Sincerity Restaurant: Fried Chicken Galore!

My family has been searching for this restaurant for several years already ever since my uncle read a mouth-watering article about their fried chicken in the Sunday's daily. As a gastronomic nomad, my mom asked me to go to Binondo to look and search for Sincerity for my uncle.

After countless driving in the main roads and one-way or two-way side streets, we finally found Sincerity Restaurant last week. This hole-in-a-wall place is tucked in the tight and busy Yuchengco St.. Parking can be a challenge here but don't fret since there is a small pay parking lot a few stores beside the rastaurant. It was also just in time that our friend Frannywanny also wrote a post about her experiences with Sincerity. I guess, that kept our appetite burn fiercer for their prized treat, their fried chicken. And then off we went to Sincerity after a tiring week passed by.

When we got here, the place was jampacked with diners. Children and adults all enjoyed the Chinese dishes that Sincerity's kitchen churned out. We waited to be seated upstairs since the place downstairs was already packed full. As we waited, we already ordered our lunch which consisted of the whole order Sincerity Fried Chicken, a bowl Duck Misua Soup, and 2 cups of Kiampong.

The Sincerity Fried Chicken that I had here tasted great. My hungry tastebuds somehow picks up a taste that there is a predominant Chinese spice that was used here, my inkling is that, it can be the 'Five-Spice' mix. I am used in eating fried chicken with several cups of rice since I am a 'rice monster' but the chicken was also good to be eaten even as just a finger food. I had a 'papak' galore!

The warm bowl of Duck Misua was served next. It's a Misua soup with a single duck leg on it. It was my first time to taste a misua soup flavored with duck meat since what we do at home is only Misua soup, flavored with dried, salted shrimp(hebi), tiny slices of pork and garnished with patola. The soup tasted well. My girlfriend, Kat tasted that it has a tiny hint of 'xibut' or 'sibut' which is what they call the traditional Chinese herb mix. This is something new for me.

Their Kiampong is a winner. A very delicious rice dish. Kiampong is a rice dish, cooked in a soy-based boil and garnished with chicken, nuts and spring onions. It is quite similar to Machang, only though the Machang is quite thicker and stickier. Kat and I told each other that we will also come back for it. I've only tasted a Kiampong from my Fil-Chinese friend in the office and as I say, Sincerity's Kiampong matched well with the taste of the Kiampong that my friend gave me. Perfect! Kat said that it was just like the home-cooked Kiampong that they had.

What made it more into a happy and filling meal is the easy price of the lunch fare.

The menu is very easy on the wallet. :)

I'd also like give special thanks to Frannywanny for her well-written Sincerity experiences. :)

Cheers!

Sincerity Restaurant

497 Yuchengco (Nueva) St.,

Binondo, Manila(02)241 9990 (02)241 9972

Philly lunch @ Elbert's Cheesesteak

Craving for a CheeseSteak sandiwich? I really miss those philly sandwiches that my mom and aunt made us when we had a loooooong drive for a weekend vacation. Memories of those philly sandwiches topped with onions, cheese and bellpeppers It's been quite sometime that my folks prepared this sandwich at our home. Then, two weeks ago, we saw Elbert's CheeseSteak Sandwiches in Powerplant Mall. This cheesesteak store is the 'brother' of the famous steakhouse in downtown Makati.

When my girlfriend and I visited this one for our lunch last week, the one that I ordered is the American Cheesesteak. It is their 'basic' cheesesteak which comes with a chunky portion of thinly-sliced steak on a bread bun and topped with caramelized onions and melted cheddar cheese. Oooh! I still fondly recall the savory smell and flavor of the sandwich! :D Very vivid memories since the steak will be cooked in an iron griddle right in front of you.

Well, I want to share this with you. At first I thought that the sandwich that I had was just small, 'bitin' and quite pricey (around 300+Php for just the sandwich) but when I finished it, I felt so full. The sandwich was such a filling meal. The steak tastes real good and it was a tender bite. The sandwich's roll was also fresh and soft. It's an option to add 80Php to make your meal into a sort of a 'value meal' by the addition of a glass of soda and their fries, which is also good. It's quite close to In-N-Out 's fries.

I just hope that they can offer an option of extra toppings if you want to spike up your sandwich like added cheese, more onions etc.

Well this cheesesteak store definitely made my long-time crave for cheesesteak waaaayyy satisfied. :)

We finished our meal with a smiling tummy and a happy..'burp'. :)

Cheers!

Elbert's Cheesesteak Sandwiches

Lower Basement Powerplant Mall,

Makati City

Explorin' Sichuan at Sze-Chuan House

Chinese food in Manila are heavily influence by Cantonese cooking by way of HongKong. These involves dimsum, roasting, braising, frying, slow-cooked hot pots, rich and flavorful sauces and
savory stews.

However, I also love to try other Chinese dishes like those of the Sze-chuan cuisine.

Sze-chuan or Sichuan cooking are known for their spicy dishes. Quite a robust flavor! They are very liberal in their use of chillies and pepper. Stir-frying is the most common form of cooking a Sze-chuan dish. Images of a sizzling wok with veggies and meat over a high-flame plays on my mind whenever I think of Sze-Chuan dishes.

If you want Sze-Chuan dishes, try to drop a visit to the Sze-Chuan House along Roxas Blvd. Yup, the name sounds very flat and ordinary, and not eye-catching for me. It has been there for
the longest time (since late 70s) but it did not attract my attention until recently. I always pass by this restaurant when I was still in college but it didn't caught my attention for the misconception that it's just an ordinary Chinese restaurant serving the typical Chinese dishes. But when we dropped this place a visit last weekend, we were surprised to see that their menu boasts different varieties of Sze-Chuan dishes along with other Chinese dishes.

Oh and I almost forgot, their ambiance also reminds me of those old Chinese restaurants (laminated woodworks, linen tables, incandescent lamps) that we used to visit when we were still young.

We ordered a serving of the KungPao Frog Legs and the Double-Cooked Pork for our lunch.

KungPao Frog legs is a traditional Sze-chuan dish made of stir-fried frog legs cooked with a sweet spicy sauce seasoned with sundried chillies, sliced leeks and garnished with peanuts. A few years back, I already tried the KungPao Chicken that's why we tried the frog legs variety. I am no big fan of frog legs due to the distinct unique flavor of its meat but the dish do taste good. It's not my favorite dish but I can go along with it. My girlfriend loved the dish that she ate a big portion of the frog legs.

The other trademark Sichuan dish of Double-cooked Pork was served next. The Double- Cooked Pork has a long history in Sichuan cooking. I like it better than the frog legs. The dish came in generous portion of pork bacon cuts (not the bacon cold cuts) seasoned with spices(predominantly chillies) and garnished with sliced bell peppers and onions. This stir-fried dish tasted great. They're a bit spicy and salty.

Their Yangchow rice is just ordinary, though it tasted more of like a 'Filipinized' Yangchow rice.

What lies next for us when we go back here are their Dandan Noodles and their rendition of the Mapo Doufu. Another trademark Sze-chuan dishes.

When you visit this place, try to look for the menu items with red exclamation marks as these are the traditional Sze-Chuan dishes. The more the exclamations get, the spicier and hotter it gets. :)

Cheers!

Sze-Chuan House

Aloha Hotel

2150 Roxas Blvd. cor. Quirino Ave.,

Malate, Manila

02 526-8088 ; 02 525-4192

Suzhou's Xiao Long Bao

We were craving for a dimsum meal last night and we headed straight to Binondo. We drove through the side streets and searched for Suzhou Dimsum.

Suzhou's specialty is the Xiao Long Bao. This is a dumpling filled with meat, kuchay, spices and a spoonful of hot broth.

Suzhou's version have a meatball that tastes with a hint of ginger inside the dumpling which is further enhanced by the flavor of the vinegar dip with julienned ginger. These are great! This is the second time that I tasted Xiao Long Bao and I'd say that this is better then the first one that I tried. I think this is the the perfect Xiao Long Bao for me. Suzhou also offers frozen Xiao Long Bao and other dimsum for take away.

Their Steamed Soy Beef and Tofu Seafood Soup are also great. I love the Tofu soup since it is not that too rich and heavy. It's midway between rich versus a clear broth. It is also infused with a lot of squid and shrimp. Light and warm! Perfect to savor down your palate along with an ice-cold bottle of Tsingtao beer.

Enjoy!

Suzhou Dimsum
Gandara St. (Padilla St.), Binondo, Manila

Warm delicious and quick chow from the heart of Binondo

Well, I can say that this post is a part of my 'Noodle Series'. Kidding aside, I have tried another version of Chinese noodles in Binondo. This is when I paid a visit to Masuki.

Masuki (originally Ma Mon Luk) is a Chinese eatery which specializes in noodle soups or 'mami'. We had a breakfast date here this week and I was introduced to their Asado Mami. The Asado Mami is a serving of noodles in chicken broth and topped with chopped spring onions and slices of pork asado. Now, this is the part which is different. Before you eat, you will be offered a small cup of asado sauce for you to use as a siding. You can use it as a dipping sauce for your asado slices or you can pour some of it to the soup broth. I chose the latter. I poured some asado sauce to the soup to give it a more balanced flavor. Their mami is different since the chewy noodles are white-ish and not yellowish.

Well that's it! A warm, delicious and filling Chinese noodle breakfast from Masuki! :)

Masuki Mami Restaurant

931 Benavides St.,

Binondo, Manila

244-07-45, 243-2674

a homey and a laid back lunch @ Mary Grace Cafe

My mom is very fond of this cafe in Piazza Serendra and so our family decided to tag along for a weekend lunch. I had an appetizer of their Cheese Roll and a plate of the the Spicy Lemon Scampi pasta.

I love the Cheese Roll! It's so soft and contains generouse amount of cheese inside. A very tasty treat! I prefer to have it grilled since the dough is warmed-up and the cheese is soft.

Their Spicy Lemon Scampi pasta is also great. It's a pasta topped with big pan-seared shrimps. The pasta is flavored with a n olive oil-based sauce flavored with chillies, lemon and garlic.

Then I topped off the meal with a glass of ice-cold apple cinnamon iced tea.

I also love the ambience and the service of the cafe. The ambience is very homey and cozy and gave me a relaxing athmosphere. They also feature cute table designs wherein notes from customers are posted on the dinner tables. The crew are uber friendly and attentive.

Now, I know why my mom always frequents this cafe whenever she is in Serendra.

Mary Grace Cafe

Piazza Serendra,

Bonifacio Global City,

Taguig, Metro Manila

856-0308

Shinjuku Ramen house

Last week, I had a terrible toothache and I preferred a soft diet since I can't chew that much. I was craving for foods that are easy to gulp down without the need for great munching. I met my girlfriend for a lunch date and we headed for a quick lunch at Shinjuku Ramen House in Makati Ave. As a big fan of Ramen dishes, I am very eager to eat despite the toothache. This is already my third time to visit Shinjuku and I have delicious memories of this ramen-ya.

For lunch and for the benefit of my aching tooth, we had a serving of Miso Ramen, Gyoza and Chahan fried rice.

The Miso Ramen is good. It came in a big bowl with ramen noodles topped with bean sprouts and mushrooms immersed in a Shiromiso (white miso) broth. The shiromiso broth was not very strong but just have enough flavor. The broth is very light and easy to munch down with. The Miso Ramen does not have an extraordinary taste but I love this type of ramen with its light, plain and tangy taste. To give it a kick, one can choose to sprinkle the chillied rayu oil to make it spicier. We just shared one regular order of this Ramen since we were afraid that we might not finish an individual serving.

Another dish that we shared is the Gyoza. Shinjuku is proud of their gyoza as one of their bestselling dishes on their menu. Their Gyoza was a big and chunky dumpling flavored with a strong garlic flavor, which I certainly love for a gyoza. It's also perfect to be dipped in its own tare sauce.

The Chahan fried rice is just ordinary. Nothing special about it but it also taste good. We just ordered it as a 'filler' if ever we went 'bitin' in our lunch.

We'll be back here to try their Tsuke-Men ramen.

Enjoy!

Shinjuku Ramen House

Makati Ave., Makati City

890-6106, 890-6107