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.

——————–
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!

——————–
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!! 😀

——————–
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!

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

I attended a very enlightening event by Intel & guess what?  It’s not just learnings that I couldn’t forget but also the awesome food that we had eaten that day.  It was my 1st time at Sala Bistro & I must say, the service, the restaurant, the food were all top-notch!

It seems to me that Sala Bistro caters mostly to private events.  I was too engrossed with the event & the food that I forgot to ask the people there if they are exclusive to private parties/events.  I did however enter at the wrong restaurant at first, though the signage has Sala Bistro in it.  The servers told me that I entered People Restaurant.  Apparently, the owner of People Restaurant & Sala Bistro is the same.  Maybe People Restaurant is their restaurant while Sala Bistro is for private functions.  Well, I’m not sure but that’s how I see it.

I loved the menu (Php 1,480++) that Intel has chosen for us.  It was a set menu with appetizer, main dish & dessert.  Details as follow:

• Home Cured Salmon & Crisp Potato Cakes w/ Horseradish Sour Cream

This home cured salmon dish was really actually pretty nicely done.  Although I opted to not eat the salmon itself, and quite odd because it is the main focus of the dish, I did enjoy the rest of the components of the dish.  I usually like my salmon seared and cooked and not really cured, so I didn’t eat it.  Although, I can tell just by the taste of the rest of the dish, that it would have gone really great with salmon.  The horseradish sauce was really excellent, and the crispy potato cakes on the bed of greens offered great texture and a bit of richness and heaviness of being fried potato.  Actually, horseradish like wasabi really does add a great deal of flavor to seafood.  What a great concept of a dish!   Kudos to the chef on this excellent starter item.

• Angus Beef Bistro Fillet w/ Cauliflower Gratin & Grain Mustard Jus OR

I did not try the Angus beef, but from the looks of it, the presentation and the pinkness of the meat, I think those who chose this dish did not regret their choice.  The cooking of Angus beef really has to be done right, not overcooked or it becomes tough, and loses its flavor.  Nor should it be seasoned too much, because you lose the great natural taste of what Angus beef should be.  Again, gourmet at such a great place, great price, I can’t stop raving about it, even if I haven’t tried the dish.  As with most anything when it comes to high end restaurants, the presentation is key.  One really does feast with the eyes first, and feast I truly did.

Roast Lapu Lapu Fillet w/ Leek & Pancetta Risotto

As I mentioned, almost everyone decided to go with the Angus Beef dish, but I decided to go the healthy route and went for the fish instead.  I was trying to be healthy and that day, I made a conscious effort of choosing the less popular menu item.  I honestly think I made the better choice, since I really do like risotto.  That bed of risotto was just fantastic.  Again, the creaminess of it, and the taste was a bit different than the risotto that I’ve tried before.  I think what really made the risotto stand out had to be the added pancetta which just added so much flavor.

And there’s nothing more than great seafood to go with risotto, and the tenderness, moistness, and the great flavor of the fish was just outstanding.  The ingredients were all blended harmoniously, I loved it!

• Flourless Chocolate Cake w/ Honeycomb Ice Cream

I’m not really a great fan of chocolate, but honestly this dish was just a bit more than chocolate.  The layers of flavor, and once again presentation was just great.  The cake itself was rich, and I love the cracked texture of the exterior was just another part of a very unique dish.  Cake and ice cream really isn’t new, but when the ice cream is honeycomb ice cream, the combination is different, and may I say, DELICIOUS!  It’s definitely a rich dish, best to be savored.

• Twinings Tea

We were also given a choice between Vittoria coffee or Twinings tea.  I’ve decided to cut down on coffee so I asked for the tea. 🙂   What a great way to end such a fantastic and delicious meal!

When it comes to fine dining, I also usually try to savor the initial bread or rolls that start off the meals.  With Sala Bistro, it’s as if they read my mind!  Gee, presentation was just great!   We had good choices of breads & if you’re not picky, you can try each of every one of them! :p

There were also a good selection of drinks in Sala Bistro.  They have specialty smoothies (Php 150) & also fruit shakes (Php 120-160).  I ordered the Red Grape Shake (Php 160) while Rowena who was seated beside me ordered Yogurt Honey Passion (Php 150).

The other thing that really stood out is their service.  It seems to me that their servers & personnel were trained well.  Each & everyone was accommodating, helpful & most of all, we actually felt their focus on the customer.  I was too impressed.  When I got seated, they helped me with my bag then kindly asked if I wanted to drink something.  Offered water without me asking & we didn’t need to exert any effort in calling them when we needed assistance.  I just wish all restaurants’ service are like that.  It would be such a joy eating out.

Overall, this is definitely a good recommended place to dine out if you want fine dining, great ambiance, delicious food, and amazing service.

Interested?  If you wanna book Sala Bistro for your private events, here are information that you will find useful:

• restaurant can accommodate 80 guests for a sit down dinner & 150 guests for a cocktail party
• their garden dining can accommodate 40 guests for a sit down dinner & 80 guests for a cocktail party
• Private lunch events (11am to 3pm) – monday to friday (Php 55,000 minimum spend), saturday & sunday (Php 65,000 minimum spend)
• Private dinner events (6pm to 12mn) – monday to friday (Php 110,000 minimum spend), saturday & sunday (Php 130,000 minimum spend)
• Private garden events (5pm to 12mn) – monday to friday (Php 35,000 minimum spend), saturday & sunday (Php 45,000 minimum spend)

——————–
Sala Bistro
G/F Garden Side, Greenbelt 3, Greenbelt Malls, Ayala Center, Makati City 1200 Philippines
(02) 729-7500