Hong Kong food!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

IF YOU have been passing by Lapu-Lapu Street just a few meters from Sta. Ana Church, by now you would have noticed that shop on the right side of the road if you’re heading to Agdao that has a sign with a big letter C.

The capital letter C is in a ragged style and it’s difficult to catch what it says. After two or three drive-by on the taxi from home, I finally figured out that it says “Chef something. But the ragged C gets in the way, I just conditioned myself to read the words below the big ragged C to know what it is.

The following day I read: “A Taste of Hongkong Delicacies”, and the day after that, I read “Egg tarts”, except that… I can’t see any tables inside. Could it be just a take-out counter? My schedule went haywire since then, thus there wasn’t time to explore, until Imee fresh from Hong Kong said she misses Hong Kong food.

Light bulb! *Ching!*

I told her to check out the place I have been trying to get a good look at while on a speeding taxi, to see if it’s a restaurant or just a take-out counter.

Soon after, she called, it is both a restaurant and a take-out food counter, and the full name is Chef Lu Roast and Rice Shop, and right beside it, is Chef Lu Egg Tart Shop.

They have baked products (think egg tarts, kuchay empanada, chicken pie, hopia, dumplings and buns), which you can order individually or by box.

But they also serve food, cheap too.

The waitress said their best-sellers are the roasted pork adobo and lechon kawali rice (P79 per order), and so we ordered that. We also got an order of red cooked fish filler rice (P79), and pork maki (thick soup).

We over-estimated our tummy capacity…

The lechon kawali is very good, sliced from the deep-fried slab of pork belly hanging by the display shelf that can be seen outside. The roast pork is okay as well, except that it’s lean pork, no fat.

The big surprise was the red cooked fish fillet. It’s fish stew with thick sauce that’s yummily Chinese.

The pork maki soup is also good. Both red cooked fish fillet and the pork maki soup goes very well with Chinese black vinegar.

I was all set to call it a night after gorging on all these (and even having a cup of rice and around a third of the pork asado wrapped because there was no longer tummy space left), Imee was insistent that we try the baked goods as well.

“Just one bite each,” she suggested as she went on to get one egg tart, one kuchay empanada, and one chicken pie. I liked the empanada best all because its dough has that very sweet vanilla aroma that goes with Chinese baked goods.

We’re all set to try the fish fillet again (this time with enough black vinegar), as well as, try their other selections. We haven’t yet tried their sweet and sour pork, roasted chicken leg, beef brisket, beef with red and green pepper, and beef maki.

And may I add, their bottomless ice tea goes for only P25 and their asado, lechon, and chicken legs chef’s meals go with unli-rice. We opted out on those value deals.

Maybe next time.

So where is Chef Lu? Their menu says 20 Lapu-lapu Street (between Sobrecarey and Suazo Streets). I say, it’s right beside Gino’s Burger.

Is it worth a try?

Definitely.