Posts Tagged ‘Chinese food’
KimPo Tea House 鑫寶茶樓: Banawe, Q.C.
Posted on: April 3, 2014
- In: Food
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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.
- In: Food | Travel
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I’ve recently arrived home from my week-long trip to Malaysia and am still pretty much exhausted. I’ve already gone back to handling our family business, but have also managed to sneak in a bit of photo stash editing during my down time so that I could share my adventures with you as soon as I can. It was my first time to visit Malaysia so there were a lot of new things I was able to experience. Food, of course, has always been one of the reasons why I highly enjoy traveling and will be part of the things I will be writing about.
My flight to Kuala Lumpur from Manila was initially scheduled to leave at 7:50am but was pushed back to 9:15am. Instead of arriving in KL during The Boyfriend’s lunch hour (he’s assigned there for work), we weren’t able to meet up with him until around 2:30 or 3pm. My companions and I had some time to go around the Suria KLCC Mall (the one right next to the well-known Petronas Towers) while The Boyfriend went back to his office to finish his tasks for the day. We bought some groceries and window shopped until it was already way past my (our?) usual dinner time.
When The Boyfriend finally got the chance to clock out, he took us to our first dinner in the famous Jalan Alor, which was just a stone’s throw away from the place where we were staying. Jalan Alor is known to be THE food street of Kuala Lumpur and is said to be very popular with the tourists. Visiting local food streets is something I’m fond of doing since you get to see (and taste) so much in just one area. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to go through all the stalls this time since I was already spent from the entire day’s events. I didn’t mind just being led to Sai Woo Restaurant, where The Boyfriend and his colleagues buy their dinners once in a while. It was a Chinese place, but I wasn’t going to complain; I was already starving.
The Boyfriend ordered a glass of Watermelon Juice, and almost everyone followed his lead. Our juices arrived after a few minutes and although there were ice cubes, it wasn’t served cold. I had to swirl the cubes around for a couple of times before I found it to be just right. I was obviously parched when I managed to consume half of my juice even before any of our food arrived. Yes, that’s a rare occurrence; you can ask my friends about that.
We all let The Boyfriend order the things he thinks we’ll enjoy since he’s already been in Malaysia for several months. One of the dishes he ordered was this serving of Thai King Chicken. It consists of fried chicken chunks, corn kernels and onion slices, tossed in a sweet-spicy sauce. They were all laid on a bed of fried noodles.
I thought this was a pretty decent dish. The chicken chunks were delicious with the sauce and I loved eating the onions slices with my white rice. I don’t have a single doubt that I would be able to eat everything on that plate if I was dining alone. :p
Aaaah…stingray. I was first able to try eating stingray when my high school friends and I were in Puerto Prinsesa a couple of years ago. I enjoyed it then, and I’m glad I still enjoyed having it this time. The version we had in Sai Woo was the Grilled Stingray with Sambal. I’ve always had this idea that sambal was supposed to be REALLY hot, so I was pleasantly surprised when I tried this and found it to be more salty than spicy. I don’t know if it was just me and my tolerance for spicy food.
One of my favorites during our dinner was this dish called Salted Egg Squid. I’m no fan of salted egg, but this was a real treat. I liked it so much that I already have plans of replicating this dish here at home. :p The Boyfriend later told me that it was also one of his favorites and that he should have ordered a bigger serving since he felt it wasn’t enough for our group of 5 adults.
The last dish to arrive was this serving of Buttered Pork Ribs. This was another one of The Boyfriend’s favorites and one that he wanted me to try. When this was placed on our table, I couldn’t help but notice how fragrant it was. Who could go wrong with fried stuff swimming in a pool of butter, right? I managed to have a piece of the meat and some of the sauce. I found it to be very sticky and sweet. It wasn’t exactly something I’d rave about, but it was still a good dish. I just found the sauce to be a little too sweet for me.
After we managed to finish off everything we ordered, we spent a bit of time looking at some of the things being sold along Jalan Alor. There were preserved/ dried fruits, carts selling silken tofu, herbal drinks, durian (which is immensely popular in Malaysia), grilled chicken wings, etc. There were still a lot of plastic tables and chairs spread along the street, and almost all them were occupied by tourists and locals alike. We ended our dinner pretty late in the evening, and yet the atmosphere along Jalan Alor felt like the night was just starting.
Was it the best place for street food? I honestly can’t answer that. I’ve had very little chance to roam around the rest of Kuala Lumpur and check other food stalls, so I don’t have much to base my decision on. All I know is that Jalan Alor is a place I wouldn’t mind visiting again when in Malaysia, especially if it means that I could spend another night in that buzzing, rowdy street stall with The Boyfriend, enjoying our little bowls of white rice and our plate of salted egg squid. 🙂
**Sai Woo Restaurant’s address is #55 Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
H.K. Choi for Ahya’s birthday
Posted on: September 10, 2011
We celebrated Mons’ birthday last week in H.K. Choi SM Megamall branch. It wasn’t our first time there, but it has been quite some time since our last visit. I was really excited to eat ham sui kok again; I think that has to be my favorite item from H.K. Choi. My brother chose the following dishes for us that Sunday:
We started our meal with a serving of Roast BBQ Pork with Soy Chicken. I found the roast pork okay. I didn’t realize that I wasn’t able to try the chicken until the time when I was editing my photos for uploading. 😛
This is another one of the dishes that I don’t mind eating again and again: Fried Beancurd with Salt and Pepper. It’s delicious eaten plain or when dipped in the sauce (vinegar) provided with each order. If I’m not mistaken, my brother ordered two servings of this dish.
The Curry Fish Fillet was just okay for me. My brother said that he remembered ordering the Curry Fish Ball, but we got this one instead. Not being the type to complain in restaurants, my brother decided to just let it go. It wasn’t a bad tasting dish anyway.
I don’t recall if I’ve eaten this from other places before, but the Fookien Fried Rice was a bit weird for my liking. The layer of seafood, vegetables and sauce sitting on top of the rice was a little too much for me. I ate a couple of tablespoons and decided to pick on the other dishes instead.
The Fried Spareribs with Salt and Pepper was also okay. I was able to eat a piece or two but didn’t get any extras since I was saving room for the next two dishes that we had.
Hot Prawn Salad: I’m actually not a big fan of this dish in general, but I like eating the prawns especially when they’re still hot! I always forego the fruits as much as possible since there has always been something about heated fruit salad which disturbs me. I’d rather eat them separately as a dessert rather than having them like this. It’s one of my quirks, I know.
We ended this particular meal with my favorite: Ham Sui Kok! My brother ordered a piece for each person, but Christine said that she was already too full to eat her share. I gladly accepted it for myself when the offer was made. 🙂 I really can’t say no to ham sui kok. :p
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! 🙂
You Jie Xiao Chao
Posted on: April 4, 2011
- In: Food
- 3 Comments
There’s a small hidden treasure near Rockwell where you can get delicious Chinese food. The place has been referred to as the “Secret Restaurant” because the place looks like your ordinary house and it doesn’t have any signs outside, but its real name is You Jie Xiao Chao. It’s not a fancy place but it’s frequented by a lot of Chinese individuals.
I love this place mainly because it reminds me of the time I spent in China. Everything from the seats, the table numbers plastered on the walls, the noise…they remind me so much of the things I experienced before. The food, of course, was really good and it’s not all that expensive too! 🙂
Here’s a glimpse of some of the things I’ve already tried at You Jie Xiao Chao:
Fried (Kuchay) Dumplings. These are yummy vegetable-filled dumplings which are served with black vinegar. I used to eat a lot of these in Xiamen and Guang Zhou. 🙂
Hotpot Eggplant. Definitely a must-try if it’s your first time eating at You Jie Xiao Chao. This is really delicious; one of my favorite dishes of all time!
Steamed/Braised Pork. I don’t remember what this dish was called, but this is ideal if you have kids or individuals who like sweet dishes dining with you. The pork slices are tender and are served over a bed of veggies (I think it’s kiam chai). Eating this will remind you of cuapao, just without the mantao/bun.
I’m sorry but for some strange reason, I can’t remember any of the pork dishes’ names. 😐 Of all the dishes which I’ve tried at You Jie Xiao Chao, this is probably the one which garnered the lowest number of points for me. There wasn’t anything special and it tasted a little bland.
Steamed Fish Head. This is THE dish to order when eating in this restaurant. A word of caution though: This is not for the fainthearted. This is my favorite of all the dishes because of two things: (1) it’s spicy, and God knows how much I LOVE spicy dishes, and (2) it’s huge and not just because of the bones. If you’re not into spicy dishes then you may request the staff to have it toned down a bit, but based on my experience, it can still be a little tough to handle for those who are not used to the heat. This dish is definitely best when shared. 🙂
Before I forget, they have eat-all-you-can (plain) rice for all customers. You can even go get your own from the rice cooker near the kitchen! 🙂
**You Jie Xiao Chao is located at 6404 Camia Street, Guadalupe Viejo, Makati City.
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