Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao (Greenhills)

A few nights ago, Beloved and I had dinner at Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao. Since it's a pretty lengthy name, I'll just reduce it to Crystal Jade. This Singaporean-Chinese restaurant is located at Greenhills, just outside VirraMall. Since it has "Xiao Long Bao" in its name, I assumed it was their specialty, and their posters outside support my claim. I have no idea what "La Mian" was, though. Anyway, since we happened to be in the area and this place is amongst the only ones unique here from elsewhere, we decided to give it a shot.

Apparently, "La Mian" means hand-pulled noodles, so I assumed this was another of their specialties. And since it was majority of what's in the menu, we decided to order them. Beloved had their La Mian - Beef Spicy Soup (257 Php) and I had their La Mian - Shrimp Wanton in Clear Broth (257 Php). We also got their Xiao Long Bao (150 Php), another of their specialties. Since Beloved was starving that night, she also asked for their Pork Dumpling with Chives (135 Php). I also ordered their Fried Pancake with Scallion (107 Php) because it looked interesting and reminded me of a dish I enjoyed at Lugang Cafe. Speaking of which, this place reminded me a lot of that, minus the specialty drinks and desserts.

Pho Hoa (Tomas Morato)

Beloved and I had dinner at Pho Hoa last night. Some back-story is required: You see, I've been in this place before. Now, being a food blogger, I frequent threads on community sites that are related to food. Often, when "what is a food that you must eat at least once in your life" question pops up in these sites, one of the most frequent answers was "pho". Now, as I've said, I've had pho before from the said place, but as I recall, or, more appropriately, forget what made it special. In fact, I vaguely remember it being quite awful. Nevertheless, this has been one of my food adventure missions after being a food blogger and hearing such comments. Last night, we finally made the decision to try it out.

Their menu consists mostly of the specialty Vietnamese noodle soup. A page is conveniently dedicated explaining the basics of enjoying the dish. After reading it, I opted to order their Pho Nam, Gan, Bo Vien, which is basically beef flank, tendon, and brisket soup, To Lon size, or large for 295 Php. Beloved ordered their spicy Pho Bo Kho, or beef stew, also To Lon at the same price. For our starters, we ordered their Gui Cuon, or vegetable spring rolls with pork and shrimp (129 Php), and we also ordered their Chien Dau Hu, or tofu steak in mushroom sauce (240 Php).

North Park (Scout Dr. Lazcano, near Tomas Morato)

Beloved and I had "breakfast" at North Park near Tomas Morato yesterday. I say "breakfast" with quotes because it was our first meal of the day. However, it was already nearing night time. This Chinese restaurant is actually pretty common in that most malls have one of these. We never tried the place, however, for since we don't usually crave for Chinese, and when we do, it's usually just the dimsum. Anyway, being one of the few restaurants at Tomas Morato area we've yet to try, we went there for the heck of it, and also because I felt the need for something hot and soupy due to a mild cold.

The place isn't exactly on Tomas Morato. This place can be found behind Alfredo's Steak House, another restaurant we haven't tried yet. Anyway, we were led upstairs, and on the way, I got a glimpse of their noodle offerings. They actually serve six types of noodles. I cannot remember all of it, but luckily, it was also displayed on their menu-slash-placemat. While choosing our orders, they served us hot tea, which was what I expected from any decent Chinese restaurant or tea house. Their menu have the expected dishes, such as noodles, dimsum, rice, and various Chinese mainstays. Of course, we went here for the soup, specifically their noodles. Beloved got their Nanking Beef Noodles (163 Php), and asked for their Flat Shanghai Noodles. I ordered their Ultimate Noodles (249 Php) with their Hong Kong Noodles. Finally, we also asked for their Prawn Dumplings (223 Php for 6 pieces), and had them steamed rather than fried.

Kanzhu Hand-Pulled Noodles (Timog)

Beloved and I had a late dinner at Kanzhu Hand-Pulled Noodles. Beloved inadvertently became a regular to this place since her office usually orders lunch here. It also wasn't my first time trying out this place as she brought me a couple of dishes to-go before. I thought it wasn't fair to write about a take-home meal, as it might affect quality, but I thought it was pretty good and plentiful for a packaged meal.

Obviously, their menu consists mainly of hand-pulled noodle dishes. Beloved also recommended their beef. So we got two different variations of both: Sliced Beef Dry Noodles (150 Php) for me and Braised Beef Noodles (150 Php) for Beloved. We also ordered their Shrimp Hakaw (120 Php) and their Black Fungus with Jellyfish (160 Php). As with most hand-pulled noodle restaurants we've been to, their kitchen features a glass window where you can see your noodles being freshly prepared from scratch.

San Seh Noodle House (Timog/Tomas Morato Rotonda)

Last mornight, Beloved and I ate breakfast at San Seh Noodle House. This cozy little place is located at the rotonda of Timog Avenue and Tomas Morato. We were there at around 4am in the morning because we broke our body clocks and became nocturnal for the past week. Hungry, we were deciding between the more popular fastfood usuals, Chowking or McDonald's; or 24 hour pizza places open in the area, Yellow Cab or Shakey's. We noticed that this place was open as well, so we risked trying it out.

We expected this place to specialize in noodles since we saw their chef hand-pulling noodles from the front window. It was pretty entertaining to watch and good to know that we're getting our noodles freshly made. So we ordered just that—a couple of bowls of their Braised Beef Noodle Soup for 125 Php each. They do serve non-soup noodles such as stir fry, but that part of their menu we didn't touch. We did have an order of their Sharksfin Dumpling for 55 Php.