This restaurant seems to be famous among locals. Until we left the branch, the restaurant was…read moregetting more and more busy. Assorted Xiao Long Bao (original, black mushroom, cheese) could be ultimately better if (1) I could distinguish the difference among flavors and (2) if they were served hotter. Cheese was very mild; just a hint of flavor. They all tasted good, though. For that, I am grateful! Hakaw was typically good and the Mandarin Orange Chicken was a good time-out from lemon. They seemed to be understaffed during the hour but wait time was okay. Requesting water refills was a bit of a challenge but we could really see their efforts.

Fong Wei Wu used to be called and was more known as Feng Wei Wee. I'm not so sure why they changed…read moretheir name as everything is the same in the menu anyway. Could it be a change in ownership or tax troubles? Who knows. The important thing is that they still deliver the same quality of food that made them famous. The whole restaurant is unassuming. It is small and doesn't look like much. For all intents and purposes, it's basically a turo-turo. This is where all similarities end, as the food is completely different. If this is your first time, I suggest going with the house specialty, the hong ma. It is a sizable bit of braised pork belly. Don't you dare remove the fat when you're about to eat it. It's part of the experience. This dish is really rich and decadent so I don't recommend eating it all by yourself. Share it with someone lest you get a heart attack after.

Fong Wei Wu is a small Taiwanese canteen type restaurant and is a constant favorite of most Chinese…read moreseniors that live around the Banawe area. It took me completely off-guard when they just turned around and changed their name from Feng Wei Wee (not sure why; it's not like they tried very hard for a new name). The menu consists of simple homemade Taiwanese cuisine that feels as if your very own Taiwanese grandmother cooked for your family. I won't lie, when my grandmother has a potluck party and she has no time to cook, she asks me to run over to Fong Wei Wu to order their food to bring as her dish. She manages to pull it off every single time. Sometimes I wish I could cook that well and get away with it. My go-to orders would be their Kiampang (Adobo fried rice), and Angsho Chicken Leg.

This place caught me by surprise. I came in with no expectations and I came out quite satisfied. I…read morethought that no one could top Mien San's Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup, but apparently this place can give Mien San a run for its money. I apologize in advance to Mien San die hards but sometimes their soup is a bit runny and/or oily. At Taione, the beef soup is really tasty. Not oily at all. I didn't get a headache afterwards which probably means that the soup was made from bones and not MSG. I ordered the Beef Brisket and the beef was soft and came apart easily. Everything tasted so clean. For dessert, I had the taho with pearls and black syrup. Absolutely loved it. The pearls were especially chewy. I didn't think anything else would be good but the server recommended their tofu dish and it was also quite impressive. Definitely worth a try.

There's only a handful of Chinese restaurants I love coming back to, and these are usually…read moreestablishments that have been around for ages. So when someone suggested we try a new Chinese place, it's not something I was exactly excited about. Wang Fu though is an automatic addition to this short list. The price range is a bit on the high-end side of the spectrum, perhaps almost as expensive as Lugang Café, but the experience was definitely worth our money. The food was excellent. The items on the menu were mostly staples in Chinese restaurants, but each dish had its own unique special character I'm not sure I've tried in similar places. I liked that the interiors exuded a vibe of luxury--spacious and with modern-style furniture. I also appreciated the aquarium area that seemed to remind diners that at the heart of all this contemporary facade is the classic Chinese food the traditional preparations that come with it. Overall, it was a great dining experience. If I'm in Tomas Morato again and craving for Chinese, I'd definitely be at Wang Fu.

Ironically, it was the company branding that first turned me off from trying their tea. It was a…read morelittle hard to read from a certain distance and there was no reference as to what they were selling (as I mentioned in my photo, I mistook it for chicken nuggets, but it could have been easily hair accessories). There wasn't even a hint that they were selling a food product. I mean, it was a relentlessly happy star with Chinese characters more prominent than its name. With so many other more easily identifiable tea shops around, this place ran the risk of fading into the background. Little missteps like that can make or break a potential customer's interest in trying your product for the first time. People tend to gravitate toward the familiar. But try I eventually did, and found that their tea has a relatively more layered flavor profile than some popular brands, and is competitively priced. Here's the thing -- cold tea is generally more palatable than hot. Hot tea tends to be associated with old people. And because I prefer hot drinks over cold to protect my throat, that makes me an old people. It's easy to find tasty cold tea anywhere; it's generally tasty because as the cold numbs your tongue, you use more sugar to amp up the flavor. Serving hot tea products is trickier -- you can't mask a mediocre flavor profile with sugar. After being disappointed with hot milk tea products in some other places (either the milk overpowered the delicate tea notes, or it was too sugary even at the 50% sweetness level, or the overall taste was flat), I was wary about trying Dakasi's roasted charcoal milk tea. Somehow they managed to strike that balance between the milk's richness and the tea's astringency, and their 50% sweetness level was just right. Its roasted aroma wasn't just as noticeable as one of its competitors, but overall, it was more than passable. Eventually I dropped milk from my diet for health reasons, so I tried their other signature hot tea blends: Taiwan Plum Juice and Golden Honey Grapefruit Tea. The plum juice was salty-sweet and light in the mouth, and I expected nothing less. But the grapefruit tea stole the show with its bright citrusy flavor and bits of candied grapefruit that you can chew on once you've reached the bottom of your cup. It definitely earned plus points from me because grapefruit can be bitter if improperly prepared. Yet there was no trace of bitterness here. I'm a regular customer now. Dakasi also serves cheesy nachos if you want something savory to nibble on, but their well-made tea absolutely deserves that irrepressibly happy star logo -- or four of them.

"Their pork chop is the bomb diggity" said my Tita. And I have to agree with her. It's the hot star…read moreequivalent of a giant deep fried piece of meat with two sides of your choice. I usually pick the adobo egg and tofu combo for pure protein ecstacy. MACHISMO. I have ordered this several times over the past year or so but I was disappointed the last time I tried it. The meat tasted a bit questionable compared to the past iterations. Maybe it's just a bad batch. I would have given this place a 4/5 if they got the consistently right. I also tried the roasted chicken and the roasted duck, both with two sides as options. The beef wonton noodle soup is also worth a try (only P170). Budget here is between P100 to P200 only and the serving is pretty generous. If you wanna get your Hongkie on then I say Shuin for the win.

A local branch of the famous Taiwan milk tea store. They really tried to make the place look very…read moresimilar to the joints in Taiwan where different kinds of tea and tea paraphernalia are sold. There are also bar stools and tables in the store and outside of it where you can hang out. In terms of the milk tea itself, I had the green milk tea and it actually tastes like the ones found in Taiwan. I have yet to try the rest but it's a good start.

What I love about this place is the flavor of their Filipino food. It's truly one of the most…read moreauthentic places that tastes like how Mom makes it. I ordered that Relenong Bangus and it was to die for! I finished the whole fish by my self.....without rice! That's how good it is. Also, their Tokwa at baboy tasted so heavenly with a well balanced flavor of the sauce that was not so overpowering with garlic and onions. It was mixed to perfection and can be drank by itself! Their Goto is also great! Flavorful and served fresh to our table, you just won't care how hot the soup is, you just want to dig in and savor the deliciousness of the dish. The only negative thing that I noticed are the faces of their servers. As always, they lacked friendliness and they had this irritated look in their faces like we are a bother to them. If it were not for the delicious food, I would have encouraged my party to leave and find a friendlier place.

Stopped by Little Quiapo for a light snack on a super hot day. We ordered the special halo-halo…read morewith ice cream, palabok, and sisig on rice. The halo-halo was the standout for me--really hit the spot and perfect for the weather. The palabok was very generous with the sauce, which I appreciated, though flavor-wise it wasn't especially memorable for me since I've had better elsewhere. The sisig on rice was okay, but I wish there was a bit more sisig compared to the amount of rice. The place was packed though, so clearly a lot of people keep coming back for a reason. I'd still be open to returning and trying some of their other ulam next time.