Last October 26th, my grandmother told us that she read about Suzhou Dimsum and she wanted go there. And, just in time for our village's annual Halloween Trick or Treat the next day, she thought it's a nice idea to serve their delicacies for our mirienda.
Off to our food adventure, the group (my mom, grandma, niece, cousin, my uncle and aunt) went to Suzhou Dimsum located in Mandaluyong. Honestly, I'm not that fond of Chinese food, so I was a little bit skeptic on what to order and all that. I eat Chinese cuisine but if I have the option to choose, I'd not put it on top priority. But hey, this is not the topic of my blog, right. :)
Let's start at the location; many foodies would agree if I say that regardless of the location as long as there's good food, the place will be jam packed with long lines, or with a full house. Looking at the exterior of this place, I for one would not consider this as a go to area but I wouldn't also judge the book by it's cover. As I entered the restaurant, it's a small place with an open window kitchen, waitresses dressed in a typical Chinese outfit and they have stools and cushioned seats on the wall side.
We were welcomed by Lyoni, I'm not so sure if I spelled your name right and if you get to read this, I apologize. She was welcoming and we were seated, I got the menu. It was a laminated menu that shows different types of food they have. We wanted to try almost everything in the menu so we ordered one order of what we think we like. 20 minutes or so passed and our orders arrived.
For dimsum, we were advised that the best seller was the Special Xiao Long Bao (it's ground pork with soup inside a dough) kind of like a siomai soup/molo that were used to but it's just all in one inside. It was my first time to taste this dish, and I was surprised the soup was very tasty and the usual ground pork. I just find the dough a little bit thick but it's alright since it's supposed to hold something liquid.
We also ordered some, pork and shrimp siomai which I think is okay, one serving is 4 pcs. It also had a big serving. The fried meaty wonton was next, it has a nice texture smooth and I can clearly taste the kinchay and the meat is not overpowering.
Next in line was the Siopao's. Mama ordered the 4 in 1, that includes the asado, bola-bola etc, salted egg and mushrooms. We all agreed that the dough was too thick and there was a heaping of filling but it just tastes like the typical siopao. The other one that we got was the Taipao, and I just have the same thought to it. It just looks so nice having a big siopao in front of me.
Now we go to Noodles, (and yes, if you're thinking, we kind of went over the board with ordering, we were thinking we were doing food tasting). We ordered the stir fried noodles beef which is the best seller in this section and it was a thumbs up for me. It tasted savory and sweet at the same time. It reminds me of the usual pancit canton. What really amazed me was the noodles, it's fresh.
Mom wanted some soup, so she ordered the regular beef soup. The soup base (caldo) is very rich and we liked it. Like the fried noodles, it tasted real good.
My uncle Toddy and I thought of rice and we ordered the Suzhou Fried Rice, the best seller again and it tastes good, it has great mix of veggies and I believe it's pork/chicken. It reminded me of yang chow rice. Of course, what good is rice when you don't have a dish to go along with it, I ordered the spicy chicken feet next. It was one big serving when I arrived, I think the way it's cooked was Sezchuan style. I was hoping it's the same as the one I eat at most Chinese restaurants, the one that is colored red. It tastes good, new to my palette but not bad.
Lastly, I ordered something that caught my attention when I was reading the menu, Tofu with Century Egg and Pork Flakes. I have acquired the taste of the century egg and since I haven't eaten that one in a long time, I decided to order it. Usually, it comes with congee to balance the sulfur taste of the egg. Now in a different scenario with silken tofu, it surprised me that it compliments to it to and the pork flakes. My uncle skeptic about the egg but once he tasted it, he liked it too.
After consuming what we can, we ordered some frozen dimsum for the event the next day and have it delivered with stir fried beef noodles.
Overall, it was a successful food trip I must say, I was full and it gave me new experiences and it kind of unblocked my liking to Chinese cuisine.
Here are some of the pictures I have about the trip. I hope you enjoyed my blog, do comment, share, like and subscribe. :) Thanks!
---Julienne--
