Northpark: Yen for Chinese Food

Lately, I've been mad jonesing for Chinese food and when the craving calls, North Park I go!

Here are some of my favorite:

North Park Chow Mien - stir fried noodles with fish fillet, fish cake,
sliced asado, meatballs, prawns, 3 kinds of mushroom and Chinese vegetables.

The noodles is just the right amount of thickness. It has that salty/sweet flavor combination which reminds me of my favortie instant noodle without the grease. Plenty of toppings. BIG serving! I call this my miracle dish because even when shared, there's always plenty of leftover.

North Park Lechon Macau - charcoal broiled juicy pork belly
served over egg fried rice

I don't know why but this dish always make me smile. The pork skin is very crunchy but not too hard while the meat is tender and juicy. Not your usual lechon kawali. Combine this with their sauce and pickled vegetable ... a dynamic combination with the fried rice. Again, another big serving which is good enough for 2 person.

North Park Salted Garlic Squid - golden fried slices of squid dashed with
sea salt and freshly ground black peppercorn

The dish is really simple but this is, by far, my favorite. Squid, cooked too long, becomes tough and chewy. But at North Park, their salted garlic squid is always tender. The flour coating is not too thick and they added just enough salt to add flavor but not too much that you automatically reach for water.

Combine everything with their freshly made lemonade and you're good to go! Simple, flavorful and affordable Chinese food. My only wish is that they have meryenda size or rice toppings good for one. Bring a friend and expect to pay P200-P350/each.

Grabe, gutom na ako!

Recommendation of the Week : Emerald Siopao

I call this siopao (steamed bun) on steroid.

This thing is HUGE! Easily two or three times bigger than your normal siopao. The filling has it all; bola-bola (ground pork), Chinese sausage, roast pork and chicken with salted egg. Instead of having this all mixed up, they neatly layer the filing so you're able to get everything in each bite. Delicious all the way and you don't even need the sweet sauce. Eat half for breakfast and have the other half for lunch.

This can be bought at Emerald Restaurant which is just across the United States Embassy at Roxas Boulevard. However, you would need to buy this early since the restaurant always runs out by early lunch. Restaurant opens at about 7am - 9pm  and from 11am-2pm. No delivery but you can call to reserve at 522-3457.

Each one cost P99 which is a bit pricey for siopao but definitely worth it.

Buon Giorno?

If you feel like going somewhere quiet in Tagaytay with a great view of Taal yet easily accessible, head towards Cliff House. It's a small compound of eating establishments located along Aguinaldo highway beside the more known restaurants such as Leslie's or Max's.

Cliff House - good view of Taal, plenty of space so not too crowded, pretty garden

One of the more popular places to eat here is Buon Giorno. My friend and I always wanted to try this place out but there's always a long line of people waiting for a table.

perfect - no customers yet

Last month, we finally decided to phone in our reservation for early lunch on a Saturday.

Buon Giorno's mix of best salad ingredient drizzled with the
well revered house dressing P218

We started with the Buon Giorno Salad - Tagaytay greens with fruits in season accompanied by their well "revered" salad dressing. The dressing had plenty of flavor (sour/sweet combination) but would have preferred they lightly tossed it with the salad instead of putting gobs of it on top.

Prosciutto Funghi Pizza - deep flavors of ham, mushroom and oregano (about P249)

The Prosciutto Funghi Pizza is about 10' inches with a thin, crispy crust. The prosciutto, a fancy name for thinly sliced ham, had a subtle taste. Mushrooms were plenty as were the mozarella.  Overall, the pizza looks impressive with every space filled with toppings and cheese but there weren't any real "deep" flavors. Thank the culinary gods for chili oil!

Lasagne Al Forne - alternate layes of spinach pasta, ragu and cheese P280

The Lasagne Al Forne looked delicious with its bubbling tomato and cheese sauce. The flavors were deep and rich. However, after a couple of bites, we began to wonder, where's the pasta? The ragu was more meat than tomato sauce and they packed so much in between the layers than it completely obliterated the thin delicate spinach pasta. It tasted like we were eating just pure ground beef. Not a good feeling.

Servings were good for 1-2 person.

Chocolate Pistacho Sansrival P207

Unlike their other dishes, the Chocolate Pistacho Sansrival was really really small.  One bite and all we can say is, "Wow! Butter!" I like butter but not that much. The person who assembled the sansrival must be the same one who did the lasagna because the icing layers were so heavy that the wafers in between were just flattened out. Saying that, kudos for using a generous serving of pistachios.

ready to eat

Service

Service was really really weirdly bad. When they showed us to our table, there were a lot of bugs, spider and ants on the banquette seating. When we pointed this out to our waitress, she just looked at us and said, "wala po kaming magagawa". No effort at all to sweep it away. After just standing there and the waitress looking at us blankly, we decided to take matters in our own hand and just sat at another table.

Waiters were inattentive and borderline rude. Service was slow and you have to call their attention repeatedly to request anything. They would talk to each other about personal matters even though they were just standing beside us. One waiter was singing (off key!)  in a normal voice despite another song being played over the speakers. Honestly, the owners should seriously consider teaching the waitstaff some manners.

Final Verdict

The food prices are not that bad and except for dessert, the food can be shared by two. Expect to shell out P400-P500/person. The food is very pretty to look at and except for the pizza, their dishes has strong flavors. However, any enjoyment you derive from the food and the peaceful surrounding is destroyed by very bad service. You might want to avoid the aggravation and try the other restaurants at Cliff House instead.

Buon Giorno

4 Cliff House
Aguinaldo Highway
Tagaytay 
(beside Yellow Cab Pizza House)

Tel 046-4832102