Boon Tong Kee- Good Food, no questions asked

After our Boon Tong Kee experience, I kept scolding myself for not trying Singaporean food much sooner. You see, one of the signature dishes of Singaporean food is chili crab(from what I heard) and I am not a fan of it plus adding the fact that I associate the cuisine with Indian food(not a big fan), it was the worst combo for somebody who hasnt tried the food before. Nonetheless, I saw a voucher on metrodeal and since we would be in the area on that day, I decided to give it a go.

Anyhow, I expected that our 2,000 worth of voucher would be consumed but I was surprised that we only ordered 1,400 worth for our dine-in purchase. It came as a surprise because even though each item was more expensive than what I would normally pay for, it was reeeeeeeally filling.

Let's start with the Bacon Meatball and Foo Chow Soup. It's 195php and good for 3-4. The bacon meatballs were served with these crispy strips that were absolutely delicious. I also loved that the broth was yummy but not overpowering and tasted like it was made from fresh ingredients and not that much artificial flavoring.

Next were the signature boiled chicken, hakaw and crispy deep fried chicken. All three dishes were served at roughly the same time and I enumerated them in decreasing satisfaction. 

I liked the signature boiled chicken the most probably because I set very low expectations. For someone who hasnt tried the dish before, I was expecting it to be very bland. True to that, the chicken was bland but it wasn't malansa and the sauce definitely made all the difference. Hubby was quite disappointed with the serving size but I thought it was okay since we had other dishes to try.

Next was the hakaw. I was almost certain that there were two shrimps when I took a bite but it wasnt as good as I wanted it to be because the wrapper broke. I think good hakaw has to have soft enough wrapper that doesnt break when you get it from the bamboo container.

Not bad for 125 :)

Lastly for this batch was deep fried chicken. I have nothing much to say except that it was average and very similar to the Savory chicken.

The last two served were the sambal rice and the cream cheese prawns and this is where it gets really interesting. The food attendant kept remind me(as if to discourage me) that the sambal rice was spicy so I kept telling her that we wanted it(my husband and yaya are both Bicolano, so there goes). The cream cheese was recommended on websites so I decided to give it a try.

The sambal rice(Not sure but I think it was at 295php) was, indeed, spicy, even for my Bicolano companions and even more so for me so I had to pair it with plain rice. Nonetheless, the flavor was really good, given the mix of peanuts and pork bits that I saw and though it was packed with flavor, it didnt clash with the other dishes.

The crackers were a nice addition, I'm guessing to pass time while waiting for the other dishes? hehehe

The cream cheese prawns(375 or 395php) really surprised me though. I was expecting it to be salty, like the nacho dips, but it was sweet. It was so creamy and the sauce was good, I wish we could take it home because I imagined that it would also pair well with chicken. The prawns were huge and all three of us who were so used to eating it with our bare hands had quite a hard time deconstructing each piece.

served with mantau, which I didnt like so no pic of that :)

At this point hubby was complaining from being too full(Yep, we're weird that way) ahahaha so he refused to partake in the chocolate almond jelly we ordered. It wasn't exceptional, but just right to wash down the rich taste of the dishes.

All in all, I would recommend eating in Boon Tong Kee for those "kinda special" eat outs like birthdays. Bear in mind that servings are good for 3-4 except the rice and the desserts or stated otherwise but I guess you need to order at least three main dishes to enjoy the experience. 

Till the next parenting or travel or food adventure!

Pepper Lunch Express' disappointing serving

I think my "loser level" will go up one notch after I tell you that it was my first time to eat at Pepper Lunch yesterday. I've always wanted to try it but somehow never ended up doing so before. Luckily, ze sister went shopping in Trinoma yesterday and she treated me to dinner so I was able to try it.

We milled around the food court looking for cheaper options but as sister pointed out, the other stalls did not have a line whilst Pepperlunch had a long line and it might be a good sign. Our order was ready within 10 minutes and truly, the taste did not disappointed but the serving did.

The bits of meat were randomly spread on the bowl and though it looks as if there is more because of that, there was no denying that there were very few pieces. The bowl looked very sad and here's how it looked like after I put the pieces much closer to one another, as shown in their picture.

Notice that less than half of the circumference is filled with beef

There were more chicken bits compared to the beef but there were still very few pieces

I guess it was disappointing because even though the price of 150 is already a bit high for fastfood standards, we would have been willing to pay more so as not to get very little food. Funny thing is, they do have the "upsize" and "jumbo" option, but I believe this initial size should be removed altogether and just peg their starter meal at 199 to avoid unsatisfied and only "partially full" customers like us.

So yes, the meal tasted good, yes the sauce was delicious and yes, the concept is catchy but the serving was way way way(can I add "way" one more time?) behind.