Thursday, July 18, 2013

OT: Taitong Steamers Foods

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My editor brought me to lunch at Tai Tong when we had a photo shoot in AS Fortuna. I've passed that street a gazillion of times already but I've never heard or noticed that dimsum restaurant. I loved their food at first try so I wanted to bring the boyfriend there.




At first glance, you wouldn't consider this a restaurant. It's just located right beside AA's Barbecue. The place is small with a few tables here and there. They have quite a number of dishes for a small restaurant which is great. They have different dimsum dishes as well as some chicken, noodle, ribs, and other food.

What I like about the place is that they offer complimentary tea. I live tea and I love free stuff. So, there's no need to order drinks.

We got ourselves pork steamed rice (P52), fried siopao (four pieces for P65), plain siomai (four pieces for P55), and kung pao chicken (P180).

free green tea

pork steamed rice

plain siomai

Although their pork steamed rice doesn't have a big serving, I really liked the consistency of the sauce. It had mushrooms and the pork was cut into really small pieces, which I love. Their plain siomai is pretty much the same as others but it was really good.

I found their fried siopao quite interesting. Don't get me wrong, I like siopao, but when I first saw the fried ones I was a bit hesitant. However, fried siopao proved to be really yummy. It's now one of my favorite dimsum dishes.

fried siopao

kung pao chicken
We found their kung pao chicken a bit pricey. But I think it's enough for three to four persons. You'd know by now that I'm not really a chicken person, but I love their kung pao. It's spicy and flavorful. The chicken bits were fried perfectly.

Who would think that a small dimsum restaurant can have really yummy food? I was really amazed. I guess you should never judge a restaurant by its size or how it looks like from the outside. This truly is a must-try place for all the dimsum fans out there.;)

it really is a small place. there's the boyfriend waiting for the food.

Monday, June 17, 2013

OT: Serenitea Cebu

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You might not know but this tea shop is among the forerunners of the milk tea craze in the Philippines. They are said to be the first to bring milk tea from Taiwan here to the Philippines.



Their place is just along the hallway in Calyx. They have a green and white theme which is really relaxing.


We ordered large Hokkaido (P105) and wintermelon milk tea  (P105). I suggested the Hokkaido to the boyfriend since I've seen it featured a couple of times on TV. I ordered mine to try a usual milk tea flavor. Their Hokkaido tasted like a coffee and milk tea in one. I'm not really a fan of coffee so I didn't like it. Even the boyfriend disliked his own milk tea. Maybe those coffee lovers would enjoy Hokkaido. But, not us. Their wintermelon milk tea tasted like any shop's wintermelon. It was very much like Heart Tea's wintermelon. I just thought that Serrinitea was a bit pricey, being over 100 bucks.


I was really expecting so much from Serrinitea. I've watched a couple of TV shows featuring their milk tea so I have always been intrigued on how their milk tea tastes like. I was disappointed that they were a bit expensive. Those who are coffee lovers and like the variety of milk teas that they offer, may enjoy their freshly brewed teas.


UPDATE: Because of my day job, I was able to attend Serenitea's grand opening and meet the people behind Serenitea and the latest Cebu branch. They gave away free milk tea and a jumbo size at that. I got their Okinawa milk tea, which I expected to be a coffee-ish flavored tea, like Hokkaido. I was surprised that it was really good. It was creamy and sweet, just as I like it. I definitely loved their Okinawa milk tea. It was just difficult for me to finish everything up because of the size.

In three months time, they will also be offering some side dishes and snacks to clients , which is something I'd like to try soon.