The Best Chinese Teahouse

There is one Chinese restaurant that we never fail to visit whenever we are the Greenhills area.  It's actually a Chinese teahouse that serves noodles,chinese noodle soup, dimsum, and rice meals.   Le Ching Teahouse.  For us this teahouse has the best rice meals and chinese noodle soups this side of town.  

The place does not have a 5-star ambience, in fact it's the typical noisy Chinese restaurant with waiters rushing back and forth to take your orders and serving them.  This teahouse is always full during lunchtime and we sometimes see a line of people waiting for an empty table.

Le Ching Teahouse serves a variety of rice meals - spare ribs rice meal, braised beef rice meal, chicken mushroom rice meal, pork asado (barbecued pork) rice meal, fish tofu rice meal.  

                           But our favorites are the spare ribs rice meal 

                                  and chicken mushroom rice meal.

Their portions are very liberal, and one order can feed two people with moderate appetites.  We, of course, get one serving each being the foodies that we are.

Also high on the teahouse list are their chinese noodle soups - wanton noodle soup, beef noodle soup, chicken noodle soup, and the ultimate halo-halo chinese noodle soup.

Halo-halo is a chinese noodle soup is a mix of beef, chicken, ravioli dumplings and wanton; and you guessed it right, this is our favorite.

Not to be forgotten are the numerous dimsum items that they have like pork siomai, sharksfin siomai, beef tripe, taro puff, chicken feet and many others.

I think one of the major reasons that this teahouse is very popular is their chilli sauce.  I vote their chilli sauce as the best chilli sauce in town.  

Their chilli sauce is made up of fried chillies and garlic with a hint of sweetness to it; very potent though.  Best partnered with their rice meals and dimsum. Yummy!  And reasonably priced too.

Delicious Miniature Bibingkas

What Pinoy doesn't love bibingkas? In the past bibingkas were a Filipino food treat that we eagerly looked forward to only during Christmas time.  How we would eagerly anticipate the simbang gabi, sometimes just to have our fill of the heavenly bibingka.  Bibingka is a Filipino rice cake made from galapong or rice flour and baked over charcoal.  It is a treat that is never absent during the Christmas midnight mass.

Topped with a slice of itlog na maalat (salted egg), a spread of margarine and sprinkled with niyog (grated coconut), it makes my mouth water just thinking about it.  The Manila Hotel coffee shop that specializes in Filipino food was (and still is) is famous for its to-share bibingka (because of its size) specially during the Christmas season.  Eaten with hot coffee or chocolate, this all-Filipino rice cake could sure wake up those sleepy eyes after the midnight mass.

I sure am happy to note that the bibingka is now available all-year round. through the bibingka stalls that have put up shop.  A number of bibingka stores have sprouted in Metro Manila but my favorite would be Bibingkinitan.  They sell miniature bibingkas or bibingkinitans as they call it, in single serving portions (although maybe one serving is "bitin" or not enough because they are so good).

The miniature bibingkas are topped with a slice of itlog na maalat and cheese and spread with some margarine; no niyog (grated coconut) though (I think maybe to prevent spoilage as the coconut tends to spoil easily) but nevertheless this rice cake is still yummy.

They serve it to you freshly baked and piping hot.  I just love these mini bibingkas.

Whenever I have a craving for bibingka I don't have to order the regular sized one (which is big enough for sharing) but I can just run to the nearest Bibingkinitan and satiate my craving with 1 or 2 miniatures.  And very affordable too at P20 per piece.  Good for take home too. I usually buy one box and take home to be heated in the oven.  Also a great treat for taking to family reunions.  Check out this all-Filipino rice cake treat.

Budget Eats - The Taho Reinvented

Taho (or tofu pudding as my friends call it) is a Filipino food treat that I feel less guilty indulging in occasionally. I Taho is made of tofu which is supposed to be good for your health.  Hearing the taho vendor's shouts of "Taho!" would evoke a craving for this sweet treat.  Watching the taho vendor scoop out the soft silken tofu, filling a cup with it and topping it with dark brown "arnibal" (brown sugar syrup) and a scoop of "sago" (tapioca), you'd feel that rush coming over you as you eagerly anticipate the heavenly taste of this wonderful Pinoy sweet tofu treat.  

These days I don't have to wait for the taho vendor to come by to enjoy my sweet tofu.  I get my sweet tofu fix from Taho Boy, a taho cart selling flavored hot or cold sweet tofu.  I frequent the one at Unimart at the Greenhills Shopping Center.  You can choose either the hot or cold taho and choose between buko pandan and almond flavors. My personal favorite is the almond flavor; it tastes like the almond flavored gelatin dessert that you get from Chinese restaurants.  Delicious. Their syrup is not too sweet, just right and it doesn't overpower the taste of the taho.   They also have flavored soy smoothies, tofu based also, that are equally delish.  

Fastfood : Stir Fry Noodles, Anyone?

We have lately been frequenting a noodle kiosk that cooks stir fry noodles as you order these.  The stir fry noodle is delicious in its simplicity.  This is fastfood that gives you quick, tasty and budget friendly food.  We usually buy these stir fry noodles as an accompaniment to our meal; but it can be a meal in itself for those in a rush or on a very tight budget.  We discovered this noodle kiosk accidentally while I was shopping for groceries at the SM Supermarket in Cubao.

It's simply called Noodle House and its specialty is stir fry noodles with bean sprouts with a choice of your toppings of either beef teriyaki, siomai, sharksfin or wanton.  The stir fry noodles are cooked right in front of you for the freshly cooked taste.  You can add your choice of sauce from teriyaki, sweet chilli, soy sauce, and their special sauce.  At P29 per order this is cheap food at its best.

I specifically like their teriyaki topped stir fry noodles.  Their teriyaki sauce, which is my favority, is very flavorful and makes this stir fry noodle dish unique from other noodle kiosks.

Their sharksfin siomai topping is also good.  Sprinkling the noodles with fried garlic bits also makes this stir fry noodles dish really yummy.