Category: Restaurants

I’ve been bugging my mom and her friends for us to have dinner at Suzhou Dimsum.  I remember when we went to Sky Dragon to celebrate mooncake festival, I was even saying that we should have after dinner at Suzhou Dimsum (it was just in the same street).  They didn’t give in to my request but promised me that we would have dinner soon at Suzhou Dimsum.  We finally did last weekend, wheeee!!!!!!!

I was really was so excited and I think my mom was too!  I guess my excitement was contagious? hahaha!  Anyhow, we ordered a lot, as in a lot!  Well, it was a party of 8 and everyone was hungry that time.  With the menu price of Suzhou dimsum, we didn’t have to worry about having a huge bill.  Ended up, my mom’s friend who owns the place treated us.  He wasn’t there but he told his manager to let him take care of the bill… awww.. My thanks to you if you read this 🙂

Here are the yummy dishes that we ordered, there were some that needed 2nd rounds, it was that good (i.e., onion pancake & xiao long pao):

• Xiao Long Pao (Php 80)

One of the best mini siopao being served in the Philippines.  Pretty cheap too!  Why did I say so?  It’s because it’s close to the real thing (the ones being sold in Beijing, China).  Of course, nothing beats the original but Suzhou Dimsum’s version is pretty good already.  I suggest you use your spoon when getting it coz you might break the covering and all the sauce will spill out.

• Shallot Oiled Pan Cake (Php 80)

This is a must order!!!  You should not miss this super delicious chinese-style pan cake.  I’m not sure what made it so delicious, maybe the onion leeks?  I’m not really sure, I just know that I cannot get enough of it.  We finished one order but we ordered another round of it.

• Spicy Chicken Feet (Php 120)

I got scared when this dish arrived in our table.  I was so used to seeing chicken feet that is colored orange and there I saw color white!   Yaiks!  I did try to taste, it actually tasted okay but my fear just didn’t subside hahaha!  My mom loved this though.

• Homey toufu (Php 40)

Tofu with pork with Suzhou Dimsum’s special sauce poured on top.  With such a treat, I believe Php40 is just wayyy to cheap for the homey toufu.  The dish felt like tofu dumpling hahaha, uhmm, instead of having a wanton wrapper, the pork was wrapped with tofu.  Am I making sense? 😛

• Fried Fish (Php 80)

Pampano is the fish they used.  Not really a fan of this dish.  It’s basically fried fish with sauce drizzled on top.  The fish is not really one of my favorites to eat, but the sauce was okay.

• Fried Spareribs w/ Salty Spicy (Php 220)

A tasty dish that was presented in a rather simple manner, which made it perfect actually. I loved it!  What I especially like in this dish was that the meat they used wasn’t fatty.  I love the perfect amounts of seasoning that went into this dish.  Other restaurants usually put the fatty parts of the meat in this dish.  Just glad Suzhou Dimsum didn’t follow suit.

• Bamboo Spicy Shredded Pork (Php 180)

Not a fan of bamboo shoots but this one did taste good.  One warning though, it’s a bit spicy.  If you love spicy food, you might want to consider ordering this one.  The spices actually make this dish very complex and tasty if you like this type of dish.  Overall, it was a successful and appetizing dish, just too bad that I don’t like bamboo shoots altogether.

• Mustard Vegetable Fried Rice (Php 120)

I don’t understand why this dish wasn’t a favorite among the group.  Come to think of it, I think I was the only one who enjoyed this fried rice.  My mom complained that it was too oily.  I felt it tasted good and having those veggies cooked together with rice was a great idea.. I believe it was a delish creation.  Oh well, we can’t please everybody.  As for me, this dish was a winner!

• Taiwan Beef Noodle Soup (Php 130)

I remember that noodle soup had always been a favorite snack whenever in Taiwan.  Having this soup brings me back to Taiwan (not literally but it tasted like it was from there).  I asked my mom’s friend if this was just instant noodles then meat & veggies was just added.  They told me that no, it was really made by the chef.  I then concluded that Taiwan instant noodle makers are geniuses, sometimes I can’t distinguish anymore the difference between an authentic and processed one.

• Golden Corn Biscuit (Php 140)

The most unique menu item in Suzhou Dimsum.  When I saw the picture posted on the wall, I just cannot help but wonder what it looks and tastes like.  I love corn and this is something I wouldn’t wanna miss trying out.  When it came, I was in awe.  I wonder how they were able to bind all the corn kernels into triangular shaped slices.  Maybe it was starch? glucose? glue? hahaha!  Whatever it was, I liked the dish.  Best if eaten quickly when served because it tends to be very sticky after a short while.

• Fried Banana Cake (Php 90)

Another unique dish.  I remember my fiance really loving banana, to the point that he has eaten so much banana bread when we were at Plantation Bay.  I’m pretty sure he would love Suzhou’s banana cake too.  It’s basically like a banana tempura.  When I took a bite, I can just feel the aroma of banana.  We concluded they probably added banana essence into the dish.  Best to eat as dessert.

• Soya Milk (Php 35)/Wong Lo Kat Herbal Tea (Php 40)

Just listing down my recommended drinks to order when you’re at Suzhou dimsum 🙂

Wow!  We were able to eat so much that day.  I’m also very happy that they finally gave in to my long, long request of having dinner at Suzhou Dimsum.  It takes a bit of effort on my part as Manila is far away from home plus I hate the traffic and lack of parking in the small town of Manila.  Just one of my happy pleasures in life.  Hope to go back soon.

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Suzhou Dimsum
807 Sabino B, Padilla Street, Sta. Cruz, Manila, Metro Manila
(02) 309-7302

I do think that I had an overdose of Hossein’s Restaurant last week.  I went to the restaurant twice and just right after I visited a gym :O  How ironic, but how could I resist a restaurant which serves awesome beef kebabs?  Yes, it’s their beef kebabs that keeps me going back to Hossein’s (not to mention their saffron rice too!).

When you enter, you also feel the Persian vibe.  The interior design matched the overall theme of the restaurant perfectly.  I also love the great details they’ve put into each and every furniture and accessory.  What a great sight.  It’s as if you get transported to a whole new country or even new era too.

I do have a certain complaint though.  Since they’re using table cloth, it does get dirty easily.  During my 1st visit, I saw some booger (‘kulangot’ in tagalog) in the table cloth.  It was just too yucky!  I wonder how many more kinds of bacteria are in those.. I really just can’t imagine.  So I hope they could maintain it  better.  Good thing, we just transferred  and I was still craving so badly for their kebabs!

Here is what we had during my last 2 visits at Hossein’s:

• Roti Channai (Php 120)

I loved this!!  Basically a puffed bread (I bet fried), served with channai sauce blended with Indian spices.  We don’t need anything else to mix this with.  Just the bread with the sauce will already satisfy your taste buds.

• Lassie (Php 120)

Lassie is always a drink that is usually recommended to you if you go to a Persian restaurant.  A Lassie basically is a yoghurt drink that is both a bit salty and sweet.  My mom ordered this and told me she liked it.  I’m not a fan of yoghurt that’s why I never dare try it and if you noticed, I haven’t featured any yogurt places yet in this blog.

• Beef Kebab Kubideh (Php 315)

Hossein’s Beef Kebab Kubideh is my main reason why I keep going back to the restaurant.  No matter if I feel it’s too expensive, just being able to eat this dish makes it really worth it.  It’s 2 sticks of juicy grilled ground beef seasoned with Hossein’s special seasoning.  You can eat it together with the white & chili sauce & tomatoes but I can eat it without the sauce.  It still tasted so perfect!  I usually forget my diet whenever I have this dish in front of me.  It’s just too good to pass up.

• Mixed Kebab II (Php 620)

If this is your 1st time to dine at Hossein’s, I would suggest you order their mixed kebabs.  This at least would give you an idea which kebab to order when you do decide to go back.  I wanted my mom and my best friend to try the different kebabs that Hossein’s offer so I opted for Mixed Kebab II.  This dish consist of ground beef, tenderloin & chicken kebabs.  The winner for this dish is the ground beef but chicken is a near 2nd place.  The tenderloin was not our type, the meat was too dry and hard for us.

• Fish Dopiaza (Php 530)

I did not like this dish.  I guess partly because I’m not a fan of curry but mostly because the fish wasn’t fresh in my opinion.  My friend liked it though.  Fish, pepper & onions are the main ingredients in this dish cooked in a thick curry sauce.

• Saffron Rice (Php 168)

Another favorite of mine.  I believe they use basmati rice for this dish.  Basmati is a famous rice from India, basically long-grained and fragrant 🙂  They cooked this together with saffron & butter.  Truly perfect, I can totally eat this alone.  It was that delicious!

• Baclava (Php 80)

When my friend saw this in the menu, she said she would order this for dessert.  She said she tried it in 2 other restaurants and it was good.  She was curious to find out if Hossein’s version was good too.  Baclava is a mid-eastern dessert made of pistachios, Filo pastry and sprinkled with rose syrup.  I took a bite and felt it was basically a cinnamon pastry.  I asked my friend what her verdict was, which of the 3 restaurants serve the best baclava and she told me, “Hossein’s”.

This is not the first time that I’ve blogged about Hossein’s restaurant.  If I remember it correctly, I blogged about it twice (Hossein’s in Makati & Shomal in Trinoma).  One in each year hahaha!  Just goes to show how how addicted I am with their beef kebabs!  I don’t think there’s a cure for it or If I ever want to be cured for my never-ending craving for awesome kebabs.

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Hossein’s Restaurant
2nd Level C-201 Serendra, Bonifacio High Street, in front of fully book, Global City, Taguig, Philippines.
(02) 856-06-32

We usually welcome our new hires through a free lunch subsidized by the company.  Last week, we treated our new colleague to a restaurant near our office named Malcolm’s Place.  I’ve eaten quite a few times at the restaurant and I’ve always had this impression that it serves good food but waiting for our order to arrive takes really long, like ages.  Since it has been a long time since I last visited, I assumed that their service may have improved.

When you enter Malcolm’s Place, the open kitchen is just right there occupying most of the 1st floor.  There are only a few seats in the 1st floor that we always tend to go up to dine.

I was so excited to try out Malcolm’s Place again.  If ever you do come across the restaurant, don’t forget to order their wagyu dishes as it’s their specialty.  No matter if it’s their wagyu sandwiches, pasta, burger or salisbury steak, you’ll never go wrong.

While we waited for our orders, we were given free snacks to chew on.  I love this but it was extremely oily.  I guess they didn’t have time to drain the oil.  It was done perfectly before though when we last dined there.  I wish they would work on this.  Even though it’s given for free, it’s best that they also provide a good appetizer.  It also makes up for the whole customer dining experience.

The ff. are what we ordered:

• Grape Escape (Php 110)

What a nice name, Grape Escape.  Maybe it means escaping the world by drinking grape juice hehehe.  It’s basically it, a grape shake.  Freshly made, as expected 🙂

• Beef Stroganoff (Php 390)

Their specialty wagyu beef cooked with mushrooms, red wine-cream sauce & pasta.  Served with toasted bread.  Presentation was so nice that my colleague hesitated for a moment before he started eating.

• Steamed John Dory Fillet (Php 290)

When you’re on a healthy diet, fish is usually the meat of choice when it comes to ordering.  As much as wagyu is a preferred order in Malcolm’s, their fish also tastes really good.  Cooked with onion & leeks, with butter sauce & garlic rice on a side.  It’s a pretty simple, light, yet substantial dish.  Steamed fish has always seemed to pair well with some sort of butter sauce, and having the leeks incorporated in the dish also gives it that added touch of flavor not normally found in many steamed fish dishes.   Malcom’s steamed fish fillet is truly a simple but very tasty dish.

• Wasabi Steak Sandwich (Php 350)

You love wagyu but you also love wasabi?  Then this sandwich is for you as it has both of your faves 😛  A sandwich with wagyu beef, grilled onions, wasabi, mayonnaise & lettuce served with french fries.  This is definitely a dish that will satisfy.  I didn’t order this but just by looking at it, I could already imagine just how delicious it probably was.  And once again, presentation is key as this sandwich is made on a panini style ciabatta bread.  Just that extra touch which makes this sandwich stand out from the ordinary, every day sandwich.

• Wagyu Cheesesteak (Php 350)

Just the same as the previous item above, it’s wagyu beef, grilled onions, bell peppers, mozarella cheese & cheddar cheese.  I bet this is their most-ordered dish.  In our table alone, there were 3 people who ordered Wagyu cheesesteak.  After we finished eating (well, them, I didn’t get to eat, I’ll go into detail at the later part of this post), I checked, no leftover from either one of them.  What can I say?  Must be a very delicious & yummy dish!

• Salisbury Steak (Php 345)

Malcolm’s own version of salisbury steak.  I was able to take a bite, boy, it was sooooooooo good!  Well, what can I say?  It was a wagyu beef patty cooked with mushroom sauce.  Perfect, this is my favorite among their wagyu specialty dishes.  Very tasty & sinfully yummy!

• Grilled Sausage (Php 360)

Last but not the least, my order of grilled sausage.  It’s really saddening as I try to remember my experience with it.  Anyway, let me describe the food first and narrate later of my experience.  This was basically 2 pieces of italian sausage fried.  Not sure if the sausage was home-made but anyhow, it tasted good.  I wish there wasn’t too much oil but I think boiling sausage won’t taste as good as frying it.

Now, it’s time for me to share my disappointing experience with the service of Malcolm’s Place.  When I ordered the Grilled sausage, the waiter asked me what side dish I wanted to go with it.  I answered mashed potato.  After an hour, my order still hadn’t arrived.  I also noticed the other guests in a separate table following up with their order and also saw their disappointed faces wasting so much time waiting for their order.  I also remembered that it was also our complaint before with the restaurant but I never thought that after 2 years, they would still not have changed that aspect of their restaurant experience. 🙁

I waited still but after an hour, my order still hadn’t arrived.  My colleagues were done with theirs and was already planning to go back to the office.  We called for the bill and followed up with my order.  The waiter went back and apologized that he forgot my order.  They had already started cooking the sausage and said that they would serve shortly.  I asked them to pack it instead, since I decided to just have it as a take it out.  When I saw my order, they gave me the wrong side dish, I asked for mashed potato but I was given garlic rice.  I didn’t complain anymore as the damage had already been done.

• My order was forgotten
• waited for an hour and
• when my order came, I was given a wrong side dish.

I love their takeout packing though.  It makes you feel that you had a premium meal.  Simple but very elegant.

When we went down, we also heard another customer fuming mad about the service.  Complained that it took forever for her order to arrive.  I share her sentiments but I was just too tired to raise my concerns.  It was an old complaint.  We experienced it 2 years ago.

This reminds me of Shakey’s which has the best tasty food but awful customer service.  I wish Malcolm’s would work on their service, I guess maybe make it more efficient.  Their food is awesome but if they don’t improve on their service, they might lose some customers, or maybe they already have.  I will still go back but will make sure that I have lots of time to kill when I go back to Malcolm’s Place & enjoy their yummy wagyu dishes (especially salisbury steak, yumyum!).  Great food, oftentimes though will not be enough for the success of a restaurant.  Keep it up, and not even their Wagyu beef will save them.

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Malcom’s Place
108 H.V. Dela Costa St., Salcedo Village, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
(02) 844-0000

We were supposed to eat at Dampa the other week but since the John Mayer concert was happening that day and traffic would be very bad, we ended up at Zao Vietnamese Bistro.  Last friday, however, we finally pushed through.  I never thought this would be one of my most unforgettable meals in my lifetime.  The food was just too good, abundant, truly affordable and I just can’t describe how happy I was seeing those food that I can actually eat & enjoy!

What makes this meal different is we get to experience going to the market and actually buying our own ingredients.  Then we also get to choose the restaurant that will cook our food, how we want them to be cooked and lastly, sit, relax, and enjoy our food.  Now, I know why Dampa is so popular.  Let me share our experience with you 🙂

We went around to choose the restaurant that would cook our food and where we would eat.  G Squared Palutuan was recommended to us, we went inside and reserved a table.  While my mom waited & kept an eye on our bags in the restaurant, we went out and looked around for the meats, veggies, and seafoods that we would eat.

It was really a wet market outside!  Lots of vegetables, pork, especially seafood all throughout the Dampa market.  Crabs, lobsters & Shrimps being the most popular items.  Would you believe they are selling crabs for only Php300 per kilo?!?  Wow!  I just could not believe it!

Here are the prices of all the items that we bought at the Dampa market:

• Crabs (Php 300/kilo) – 2.8 kilos/4 pcs.
• Squid (Php 250/kilo) – 1 kilo
• Pla Pla (Php 120/kilo) – 1 kilo
• Shrimps (Php Php 380/kilo) – 2 kilos
• Seaweed (Php 130/kilo) – 1 kilo
• Alupihang Dagat (Php 300/kilo) – 1.6 kilos
• Elephant Shell (Php 250/kilo) – 1 kilo
• Scallops (Php 250/kilo) – 1 kilo

After we finished shopping, we went to G Squared Palutuan for them to weigh the food that we bought.  We told them how to cook each item, how we wanted to split so they can cook 2 different variants of the same item.  I was sooo excited just how delicious the food would be.  I just kept thinking that we just bought the food and and yet it was going to be immediately cooked!  How fresh can the food get?  I really feel we got our money’s worth as well.

And so, we waited.  When the food started to come in, I was too excited to try out as much as I could.  Gee, I’ve never seen so much food served in one sitting.  I was so overwhelmed that I even started sharing pictures through my social networking profile pages hahaha!  I know I was too ecstatic upon seeing sooo much appetizing food.

Here are the final products based on how we wanted them to be cooked.  Each & every dish was just too yummy for my taste, I was in heaven!  I never thought though that the service charge would be a bit expensive.  Oh well, if we compute though, it’s still much cheaper than a traditional restaurant.

• Seaweed Salad (Php 120)

I never thought that we could enjoy seaweeds like this.  A salad with simple ingredients like tomatoes & onions.  We just need to mix all the ingredients, and of course there’s also vinegar to complete the salad.  A very simple dish yet it tasted good.  Seaweed will definitely have my attention next time 😛

• Baked Scallops (Php 180)

One of the better scallops I’ve tasted.  Only a few can actually pull this off.  Glad that G Squared did this right.  Baked the scallops in cheese, oh sooo yummy & tasty.  Having the scallops fresh from the market might have something to do with how successful this dish was.  We finished all of it!

• Steamed Elephant Shell (Php 180)

This is yet another discovery for me.  I wasn’t even aware that there was such a thing as an elephant shell!  It looks to me like a variant of some sort of oyster.  This was steamed and garnished with onions, garlic & other spices.  It tasted just okay for me, different but not my favorite.  Glad I tried it though.

• Sinigang na Sugpo (Php 140)

We asked them to cook 0.5 kilos of the shrimps as a sinigang soup.  Well, shrimps are really perfect for soup like Sinigang.  We needed to have at least some good companion for our over-to-the-max smorgasbord.

• Pinaputok na Pla Pla (Php 180)

The pinaputok na Pla Pla was tasty, but nothing special.  They did season it well, but there was something that was lacking.  However, I would still have it again as one of the menu items.  This is definitely a dish that is good when eating at Dampa.

• Adobong Pusit (Php 170)

I wish we had them cook the squid as calamares.  I do understand why we didn’t because we asked them to cook the rest of the shrimps as tempura.  Too many fried foods is not good for us 😛  It’s just normal squid cooked with its own black ink.  Just don’t smile while eating this dish hahaha :p

• Salt & Pepper Alupihang Dagat (Php 300)

I was wondering the whole time how they will cook the Alupihang dagat.  I’m not too familiar with this seafood.  Apparently it’s called “Mantis Shrimp”, but it’s not really shrimp but a “marine crustacean”.  In Cantonese cusine they actually call this “pissing shrimp” hahaha :p  When I saw this being served, I was like, I have to try this out.  It tasted like shrimp though.  It was a simple dish, I think they fried the Alupihang dagat with butter, and added some spices, peppers, and green onions too.  But gee, this tasted so good, we had to peel off the skin/covering first though.  I loved it!

• Buttered Crabs (Php 500)

Crabs is my ultimate favorite food!  Whenever I see crabs, my face just lights up.  My happy mood just comes out.  When I saw this being served to us, I couldn’t wait to eat it!  Just our normal garlic & butter crabs.  I believe no matter how we cook it, if it’s crabs, you’ll never go wrong.  However, I’ll try to have them cook it fried next time..

• Shrimp Tempura (Php 420)

I heard someone say that this is the tempura that you can compare with Japanese restaurants when this was served.  So I had to quickly try one piece and judge for myself.  After I tried this tempura cooked by G Squared, I was totally awed.  I immediately tweeted, FBed, plurked that this was one of the best tempura I have ever tasted.  We had 1.5 kilos worth of it cooked, just in case we couldn’t get enough.  I got as much as I could, until my stomach just couldn’t take any more :p  Of course, when it was time to decide who to bring the leftovers home, me and my mom were first to say that we’ll bring it hahaha!

• Fresh Buko (Php 50)

Freshly cooked seafood using fresh ingredients straight from the market coupled with good company.  Why wouldn’t you choose a drink that isn’t fresh?  So almost all of us ordered fresh buko.  What a way to quench our thirst.

I wish we had lobsters too but I knew that we bought too much food already.  When I go back, I’ll make sure that we get lobsters! 😀  Eating at Dampa was just too cool!  If you haven’t done so, I suggest you go invite your family or friends and start storming there.  It will be worth your while.

We ordered so much that we had lots of leftovers to take home.  The fun continues at home, wheeeee! 😀

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G Squared Palutuan
Lot 5 Diosdado Macapagal Avenue, Pasay City, Philippines
(02) 556-1775

Last week, we were supposed to eat at Dampa but I realized that it was John Mayer’s concert that day.  I suggested that we just meet at Serendra as there are several restaurants there.  As we were walking around, I exclaimed, “Let’s eat at Zao!”.  The 1st time I tried Zao Vietnamese Bistro was at Eastwood Mall and I remember very clearly that I enjoyed the food we ordered.  I was able to convince my mom and her friends, and so we ended up trying it out after all.

Zao’s food, which is Vietnamese food, is meant to be shared.  Looking through the menu, I saw spring rolls, tamarind tea, satay barbeque in the menu.  We ordered quite a lot which is good because I was able to sample a lot of their dishes.  Here are the dishes that we ordered (yes, we finished all of it):

• Crispy Spring Rolls (Php 195)

I realized that we totally forgot to wrap the spring rolls with lettuce hahahaha!  We just ate the spring rolls all by itself!  I guess we were too hungry that we failed to notice the other ingredients in the plate.  Basically, pork, glass noodles & mushrooms wrapped in lumpia wrapper & then deep-fried.  Yum!  Could have been better if we ate it like how we were supposed to eat it 😛

• Zao Pho (Php 225)

This reminds me of the soup being served at Pho Hoa.  This Vietnamese-inspired dish is made with rice noodle mixed w/ flank, brisket, meatballs, tendons.  A truly hearty soup, yet the broth was very light and tasty, and most especially it’s not too salty.  The simplicity of the dish is also what makes it appetizing.

• Cahn Chua (Php 275)

I have always thought that the traditional Filipino sinigang is the best there is, apparently I was wrong.  Zao’s version of sinigang is another soup now part of my top favorite soups.  It’s really a bit different from the Filipino version but oh boy, I was admiring the taste the whole time.  It has this sweet & sour taste to it.  The secret?  most probably, Tamarind.  We can either choose shrimp or fish with this super yummy soup, we chose shrimp.

• Zao Satay Platter (Php 345)

4 different grilled Vietnamese satay in 1 order namely: pork, chicken, beef & shrimp.  Served with Zao Vietnamese Bistro’s own special dipping sauce.  The pork is my favorite from the 4 specialties in the platter.  But if you’re a barbecue fan, you will definitely love the variety in this dish, and you should definitely also order it!  It’s as simple as you can get, but like with any type of grilled meats or seafood, how you season and marinade it will truly make or break the dish.  Zao did well with how they prepared and cooked their satay.

• Lemongrass Chicken (Php 265)

Chicken cooked with chili lemongrass sauce.  Uniquely good!  Seems like lemongrass is a popular ingredient in Vietnamese dishes.  I would have wished they have included lemongrass juice in their menu though.  Back to the chicken, it’s Zao’s specialty.  You must order this.  The great combination of the chili with the lemongrass really gave this chicken a great contrast of flavors.  We don’t normally associate the flavors of lemongrass with chili, but with this dish, it really does work well!

• Vietnamese Beef Stew (Php 345)

Vietnamese Beef Stew, now I know how they cook this.  Seems like they put a lot of basil in this dish.  Cooked with star anise.  Did I like it?  Yes, definitely!  It was interesting how they presented this dish as well, with all the greens on top, but once you get one bite, I realized why it was like that.  The basil, along with the onions, and the beef was so very sumptuous!

• Deep-Fried Catfish (Php 195)

Their version of pinaputok na pla pla.  I really think there’s a lot of similarities with dishes around the world.  It’s just how they cook and how they season it that makes it different.  With this version, the ginger sauce made it special.  And oftentimes, it’s the sauce in these simple dishes that really gives it that extra special touch.  However, I have to say that even if this was a simple fried fish, the fact that they fried it so perfectly and still made it look easy to present is something that they should also get credit for.  Not to mention that it was perfectly crisp on the outside yet moist still.

• Water Spinach w/ Tofu (Php 175)

This was not a favorite of mine.  I wish we could have ordered something different.  Don’t get me wrong, it does taste okay.  Just our normal spinach with tofu.  Just like their other dishes, what I would have wished for this dish is that they gave it a little more twist, added an ingredient or two, seasoned the tofu a bit more, or something.  In my opinion, we can make dishes like this still traditional, but for a restaurant like Zao, considering the other dishes, this tofu and spinach dish did not meet expectation.

• Saigon Fried Rice (Php 215)

Fried rice cooked with Chinese sausage, shrimp & green peas.  We ordered several plain rice as this wasn’t enough for us, we were a big group! 😛  As what my fiance always says, whenever rice is mixed w/ chinese sausauge, it will never go wrong.  Which was definitely the case with this fried rice.  I really wish I could have had more of this fried rice.

• Iced Tea (Php 95)

With their iced teas, we had a choice between the jasmine, tamarind or lychee tea.  None of us ordered the jasmine tea.  I ended up ordering the tamarind one, super yummy drink!  tasted like real tamarind, I loved it!  I tasted the lychee tea too, I think it really depends on your preference but I liked the tamarind flavor more.  It’s bottomless too!

We were seated at the far back since we were a big group.  I kept admiring the design of Zao Vietnamese Bistro.  Very, very unique and oh, so eye-catching.  I loved it, especially the lantern.  It complements completely the delicious food that they serve.

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Zao Vietnamese Bistro
Unit 1C16 Serendra, Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, Metro Manila, Philippines
(02) 856-2819