchay with Garlic. To balance things a bit, we ordered a vegetable dish. I happen to like polunchay a lot, so this was something I found enjoyable.
After eating dinner, my brother and I crossed the street to Dezaato Pan to get ourselves some gelato. Sadly, they didn’t have any dark chocolate flavor available, so I decided to get a cup of coffee flavored gelato instead. Pointyman had the French Vanilla gelato. They were both pretty average; didn’t really impress us all that much. It was still a good way to end the night though. 🙂
Coffee Gelato
French Vanilla Gelato
Oh, and guess what the parents brought home for us?
Notice the can of beef stew in the photo above? It looks kind of out of place, doesn’t it? 😛
The parents still brought home tons of other items, but I didn’t have enough time to take photos of everything. Suffice to say that we won’t be buying a lot from the grocery store in the next few days weeks.
Welcome home, Mom and Dad. We’re glad you guys are back! 🙂
Have at you! 
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