I have fallen in love with BF Homes Parañaque! The foodie haven has everything from burgers, to katsu, to bibimbap, to yakitori, to pizza, pasta, and good ol' English grub! Although there are as many restaurants closing as there are restaurants opening, there are those that stand the test of time. One of them is Mandarin Palace, my new favorite haunt for good dim sum and other Hong Kong favorites.
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I found myself standing outside one of the biggest restaurants along Aguirre Avenue one night, after a craving for Chinese food that hopefully wasn't laden with MSG. Jericho had been here once before for dinner with the Zomato crew, and said it was pretty good. All I really wanted was anything that wasn't Chowking, and didn't really know what I was in for.
Inside, the place was huge! There were big tables to seat families of 10 in the middle, and booths to accommodate four to six groups of diners. We were seated next to a group of old Chinese dudes, chatting away in Hokkien with plates of different kinds of dim sum and bottles of Glenlivet on the table. They reminded me of those tea houses in Kong Kong. And for a weekday, these guys know how to party!
After getting seated, being served the house tea, and going through their incredibly long menu, the dim sum cart swung by and we took a peek at what they had to offer. Even the dim sum looked like something out of Hong Kong - not really very "pretty", like how they try to make them over here, but you know you have to try at least one or two before moving to the mains. Not only are Mandarin Palace's dim sum really good, they're budget-friendly, too!
I am such a sucker for Prawn Hakaw (P128), I was happy to see it was in the dim sum cart. Let me tell you, they don't skimp on the shrimp! Plump and succulent, they were right about ready to burst from their thin casing and tasted very fresh. I really wanted more, but had to steel myself for the other goodies we ordered.
The Shark's Fin Siomai (P88) didn't really look like much but I preferred this over the chicken feet and beancurd-looking dim sum in the cart. This actually turned out to be as good, if not better than the prawn hakaw! Also filled with shrimp, this had glass noodles inside, giving the dim sum a nice chewy texture.
Do you eat jellyfish? I love the stuff and ordered a Jellyfish with Century Egg (Small - P200; Medium - P300; Large - P400) minus the century egg and more jellyfish. This was really chewy, with the spicy sauce lending most of it's flavor. This is a must try for people who have never had it!
Sticking to the classics, I ordered Boneless Chicken with Lemon Sauce (Small - P300; Medium - P450; Large - P600). It was alright, but nothing to rave about. You can only really do lemon chicken one way, and this was it.. The portions of the dish are pretty big - the small serving can feed up to four people, easy.
We also ordered Beef Steak in Black Pepper Sauce (Small - P350; Medium - P525; Large - P700). The beef was tender, the serving was generous and overall pretty good, but nothing spectacular.
When mucking around BF Homes Parañaque be sure to check out Mandarin Palace for the best Chinese fare in the whole area! Bring your family and celebrate special occasions with orders of Peking Duck served two ways, birthday noodles, and as much dim sum as you can physically consume. And if you're a dim sum monkey like me, head on over there between 2pm to 5pm and get your favorite dim sum at 20% off! More house tea, please!
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Images taken by Jericho San Miguel of The Pixel Project Manila
Mandarin Palace
+63 478 5420
140-142 Aguirre Ave. cor. N. Jacinto st.,
BF Homes, Parañaque
Open Daily: 7am - 2am
