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.