Savory Chicken

Specialty: filipino, chinese
Location: Mall Of Asia
Service Charge: None
Price Range: php 135 - 210
Rating: ★★★




In 1950, two Chinese brothers had the brilliant idea to start a panciteria in Quiapo. They eventually developed a "special" recipe for fried chicken and gravy that became popular with the local Chinese community. Savory Chicken then opened its first branch in Escolta serving Filipino and Chinese dishes. After more than 50 years, the third generation of the Ting family has re-launched the Classic Savory Chicken and that is our feature for today.

Yang Chow Fried Rice
Price: php 120
Rating: ★★★
Traditional Chinese fried rice with shrimp, minced pork, eggs and green peas. Yellow rice mixed with bits of meat, carrots and peas. I reckon it goes well with anything. Not spectacular, but not bad either.

Savory Chicken
Rating: ★★★★
We got a half piece of the supposedly famed Savory Chicken. It is served with gravy and a tiny slice of banana. I really don't know how you are going to share that banana piece but in any case, it's the chicken that is the focus here. The chicken is indeed meaty and juicy. Personally, I don't really see anything special about it. The chicken is flavorful by itself, anyway, but the gravy really does add a lot of flavor to it. The taste of the chicken gets tiring and monotonous after a while. Then again, that happens to most fried chicken anywhere else.

Lo Han Chai
Price: php 120
Rating: ★★
A medley of seasonal vegetables. Perfect for vegetarians. As far as I can tell, it has cabbages, baby corn, mushrooms, peas and carrots. There were other veggies that I wasn't able to identify. Looks a lot like chopsuey but much less appetizing.

Conclusion
Their menu list is a bit sparse for something that serves two cuisines. The technique employed here is specialization. Less dishes but supposedly better than others. Casual dining is the style here. Not really for romantic dates nor for large gatherings but more suited towards casual family dinners. On a side note, a rather unfortunate incident happened when we dined here. The receipt was taking forever to make. Customers got rather upset and frustrated at waiting. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt that it will never happen again. It's a rather unpleasant wait between giving your money and getting your receipt.

Zhu: Part 2

Zhu

Specialty: Chinese
Location: 103 Tecoma bldg. 5th ave. corner 32nd street, Fort Bonifacio, Global City, Taguig
Service Charge: none
Rating: ★★★★

This an update to Zhu since we covered it before. We had a chance to dine there again so here are more entries you could examine.




Beef Hofan
Price: php 160
Rating: ★★★★
Flat noodles and vegetables cooked with that secret Chinese sauce that I could never figure out. Actually, I couldn't figure out almost all of the ingredients in this dish. It could be made out of unicorns and I wouldn't know. It tastes good, thats for sure.

Crispy Fish Fillet with Salad
Price: php 220
Rating:★★★
The fish is definitely crispy but the taste is a little bland compared to their other, more flavorful offerings. It tastes good with the salad and the accompanying dip. But once you run out of those, you get left with bland crispy fish.





Chicken Fillet Teriyaki
Price: php 198
Rating: ★★★★
Bummer. This one is exactly the same as the Chicken Teriyaki Rice Topping. Well, its still the same 4 stars.

Davao: Food Trip Part 3: Ahfat Seafoods Plaza

This is the last part of a running series on Davao. Here is part one and two.

Ahfat Seafoods Plaza

Specialty: Chinese Seafood
Price Range: php 150 - 250
Location: Davao
Rating: ★★★★

Ahfat Seafoods Plaza is a no-nonsense place that focuses on nothing but the food. The place is not posh but it's clean with deep hues of green for the walls. It has a decidedly Chinese atmosphere to it with several red dragons and red Chinese lanterns hanging from the ceiling. It's Chinese food with Filipino influence.

The Menu
The chef's recommendations were:

• Minced Pork with Lettuce (San Soy Bao)
• Prawns with Lobster Sauce
• Spare Ribs with Taro (Gabi)
• Taiwan Pechay with Garlic & Salted Fish
• Pompano with Alexander Sauce
• Big Scallop Cook(ed) in Two Ways: Sauteed & Fried

Despite the recommendations, we didn't pick any of them. I decided to let my voracious companions choose lest I be castigated for my apparent lack of decision making skills. We were also sporting two guests this time (our unofficial tour guide and her SO). I managed to whip out my camera earlier but nonetheless, much to their dislike, I am still taking too much time and decided to attack some of the food while I was taking photos. I apologize for the hurried and blurred, darkened look. Besides, we have hungry guests to feed and these were the same people who treated us to Taklobo during the first night in Davao.

Hot and Sour Soup
Rating: ★★★★
I was terribly misled when I read this menu entry. I was thinking "hot" as in "not cold" and not "hot" as in "spicy". It was my first time having this kind of soup and it was a nice treat. It was a little too spicy for my taste and I really don't like too much spice in my food but my companions really seemed to have enjoyed it. Anyway, if it's too spicy, take a tip from my Chinese friends: add a bit of black vinegar. It dulls the spice.


Yang Chow Fried Rice
Rating: ★★★★
Of all the rice platters I have ever seen, this one takes the prize for presentation. You won't see a single grain of rice at the time of serving. The rice is enveloped in blanket of thinly fried scrambled eggs.






Shrimp Gambas
Rating: ★★★★★
The serving is huge and the scent is mouth watering. When we entered the place, it was already full of this dish's aroma. After inquiring what it was, it was decided that we must have this dish at our table. Crunchy, spicy and plenty to go around.

Spicy Spare Ribs
Rating: ★★★★
Cholesterol goodness galore. Served just the way I like it: crispy and not too oily. I like my cholesterol to come from the meat. Not the oil. I recommend people with hypertension problems to stay away from this dish and also the Shrimp Gambas. I also recommend getting a veggie dish to go with this one. Since the taste gets monotonous after a while.




Seafood Roll
Rating: ★★★★
A veritable concoction of seafood bits stuffed inside a breaded flour shell. Tastes good with or without a sauce. As with the dish above, I recommend getting veggies to compliment this dish.

Conclusion
Food, more specifically seafood, is at the core of this place. The setting, ambiance and furniture are mere afterthoughts. I wouldn't recommend this for a romantic date. I most certainly advise against marriage proposals at this place although family gatherings would do fine here . Nonetheless, it's still a recommended place if you visit Davao. Ahfat serves excellent Davao cuisine at bargain price.

Credits
I would like to thank our unofficial tour guides, the beautiful Ms. Elvira Uy and her beau, during this amazing trip to Davao. Thank you for showing us where to eat good food. :D

Mey Lin

Cuisine: Chinese
Location: Ground Floor, Sunset Avenue (North Wing), Mall Of Asia; Adriatico; Boracay Regency; Megamall
Telephone: 0917-5232000
Service Charge: None
Opening Times: 10am - 9pm (Mall Hours)
Menu Price Range:

• Noodles: php 70 - 150
• Meat/Seafood: php 160 - 300

Rating: ★★★★

Hand-pulled noodles. This is what this place boasts about. They even have a chef dedicated to making their noodles. Like most Chinese Restaurants, this place caters to more of a group of diners than two people on a date. That said, they made no fuss about giving us the seat that we wanted. Nice. Plus points for excellent service.

The Menu
Their hand-pulled noodles are on a page before everything else. This is what they are particularly proud of. Other categories are the Meat and Seafood category. Didn't try any of those. We are here for their claimed authenticity and damn, I'm going to try it.

Iced Tea
Price:
Rating: ★★
Off to a bad start. Instant iced tea variety.

House Tea
Price: Free
Rating: ★★★
Not your regular house tea. The tea bag is cloth woven and bigger than the usual paper tea bags. The pot could use more water (and thereby needs to be a bit bigger or the bag needs to be smaller) since the tea has a rather strong taste.


Fried Dumplings:
Price:
Rating: ★★★★
Steamed dumplings that were then fried. Excellent consistency and texture. Eight pieces are more than enough to exite your appetite. Great Appetizer all in all.






Ansio Beef Noodle Soup
Price: php 90 (snack) 150 (meal)
Rating: ★★★★
Noodles were definitely out of the ordinary. But, as expected, I haven't tasted hand pulled noodles before so I couldn't make any comparison. But as far as noodles are concerned, this one is definitely better than any i've known.
The snack size was definitely small for me since the noodles were scarce. Either the noodles are too expensive or they just don't have enough to go around since there was only one person doing the pulling. I didn't pick the meal size since the bowl was *huge*. There were only 2 cubes of beef on this dish but they were really soft and flavorful, so no complaints there.



Seafood Noodle Soup
Price: php 100 (snack) 140 (meal)
Rating: ★★★★
Seafood-y goodness. Clean, clear broth with a crab stick, fish fillet, squid, fish tofu and seaweeds. That's a lot of ingredients right there. very economical.

Conclusion
The place could hold around 40 people comfortably. Maybe more. It's more suited to group dining than date dining. You will occasionally get to watch the noodles being pulled (pulling is not the only activity in noodle making). It's a great place to spend the time while waiting for the rains to subside. Hot noodles while waiting out the rain is priceless.

Zhu

Specialty: Chinese food
Location: 103 Tecoma bldg. 5th ave. corner 32nd street, Fort Bonifacio, Global City, Taguig
Service Charge: none
Rating: ★★★★

Zhu exudes a clear Chinese setting. Save for the screaming purplish pink chairs and the huge Mcdonald's logo just in front of the restaurant itself. Sometimes it pays to stay a few blocks away from the fast food chains lest you be mistaken for one.

The Menu
Zhu serves Chinese food similar to those found in Super Bowl of China and Big Buddha. In addition to the usual, it also serves food which aren't usually found in restaurant menus. Food which are, amazingly enough, what we would usually call "street food". Yep. The kind which are sold in side-street grills and unlicensed, non-taxable, pure money-making food carts. Lets have a look at what they have

• pig blood
• pig shoulders
• chicken gizzard with sesame oil (served with style)
• isaw
• pig intestine
• pig ears

Basically street food served on an expensive plate. They even have fish skin with vinegar as a free appetizer. But that's as local as it goes. The menu contains the usual Chinese food suspects as we can see in the chef's recommended order section.

Iced Tea
Price: php 45
Rating: ★★
The usual generic instant iced tea. Nothing revolutionary.

House Tea
Price: free
Rating: ★★★★
This is where things start getting interesting. Their tea is no usual tea. It looks like water but taste like flowers because thats just what they are. Flowers. Chrysanthemum tea. Definitely not as boring as it sounds.



Chicken Teriyaki Rice Topping
Price: php 160
Rating: ★★★★
Oddly enough, the chicken teriyaki rice topping is not rice topped with anything. When I asked why, they also didn't know. Apparently, they don't know what rice topping means (I was later informed that rice topping dishes served in China were also served liked this). Thats not to say that the food didn't taste well. It did. Meaty bits of chicken served with teriyaki sauce completes the sweet, protein side of the dish. The leafy vegetables, two slices of designer cut carrots and a combination of different mushrooms balances out the sweetness of the dish. A good combination indeed. The veggie side tastes much like traditional Chinese chopsuey with the secret sauce that i could never really figure out. All in all, a good balanced flavor for a balanced meal.


Beef Brisket and Wanton Noodle Soup
Price: php 140
Rating: ★★★★
The soup tasted like usual Chinese noodle soup and at served at just the right temperature. Except for the beef, there is no beef flavor on the soup itself. There are two big chunks of tender beef though. The beef is so soft that it's not really chopstick-friendly anymore. Grab a chunk and the beef strips just slide off. In any case, soft beef is always better than tough beef. The wanton is the usual wanton you find anywhere. Nothing special. As for the noodles, its thinner than the usual canton noodles you find at fast food joints.

Conclusion
Although it's definitely similar to most Chinese restaurants, they offer a lot of things that deviate from the usual. Aside from the screaming purplish pink seats to the street food menu, they also offer hot pot meals where you get to cook your own food and they give you raw food. No wonder they have no service charge. There is little to service if you avail of their hot pot meals. The hot pot meal is a good choice if you intend to converse a little while longer before you actually get to eat. Its a nice opportunity to tell or hear stories while you wait for the pot to simmer.