Author: Rochelle Sy Chua

It was the day when Typhoon Basyang striked Metro Manila.  Most of us didn’t have electricity & much worse, some of us didn’t have water & phones as well.  At dinner time, we decided to dine out at Shinjuku Ramen House.  Since it was rainy, ramen was the best food item to eat.

There were lots of customers that day but most are foreigners (Japanese to be specific).  Since Shinjuku is a Japanese restaurant, this isn’t something to be surprised about.  Although I find the restaurant’s prices to be expensive, I must admit the food does taste good.

Service is also not something I’m impressed with.  When I asked for the soup that comes w/ my order of fried rice, I had to follow up 3 times from different servers before it could be served to me.

Here is what we ordered:

• Gyoza (Php 250)

Probably one of the best gyoza I have eaten so far.  It was made perfectly, I wish I knew how they did it so I can try it  at home 😛  I think if you want to make a great gyoza like this, you really have to make sure that when you pan sear  the pan definitely has to be super hot!  Thus, you get this wonderful crisp outer covering.  And the taste is just mouth watering.  The difference in textures really give this dish that extra level of detail.  You have 2 choices, either order the 4 pieces gyoza (Php 165) or the 6 pieces one (Php 250).  Dip it with Shinjuku’s special sauce & you got one of the yummiest gyoza.

• Gekikara (Php 280)

If you love spicy food (like really spicy) then this ramen is for you.

• Chashu Men (Php 280)

We can probably describe this dish best as the basic Japanese ramen.  The great thing about restaurants that are authentic Japanese restaurants is that you get soup just like this.  The basic ramen, but with attention to detail.  I’m pretty sure that their broth has most probably been slow cooked and simmered for hours, which makes these soups just a bit above par from the normal run of the mill broths.  With great fresh ingredients, definitely worth ordering.

• Shoyu Ramen (Php 230)

I have no idea regarding the difference of this dish with Chashu Men coz both definitely looked the same to me.  Must be the broth I guess?  Well, on second thought it definitely is the broth since this broth was a bit lighter.  I just wished I asked the difference in the taste.

• Ebi Chahan (Php 240)

I know Shinjuku’s fried rice is overpriced.  With just one cup of fried rice, it will cost us Php240.  It was yummy and I can’t help but order that day.  Every bit of rice was tasty, I guess the only premium ingredient in that dish is the shrimp (Ebi in Japanese).  Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.  The soup is a great complement to the fried rice too.  But it is definitely a gourmet type of fried rice since it’s really filled with ingredients too, so in that case, it’s a bit above and beyond the normal fried rice.

• Yakisoba (Php 240)

The restaurant’s version of yakisoba.  It has a lots of ingredients, a full-blown menu item, very rich with taste & flavor.  It includes squid, shrimps, meat, vegetables, wow, too many in 1 simple dish good for one.  If you’re a seafood fan, then this may be something you want to try out.  A sort of mini seafood platter combined with noodles.   It definitely could be refined in its presentation, but other than that, definitely a very interesting dish.

Shinjuku is located at Makati Avenue.  It has lots of parking spaces so you don’t have to worry about that.  I can see myself eating there often for the next days to come as rainy season is here.  I just have to be careful as the prices are steep, might hurt my budget hehehe 😛

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Shinjuku Ramen House
7853 Makati Ave. cor. Hercules St., Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
(02) 890-6107

My last stop for our Ongpin adventure was Sincerity Cafe & Restaurant.  I wasn’t able to join the whole day trip as I had a seminar to attend in the afternoon.  Sincerity is famous for their chicken & I was only able to sample it just last month when we ordered takeout at their Greenhills branch.  But like the saying goes, best to eat dishes at their original branch so that’s were we had our lunch.

They may not have the best of ambiance and decorations, but the fact that, as expected, it had a very Chinese feel when we entered the restaurant, made dining very authentic.  Red lanterns, Chinese symbols, Buddha & Chinese people all around the place.  Authentic Chinese FTW! :P:P

You will see articles written about the restaurant & posters of their famous dishes framed & hung on their walls.  Something to view while we waited for our orders.

The restaurant is a busy, busy place.  They had a steady stream of customers every few minutes or so.  When I asked the waitress if she could take a picture of us, she practically declined.  What a disappointment but I guess they prioritized getting orders delivered fast.  That’s how busy they are.

It was a quick lunch.  We ordered the ff.:

• Sincerity Fried Chicken (Php 150)

This is what Sincerity is famous for.  I think the thing that separates them is how they fry their chicken.  It’s basically the home-style way.  Their chicken parts are not too big so you can easily finish a few pieces of it on your own.  Once in a while, home-style fried chicken is just what we need.  No extra spices, no special sauces, but just great chicken that is perfectly fried and seasoned.  Sincerity definitely provides this.

• Fried Oyster Cake (Php 120)

They say that Sincerity Restaurant’s oyster cake is also to die for.  I do not know why but I wasn’t impressed with this dish.  I like oyster cake even if I’m not fond of oysters.  But the oysters really stood out in this dish which didn’t make me quite appreciate it as much.  My colleagues loved this dish by the way.  So, if you’re fond of oyster cake that is actually really loaded with oysters, then this dish is probably for you.  But, if you’re like me and prefer a more light tasting oyster cake, then try to stay away from this dish.

• Ki-Kiam (Php 100)

We call this the true kikiam hahahaha!  We ordered 2 pieces of Kikiam (Php50 each), they sliced it into bite pieces.  It’s basically a pork appetizer dish.  It was good especially if you dip it in ketchup.  If you prefer spicy, then dip it in hot sauce 🙂

• Black Gulaman (Php 40)

I loved this!  Nothing special as all black gulaman taste the same but still, who can really go wrong with black gulaman since it’s one of my favorite drinks anyway 🙂

I think I already got my dose of Sincerity Chicken.  I probably won’t be craving for it anytime soon.  Not really something I would want to eat often, probably just once in awhile.  Glad that I was able to try it, at least I’m not behind of what’s hot in the must-try Chinese restaurants in the metro.  If you are planning a food trip of sorts in the Binondo area, then go ahead and try Sincerity’s Chicken with it’s very authentic Chinese dining atmosphere.

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Sincerity Cafe & Restaurant
497 Yuchengco Street, Binondo, Manila, Philippines
(02) 241-9972

My colleagues & I had a great Binondo adventure last weekend.  We walked around Binondo, Manila & sampled every popular Chinese dish in the city.  It was munch munch day for us!  No diet for the day 😉

Our 1st stop was at Tasty Dumplings.  We ordered all their specialty dishes & we were all happy & ready for more!   I was quite surprised that a lot of them hadn’t yet tried Tasty Dumplings as I know they had a branch in Greenhills & Quezon City.  Originally in Manila, it’s best to sample the dishes in their maiden branch.

Here are the dishes we have sampled late morning that day:

• Dumplings (Php 70)

Since we wanted to try out everything, we opted to have the dumpling order with both fried & steamed.  Some of us wanted to be healthy & so just ended up sticking with the steamed version, while I just wanted to eat delicious food.  In my opinion, fried is still more yummy although it will have a bad effect on my health hehehe 😛  Tasty Dumplings is the name of the restaurant so it’s a given that their dumplings is the best in town.  And with any dumpling a most important part of such a dish is the actual filling itself.  If it ends up being too salty or lacking seasoning, then it ruins the entire dish.  But as always, Tasty Dumpling just seems to know their dumplings, and as usual, it was delicious!

• Hongma (Php 130)

Best-Seller for the day!  This is actually a dish that everyone just loved.  Not for the health conscious, but definitely a great dish.  It’s basically braised pork that is a combination of salty and sweet at the same time.  The best thing about eating braised pork like this is that it’s slowly cooked so the meat is tender, it absorbs a lot of the flavor of the sauce, and the sauce in turn gets that really defined pork taste.  The result is a good marriage of flavors.  I think they may have probably used a little soy sauce and maybe brown sugar for the added sweetness, but I’m not sure.  All I know is that everyone kept raving as to how delicious the dish was.

Of course, the fat in any meat dish gives it more taste, so just don’t expect “healthy” when you order this dish.  Just think DELICIOUS hahaha!

This dish can actually be eaten together with either rice, noodles or bread but I will insist you to eat it together with Tasty Dumplings’ Silver roll bread.

• Silver Roll Bread (Php 42)

I can safely say that this is fried bread.  I don’t know how they cooked it, but one word to describe this menu item is “PERFECT!”  The best thing about this bread is that fried taste you get with the crust, and that oh so soft middle that is just light and fluffy.  The sauce from the Hongma, the pork itself, coupled with this bread is a definite must-try combo.  You’ll never go wrong when you eat this with their “Hongma”.

• Pork Chop with Noodles (Php 99)

It’s ironic that even though the restaurant’s name is Tasty Dumplings, I always relate it with porkchop.  As I believe, their porkchop is the more popular dish in the place.  You can either order their porkchop as ala carte (Php 76) or with rice (Php 99).  We opted to order with noodles since we’re going to eat again in another place in like 10minutes after we leave hahaha!  Anyway, their porkchop is huge!  I think they sliced it very thinly in the middle then made it look like 1 giant piece of porkchop, the term is to butterfly a thick cut of the pork.  And actually this method is also good because you get more of the fried exterior which is always usually the best part of any pork chop.

And with Tasty Dumpling, that crispy, perfectly seasoned crust is really the reason why it’s just so good!  And to add to the perfection of it all, is that you can also choose to eat it with their special sauce (w/c coincidentally is used for their dumplings as well).

• Wintermelon Juice (Php 40)/Soya Milk (Php 28)

Tasty Dumplings not only serves good food but also good selection of drinks.  My favorite has always been wintermelon juice & soya milk.  Other restaurants do already serve wintermelon juice but it’s at Tasty dumplings that I had my 1st encounter with.  Their soya milk is served cold by the way.

With great company & great food, you’ll never go wrong.  The Hongma & Silver Roll Bread were our favorites.  We’ll definitely have our Ongpin trip repeat within the year.  Eating yummy & affordable food in the Manila streets is just fun, fun & fun!  And with Tasty Dumpling, it was definitely a great start to our Manila street food trip!

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Tasty Dumplings
620 Ongpin Street, Binondo, Manila, Philippines
(02) 242-5195

July 2010 has just started but I already had lunch at The Tea Republic twice.  I used to eat a lot there when my mom was still working in Makati.  The Tea Republic used to be my mom’s favorite hang-out place, no matter if it was morning (breakfast) or noontime (lunch).

I’ve always seem to order the same menu items when I visit.   Actually, I realized that it had been such a long time since my last visit (more than a year already!).  I missed it so much that I have to come back like twice this month hahaha!

Ironically, it’s the food that I love at Tea Republic when it was supposed to be their drinks that they should be famous for.  That’s okay though, at least, we know they offer more.

During the past 2 visits, we ordered the ff.:

• Prawn Thermidor (Php 275)

I first encountered this dish during a cooking class.  When I saw this in The Tea Republic’s menu, I can’t help but try it.  It was so delicious!  I just love it!  It’s prawns with cream sauce made of mustard, mushrooms & pepper.  It’s great and really unique that they added mustard to a cream sauce, especially with a prawn dish.  The combination of flavors really make this dish stand out.  It could use a bit more color, and the garnish of bacon bits I believe provide a little of that, but maybe not enough.  The presentation is simple, but could be refined a bit more.  But the taste, the taste is just superb!

• Salpicao Aglio y Olio (Php 255)

Beef tenderloin cubes with garlic & olive oil.  Among the rice dishes served in the restaurant, I think this is the only one served with garlic rice.  Potato wedges & red pimiento peppers are also served with the beef cubes.  I actually think that a rich beef dish goes perfect with garlic rice.  The sauce maybe could have been thicker, but other than that I think this is a very well thought out and executed dish.

• Grilled Schublig w/ Onion Sauce (Php 260)

Italian sausage w/ onion sauce.   Can be served with rice or pasta.  The server didn’t ask me earlier, I would have chosen pasta 🙁  I wasn’t able to finish the rice but the sausage?  Finish every bit of it hahaha!  The onion sauce was a great companion with the sausage I think.

• Tea Republic Cold Teas (Php 60)

Their specialty are the different variants of cold tea.  We ordered Berry Passion Zing, Mango Mango & Black Lychee Fruit Pandan.  The Pandan tea though is by far the best among the three.  Berry Passion is too sweet but still okay, I ended up asking for more ice to make the sweetness just right for my taste.  Their teas come in 2 sizes: Personal (Php 60) & Grande (Php 85).  I’m glad that even after so many years, they didn’t increase their tea price.

• Mango Tart Cake

I’m not fond of cakes but I can eat a whole of  this Mango Tart.  It’s just too delicious!  Frozen mango with yummy tart.  The cream provides a good touch with the design of the cake but I wouldn’t eat those.  Best eaten frozen.  I forgot to take note of the price but as I remember, 1 large-size whole cake is about Php 900.

I think I might want to have my breakfast there next week! hahaha!   This is me, when craving, I just cannot control myself :P:P Well, I must say that the Tea Republic is one of the better restaurants nearby our office.  So whenever we have visitors & we wouldn’t want to walk far, this restaurant definitely comes into mind as a place to recommend.

Have you tried Tea Republic?  You should!  Especially the Mango Tart Cake, yummy!! 😀

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The Tea Republic
G/F, Pacific Star Building, Makati Ave., Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
(02) 848-0270

I’ve been hearing a lot about “The Collective” but had no idea what it was until last night.  It’s a new place in Makati City that has a lot of unique establishments all in one area all clustered together which is definitely why it’s called “The Collective”.  One of these such collectives is Wabi-Sabi Noodle House & Vegetarian Grocery.  The restaurant is a pretty cool place I must say.  It has a homey-feeling to it.  It can sit about 30 pax and serve only a variety of dishes.

The menu items available for order are so limited that I can actually list them down for you right here:

• Lemongrass Iced Tea (Php 40)
• Steamed Buns (Php 25)
• Pot Smokers (Php 45)
• Veggie Cracklings (Php 40)
• Bahn Mi (Php 150)
• Shoyu Ramen (Php 95)
• Viet Pho (Php 95)

You get to order your chosen dishes at the counter & pay right away.  They will then serve your orders at your table.  I’m not sure if the one who took our orders was actually the owner but I think he was.

I almost wanted order each & every item on the menu hahahaha! Good thing I didn’t but anyhow, the ff. were the ones ordered in the table I sat in:

• Shoyu Ramen (Php 95)

Seems like a japanese version of the ramen.  This however is a vegetarian soup.  Very tasty dish & the serving is just right.  These dishes are always perfect if the seasoning isn’t too much and oftentimes you can tell if the broth has been slowly cooked.  I think with this dish, they must have simmered the broth really long, which is good, because you can really taste the full flavors really combined perfectly.  The greens were most probably added just before serving.  It’s really interesting because the ingredients seemed as if there was meat in it even though it’s a vegetarian dish.  Great job on the execution of this dish.  I guess this is why they only have a few menu items.  The lack in quantity is made up by the excellent quality of the dishes.

• Viet Pho (Php 95)

I didn’t order this but it looked like a Thailand version of the ramen.  I asked the one who ordered this & he said that it was good.  The Shoyu Ramen I ordered was excellent too!  I might need to go back to Wabi-Sabi again to sample this dish & decide for myself which one is better 🙂

• Pot Smokers (Php 45)

Wonder what pot smokers are?  It’s actually just plain gyoza or more commonly called dumplings!  Looked so yummy!  almost everyone ordered this, I didn’t but I will when I get back.  The great thing about this dish is the contrast in texture that is added by pan searing the dumplings, as well as the great smoky flavor that is added.  Just too bad I wasn’t able to try it out, the sauce on it seemed delicious too, I wonder if it had a smoky sweet barbecue flavor to it, because that would definitely be a great way to top off this dish.

• Lemongrass Iced Tea (Php 40)

A healthy drink & a delicious one too!  I can drink like liters of Lemongrass tea, yumyum!!

If you have noticed, there were 2 ramens served in Wabi-Sabi.  And they actually make a pretty big deal about just which one is better, because obviously everyone will have a different taste and favorite.  It’s cute that they actually put the preferences on the actual wall and named it “NOODLE WARS”.  Hahahaha!  Cute!  If I’m able to try out both, then I’ll definitely wanna be included in the war, hahaha!

And oh, before I forget, the place also sells some grocery items.  The place is great for people who wants to eat healthy.  It’s a vegetarian restaurant after all!

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Wabi-Sabi Noodle House & Vegetarian Grocery
The Collective, 7274 Malugay St., Brgy. San Antonio, Makati City, Philippines
(0918) 450-1714