Modern Shanghai - Glorietta 2, p2

I wasn't able to blog yesterday because I was out, but as promised, here's the second of the three-part post about my dining experience at Modern Shanghai located at Glorietta 2. For this post, I will share five of the new dishes you can try at Modern Shanghai.


Steamed Shrimp and Pork Siumai
My mom's favorite food is the Siomai, and because she always choose this whenever we eat at any Chinese Restaurant, she somehow influenced me to love the dish, too. I won't say this is the best I have tasted, but it was really good... and tasted delicious even without the dipping sauce, but of course, dipping siumai in chili toyomansi made it more delicious.


Deep Fried Fish with Spicy Fish Sauce
I love breaded cream dory fish, and this was no exception. The breading is unlike the typical "fish" in Fish and Chips - it was light and airy-fluffy, which reminded me of my favorite fish dish in King Bee. The sauce is indeed spicy, but just right. Personally though, I prefer to have the sauce on the side and not poured over the fish because I just loved the crispiness of the fish and the sauce softened the breading. It's just my personal preference, though.


Crispy Yellow Noodle with Seafood
On my last post about Modern Shanghai, I showed a picture of the staff making hand pulled noodles. I learned that this is one of the dishes that uses freshly made noodles. At first I was a little apprehensive with this one because the first time I ate crispy noodles (at a Chinese Fast Food), it was so difficult to eat. This one had smaller noodles, and even without the sauce, the noodles were a joy to eat. The sauce was great. It was thick, flavorful... and the seafood were cooked just right.


Sliced Marinated Pork Knuckle
I love pork pata! When I saw this on the menu, it was the dish I most looked forward to tasting, and when I did, I was a little disappointed. The pork was cooked good - it was firm but tender, and it was a good thing that the fat wasn't that much (at least one could still eat a good serving of meat if one isn't into fatty part of the pork), but it just lacked taste. I actually dipped my pork into the dipping sauce provided when the Shandong Style Shredded Chicken was served.


Native Hong Kong Crispy Chicken
The word "native" is the same when we used it for native Pinoy chicken, so I expected this to be a bit on the tough side. People from Modern Shanghai told us these free-range chickens were imported from Hong Kong, and can be a little tougher from the local kind, but to my surprise it was cooked really good! True to what we all know about native chickens, the flavors just seeped through and through, and the toasted garlic bits provided more goodness to the dish. It was different from the usual Chinese fried chicken I've tasted, and this was one of my top 3 dishes from that food trip.

Next five dishes will be shared tomorrow.

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Village Tavern Celebrates 1st Year Anniversary with New Menu Offerings

Since I am from the north, I am really not familiar with the many food places from the south. So, when I received an invitation to celebrate Village Tavern's first year anniversary, I saw it as a way to have new dining experiences.



I loved the ambiance so much! At the middle of the restaurant are tables closely spaced to one another (without really invading the diners' privacy), and surrounding it are tables with couches that feels as if you're dining inside a luxury train.


It was also a great sight to see the chefs prepare each order. I personally love restaurants letting diners have a peek into their kitchen because it ensures that all the food are prepared well.


Complimentary Nachos.
I shared the table with Dencio and Cha (Jonel joined us later in the evening), and because we were one of the few early birds, we were served this while waiting for the others. The chips were typical... but the salsa was amazing!


Crispy Clams with Spicy Lemon Dip.
This was the first appetizer served to us, and I was glad to have tasted a new way of cooking clams. I usually just eat clams cooked in water and ginger, and nibbling on these babies was just a joy to do. Each clam meat was coated with battered and fried to a crisp, and even if the nibblers were good to eat as is, dipping it in the Spicy Lemon Dip gave it more personality. Since it was quite difficult to eat the clams per piece, what I did was get some of the greens, scooped a tablespoon of the clams added a little of the sauce and mixed it together. Instant salad!


Fully Loaded Romaine Heart.
The romaine lettuce is my favorite among the lettuce I have tasted. Presentation of the salad was really good - it was like Kimchi - the whole romaine heart was cut in half (lengthwise) and each of the leaf layers were drizzled with dressing. Topped with tomatoes, red onions, bacon bits and bleu cheese, it has got to be one of the best salads I have tasted. The bleu cheese is an acquired taste, and although at first I didn't like the taste of eating chunks of bleu cheese, I learned how to like it as I eat my salad.


Roasted Bone Marrow.
Yes, the Pinoys have the Bulalo...but have you eaten bone marrow like this? When this was served to us, not only did our eyes go wide, we also exclaimed some oohs and ahhs... and some wow, too! Chef Josh Boutwood - the corporate chef of the Bistro Group personally came to our table to show us how this should be eaten. First, scoop enough amount of marrow from the bone, spread in on the slice of sourdough bread, then drizzle some apple cider vinegar, sprinkle some sea salt and topped it with herbs. This has got to be one of the most interesting dishes I have tried, though I am not sure I am going to try it again because my cholesterol level is quite high.


Cod Fish.
On the plate was pan seared Atlantic cod cooked with Spanish chorizo and garlic, served on a bed of salt roasted potato. This (I think) was the first time I ate cod fish (bakalaw in Filipino), and I found it's meat firmer compared to the other white fish I have tried. The fish was lightly seasoned, and is best eaten along with the other components in the dish.


Tomahawk 35oz.
Before we were served dinner, we already got to see a picture of this in the printed flip cards on the table. We were sharing some chit-chats hoping we get served this steak, and imagine our surprise when we got to see it personally.

I don't like my meat bloody (I don't eat raw / rare meat), but this kind of steak I love. I don't really care if it's still pinkish inside as long as there's no traces of blood oozing out. I prefer steak cooked like this because the outer layer is firm yet the inside part is still tender. The steak itself tasted good. No need for dips and seasonings, but it tasted great when eaten with the side salad greens.


Lamb Rack.
After eating a slightly bland fish and rightly seasoned steak, I found this a bit on the salty side. The lamb was cooked in the same doneness as the steak, and because it was a little salty for my taste, eating it with the creamy mashed potatoes balanced the flavors. It had the typical lamb aftertaste, so I didn't eat a lot of it.


Frozen Lime Souffle.
Ending the wonderful celebration was this dessert. This wasn't love at first taste, but it gets better and better as I ate it. At the bottom of the dish was a layer of frozen lime flavored souffle, which had the slight tang that cleansed the palate. On top of it was the airy lime infused souffle, which was so light that the whole dessert was perfect to eat during summertime. What caught my attention was the candied lime... it didn't have the usual lime zest flavor and it went well with the rest of the dish.



We were given our own choice of drinks. My choice was the V Tea. I just wanted something cold and refreshing, and this was the first one I saw. I didn't bother reading the description on the menu so I was surprised when I tasted alcohol in it. The first sip was a bit strong (but it was refreshingly good), and as I let the ice cubes melt, it became better for my liking.

Cha ordered a bottle of Hoegaarden beer, as per friends' suggestion. I still loved the Cerveza Negra better than this one, but tasting a foreign beer brand was a welcomed experience.

Before we left, we all asked for a cup of tea. They don't prepare the tea, by the way... we were served our own cups and little pot of hot water and a saucer of tea and lemon wedge. I don't like the flower infused tea flavor (we were served jasmine and chamomile among the mix), so I went for the English Breakfast Tea, which tasted really good. It wasn't too strong, but not really mild either.

All of the dishes served (except the drinks and the nachos) were new to Village Tavern's menu. As they welcome a new year, they also incorporated new dishes to satisfy both new and regular diners, although they still retained some of the bestsellers. My favorite dish that night was the Tomahawk 35oz and the Fully Loaded Romaine Heart.

By the way, every Wednesdays, Village Tavern offers 50% off on wines by the glass, cocktails, and liquors, so if you fancy some wine and cocktails as part of your dining experience, do drop by during Wednesdays. Happy anniversary, Village Tavern!

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Village Tavern
2nd level, Bonifacio High Street Central
7th Ave. corner 29th Street - Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
+63 (02) 621-3245

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Hap Chan Tea House (SM City Fairview)

It was daddy's birth anniversary, and although he was already long gone, we still do celebrate it. Mom suggested we eat at Hap Chan Tea House because she and her friends just recently went there and she liked their dimsum (she loves Siomai, by the way).


It did have the Chinese-inspired decorations, minus the lazy susan tables - something I appreciated (I personally don't like lazy susan tables that much). It was spacious, but people in super big groups might have a difficult time finding an area to fit all of them. We were just four for this food trip, so we can certainly sit anywhere.


Hakaw
Mom may love Siomai so much, but she loves shrimps more. This one was good, it had about three whole shrimps inside, and if we didn't come here to eat lunch, I would definitely go for one serving of this, all for myself. But of course, we just had one Hakaw each for this food trip.


Mixed Meat Canton
No need to wish daddy "long life," but I guess any celebrations would always call for a good serving of noodles, and that was just we had. Vegetables were cooked just right - not really half cooked, but still not soggy (it still had its crunch), and it had enough meat in it (some meat cuts were under the noodles). What I loved the most was the noodles - it was a little chewy and not the types that just melts in the mouth.


Steamed Fish Fillet
This was my suggested dish, and I was a teeny bit disappointed because of the toppings. It was actually okay, but I guess the ginger flavor was a little too strong for me.


Fried Fish in Salt and Pepper
My sister and I loved ordering Spareribs in Salt and Pepper in Chinese Restaurants, but because I was convincing them to go for fish instead of pork, we went for this. This was a very good alternative.


Sauteed Beef with Broccoli Flowers
Nothing really exceptional... I think we all know how this dish would taste like, this was no different.


Strawberry Sundae
Sister's dessert. I loved it because it's Magnolia Strawberry Ice Cream - my favorite. Although, I only had a taste of this, as I didn't want to deprive my sister of her ice cream... besides, my tummy can't tolerate that much dairy products.



Drinks.
Brother had lemonade, I had Watermelon Shake, sister decided to go for water (as she already had her dessert), and mom just content herself with the complimentary tea.

The celebration was great... and I would definitely go back here to eat more of their Hakaw.

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Hap Chan Tea House
2/F SM City Fairview,
Quirino Highway cor Regalado Highway Greater Lagro, Quezon City
+63 (02) 352-7903

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