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

The legacy of Chefoo

Growing up and living in Cavite City is a collection of vivid and colorful memories and experiences that I will cherish and be proud of as a Caviteno. There's the unique Chabacano language; the Tamales peanut paste cooked during the Todos Los Santos and Yuletide season; the Bacalao which is a staple meal during Lent; the 'quesillo' or commonly called 'kesong puti'; the townsfolk's untarnished devotion to the city's patroness, the Nuestra Senora dela Soledad de Porta Vaga; and many more. One of the many cultural images of my hometown that people always look back and always go back to is the Chefoo restaurant.

Chefoo, as it is colloquialy called has the full name of New Chefoo Restaurant. Chefoo started in 1945 as a small pansiteria which serves pansit and fried chicken. It is owned and operated by a Filipino-Chinese family who has served and continuously serve the people of Cavite City for more than half a decade already. When I was young, I used to think of Chefoo as a plain Chinese restaurant, just it. But when I grew up, I realized that it is not just plain Chinese restaurant because they also serve Filipino and American dishes as well. It's more of a melting-pot restaurant for Chinese, Filipino and American dishes. One of the reason I thought was, they serve American dishes maybe because of the proximity of the US Naval bases in Sangley Point to the restaurant.

One of the distinct trait of Chefoo is the menu are predominantly Chinese cuisine-infused, but majority of them have Spanish nametags; example are: Gallina Frita, Menudencia con Kasuy, Comida China, Camaron Rebosado, Dorado con Jamon, Escabeche, Pescado con Tokwa y Tausi to name just a few. As you can see, the retaurant has flourished and infused the different cultures that have thrived and prospered in Cavite City over the past centuries.

My personal favorites here are the Hototay soup, Crab Fooyoong and their Sweet and Sour Pork.

I love the light and clear broth of the Hototay soup. It's a light soup infused with vegetables, shrimps, pork strips, ginger, and raw egg which will cook in the broth as you stir it. It's a great soup for lunch or dinner.

The Crab Fooyoong is also great. It is a simple egg omelette infused with onions and crab meat (not imitation crab meat) and smothered with its own special savory sauce.

The dish that I love the most here is the Sweet and Sour Pork. Their version has a sauce which is brownish than reddish in hue and it is slightly different from the other sweet and sour dishes that I had. The dish has a perfact balance between sweetness and tanginess and the pork nuggets are not too tough or 'makunat'. They all go well with the Shanghai Rice that we used to order.

Their fried chickens are also one of my favorites: both the Gallina Frita and the Fried Chicken. The Gallina Frita is a version of fried chicken that is cooked like that of the Chinese-style fried chicken. Devoid of crispy batter, they are marinated in a soy-based solution, seasoned with spices and then fried to perfection. Another is the plain Fried Chicken. This Fried Chicken is more of the American-style. It is coated in a seasoned batter and then deep-fried. What I love about this dish is the crispiness and the chicken's delicious batter coating. What's perfect for me is devouring both of these chicken dishes with a banana ketchup on the side.

One of the unique specialty of Chefoo is the Pansit Tostado. It is a peculiar item for those people not familiar with it. Basically, this is a noodle dish, similar to Pansit Guisado but served with crispy, toasted noodles on top.
It is not just plain toasted noodles like the Chinese Birthday noodles but it looks more like a one big toasted noodle cookie which was carefully toasted at the bottom of the wok.

My memories of Chefoo includes family reunions and other occasions celebrated here. As you can see, it is a very verstile place for events. I think the one that I haven't done here yet are drinking sessions.

Try this out when you have the chance to visit Cavite City.

Oh, and before I forget, do not forget to have a sip of their home-made Iced tea to accompany your meal. It's very good!

New Chefoo Restaurant

945 P.Burgos Avenue,

San Roque, Cavite City

Japanese 'Torta' experience

After my Hana Takoyaki experience, we then tried it's neighboring izakaya, the Kagura. Kagura's specialty is the Okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki is a compound word which derives from two words; ''Okonomi" which means" to one's liking" and "yaki" which means "to grill". It is a popular teppan-fried, batter-based dish. It is served throughout Japan but it is extremely popular in the Kansai region. Okonomiyaki is made from a batter of egg, water, cabbage and flour then grilled in a teppan griddle with an assortment of stuffings like meat, seafood and vegetables. When cooked, it is then brushed with a sweet spicy Okonomi sauce (a brownish sauce similar to Worcestershire sauce), Kewpie mayonnaise and finally dusted with Katsuboshi and Aonori flakes. Okonomiyaki is also commonly called as the "Japanese pancake".

Kagura's Okonomiyaki is cooked right in front of the customer. They have a bar-style arrangement where customers are seated right in fornt of the teppan grills. I find this as a very good style since the customers (specially first timers) can have a first-hand view of how the Okoniyaki is prepared. Aside from that, they also have 3-4 tables where diners can have a privacy. Kagura prepares the okonomiyaki a la 'Kansai-style', which means they grill the
batter together with the stuffings over the hot teppan grill.

We chose to order the Okonomiyaki-mix since it is our first time and that posed as the
one with a little bit of everything. The dish boasted generous amounts of cabbage, pork,
shrimps and squid. It is not over-brushed with the mayonnaise and okonomi sauce that is why it doesn't have a very rich and no 'umay' taste. Well, for me, its more comparable to the Pinoy
'torta' than a pancake since it involves savoury ingredients instead of sweet stuffings like in
pancakes.

Okonomiyaki-mix is a very tasty meal on itself. I think it is a meal on itself since I saw that
several Japanese patrons are eating their okonomiyaki on its own devoid of a cup of gohan.
We chowed our Okonomiyaki-mix with a side dish of their Yakisoba and several rounds of complimentary of Mugi Cha.

The staff is warm and very entertaining. You can have converstions with them as they cook
your order. You can also see that the owner is a huge fan of Hanshin Tigers baseball team
of Japan. Aside from baseball mementos, this cozy restaurant is also adorned with different
Noh masks.

We'll be coming back here to try their other okonomiyaki and their Hanshin Ika as recommended by one of the staff.

Gochisosama Deshita!

Kagura
Little Tokyo,
2277 Chino Roces formerly Pasong Tamo St.,
Makati City
(632) 894-3856

goin' dumplings @ Dong Bei

Dumplings are quite gaining notoriety over Metro Manila recently. Apart from their cheaper prices, they are easier to chow and they are usually marketed together with stir fried noodles and a glass of cold drink. If you are into the dumpling craze, try to visit Dong Bei Dumpling in Binondo.

Dong Bei means 'North East' in Chinese. As said, this type of dumpling originated from Northeastern China. Dong Bei serves authentic Chinese dumplings. Their dumplings can be chosen from the following varieties; pure minced pork or minced pork mixed with chopped kuchay all wrapped in their home made dumpling wrapper.

For your own choice, you can have it steamed or fried. We chose to have the steamed dumpling than the fried since it is less sinful (just kidding!). Their dumpling comes with a dipping sauce made from a concoction of local vingar, soy sauce and minced garlic. For those with spicy tongues, you can ask for their home made chilli oil to make your dipping sauce a bit hotter.

Simple as it may seem, their dumpling is very juicy and tasty. The wrapper is not too soggy nor too chewy after it was cooked. It was steamed perfectly and it suited my palate. A very light and delicious meal to end my day. While dining, you can also view how they make their dumplings.

As the dumplings are a light meal to the tummy, so is it's price tag. It comes for only 100 bucks per 10 piece order.

You can also try their xiao long pao (soup dumpling). This is quite similar to the dumplings mentioned above but with more broth inside the wrap.

Another optional add-on is the Xinjiang Beef which is a savory beef dish made from tenderloin cuts seasoned with spices and sesame oil then served with chopped cucumber.

Both of these meals are great complements to your dumpling meal.

Check it out!

Dong Bei Dumpling

Yuchengco St. (coming from Binondo Church Ongpin St., turn LEFT at Yuchengco St.)

Binondo, Manila