Dinner with Ria

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Hen Haw Chinese Restaurant

Bacnotan Public Market

Bacnotan, La Union

27 October 2010

I already told my aunt that Ria and I were traveling to La Union and would be staying with her for a few days, but because she works as a nurse and I didn't know her schedule, I told Ria that we might just eat out so Aunt won't have to worry too much about taking care of us. One of the things I love about Ria is how much she loves to eat, so when it comes to food trips, she is always game for it.

When we reached Bacnotan, we planned to go home first to drop our things before checking the sunset at Paratong Beach, but we could see the sun setting, so we went to the beach first (with bags and all). It was quite dark when we left the beach, so we went to eat first before going home. My choice? Hen Haw.

This restaurant has been there since 2008 (the picture above was taken May 2008), and it has been a favorite food place of mine whenever I go to La Union. Their foods are very affordable and their foods taste good, too.

Comparing the first picture and this one above, you could see nothing has changed; it still looked the same, from the lights all the way how they arranged the table. I just apologize for this blurry picture, on my camera it looked good, but when I uploaded it, it was blurry. That's Ria, by the way... as much as she loves traveling, she also loves having her pictures taken at the food places she visits - it's one of her ways of showcasing the places she's been to.

This restaurant serves typical Chinese-Filipino foods, but since we were eating snacks while traveling, we just went for something not too heavy:


Lomi. Ria's choice. At p50, this was a bowl of pure comfort. A little soupy, yes, but the taste was just right. The only downside is that this didn't come with toasted bread, and when Ria asked for toasted bread to go with it, she was given a slice of loaf bread - toasted, yes, but no traces of butter or margarine.

Beef with Vegetables. I am a rice person, and come meal time, I always go for rice meals, or I won't feel satisfied no matter how much I eat. This is like chopseuy, but with beef cuts, and I did like it. The vegetables are crispy, the beef was tender and wasn't fatty, and I had a very satisfying dinner.

If you happen to be in the town of Bacnotan, you might want to try to eat here. I am not sure where are the other branches, but I do know there is one located in the town of Bauang (the main branch). This one in Bacnotan is located at the town's public market, and is open around 9am 'til 9pm.

We decided to walk back home (after all the bags weren't heavy and that we needed some exercise anyway), and we talked about "What if Aunt prepared dinner for us?" Well, we both have just one answer: Eat!

...and eat we did, because there was dinner waiting for us. :)

*** Jenn ***