Yang Chow (Eton Centris, Quezon Avenue)

Beloved and I had dinner a couple of times at Eton Centris Walk's Yang Chow. If you know your basic food knowledge, you know that this is a Chinese place just from the name. Beloved has been here a couple of times before, but these were my first two times trying it out.

Our first visit greeted us with a full house, and we had to wait a couple of minutes for a table. Luckily, since there were just the two of us, we got seated before a big party that came before us. It's apparent, though, that their setup is your typical Chinese tea house meant for big Chinese families. Their menu consists of the usual and slightly unusual Chinese fare, conveniently printed on the paper placemats. It was actually a pretty difficult choice due to the huge list of dishes available and the somewhat lower price tags compared to the competition. We settled for the following: Hakaw (90% Shrimp) (75 Php), Shark's Fin Dumpling (65 Php), Sesame Fried Butchi (45 Php), Yang Chow Fried Rice (180 Php), Seafood Vegetable Soup (200 Php), Mixed Seafood with Beancurd in Clay Pot (200 Php), and Abalone Mushroom with Broccoli (220 Php). Beloved also ordered their Chinese Milk Tea (60 Php), and I got their Chinese Lemon Tea (70 Php), which was essentially iced tea.

Seryna (Little Tokyo, Makati)

Beloved and I celebrated our fifth anniversary at Seryna. This Japanese restaurant is one of the few gastronomic places located at Little Tokyo. This one is at the outer periphery, and can be accessed without going to the communal alfresco area. According to fellow foodies, this place has the best sashimi in town. Excited, we opted for a reservation since we heard this place always gets full. Luckily, we were able to get one.

I've noticed that most of the places in Little Tokyo specializes in one particular Japanese specialty. However, most places have common dishes, specifically sushi and sashimi, among other Japanese favorites. Beloved got there first, and it took me a while to get there. During her impatience, she ordered for herself their Matcha Shaved Ice (135 Php). When I got there, we finally got to look at their menu, which isn't actually very different from the usual Japanese restaurants, if not for the unusual varieties of the usual stuff. For example, there were sushi and sashimi choices that I've seen for the first time, and there were yakitori or skewered grilled choices that, although I've heard of, seemed like only this place carries. They also have nabemono or hot pot among the usual tempura and donburi or rice meals. Both Beloved and I aren't really big on sushi, since it has rice. So we opted for the latter specialty. We got their Nanaten Moriawase Sashimi (860 Php), literally seven various sashimi. We also got their Yose Nabe (1100 Php), which was good for two because it was one of the more unique choices here. Finally, we also ordered a couple of each their Shiitake Yakitori (50 Php each) and Bacon Enoki Yakitori (70 Php each). Their yakitori can have either teriyaki sauce or salt. We opted for one of each.

Hap Chan (Ali Mall, Cubao)

Beloved and I ate at Hap Chan a couple of times the past few weeks. Yep, you heard that right; this one took a while in the making. Why do it like this? Well, it's sort of an experiment. Basically all of our reviews have been mostly first impressions. While important, I think the most important part is consistency, and visiting again would affirm that. Also, this gives a chance to those places I didn't enjoy the first time around because of wrong order choices or irresponsible servers or unfortunate mishaps et cetera. So, unless we spent more than reasonable, or the place is very special, expect two visits from future reviews.

Anyway, back to the current one. Hap Chan is a Chinese restaurant—one of the more popular ones, in fact. To some people I know, Hap Chan is Chinese food. I've been to this place, although a different branch, with family and friends for quite a few times before. However, I was a bit surprised that Beloved never had the chance to visit. Since I recall no bad experiences, it was a pretty safe guinea pig for this two-fold review.

I also recall that most of their menu items serves two or more, typical for any Chinese restaurant-slash-tea house. Their prices are also very competitive and quite affordable, if you consider the serving size. During our first visit, I ordered their Lobster Ball Mami (160 Php). Beloved got their Hap Chan Special Hotpot (300 Php) and rice (30 Php) to go with it. We also ordered my favorite dimsum, Hakaw (95 Php) and my favorite Chinese dessert, Buchi (50 Php). We also got special drinks—Hot Lemon Tea (60 Php) for me and Milk Tea (60 Php) for Beloved, even though they already serve house tea, which I expect from any good Chinese tea house.

Ganso-Shabuway (Shangri-La Plaza)

Beloved and I had dinner a few nights ago at Ganso-Shabuway. This place is located at Shangri-La Plaza's new East Wing, which is just starting to get populated with commercial outlets. We used to have little reason to go here, but since Beloved started working nearby, expect more blogs on food places around the area. Anyway, I have honestly never heard of the place before, but their menu is simple: Japanese hot pot or shabu-shabu, hence the name. Although the prices were a bit steep, I somehow convinced my stingy Beloved to splurge a bit.

As I've mentioned, they have a pretty simple menu consisting of stuff you put in shabu-shabu. They're all also conveniently placed into sets good for even-numbered people, instead of served up individually (although there are still individual selections). We ordered their Set B Menu set for Two (1095 Php), which has 250 grams of USDA Meyer Natural Angus Beef. Since it sounded a bit light, I urged that we get their Wagyu Beef Plate (200 grams for 825 Php). We were asked what broth to choose from traditional seaweed or spicy miso. Good thing you can order both, and we did so.