SM City Fairview
30 June 2010
It was another grocery shopping day for us, and we timed it during lunch time so we can eat out, too. Sister was at work, so we were thinking of just eating somewhere we already visited. Go! Fan was suggested, but when we passed by Flavours of China, mom suggested we try it instead. I was a bit hesitant because I knew foods there were quite expensive (which was the reason why we still haven't eaten there), but the family wanted to try all the restaurants in the mall, so we went in.
Aside from its obvious name, decorations inside were very Chinese... but I did like that they didn't have the round table with lazy susan. Truth be told, I find it difficult to eat having to turn the lazy susan each time one needed a serving of the dish.
There are a lot of Chinese restaurants here and there, and Chinese food has been part of Filipino dining for so long now, so we wanted to veer away from the typical Chinese dishes we always get to taste from different establishments. We had:
Kropeck (Prawn Crackers). Complimentary appetizers while waiting for orders to be served. Nothing much to say about this, I think most of us know how it taste like... and yes, it was a joy to eat.
Fried Chicken in Imperial Sauce (p240). Fried chicken cooked with sweet soy sauce and Chinese spices with carrots. This was the first time I got to taste fried chicken with sauce (other than the gravy), and it was a great change. The sauce was nicely cooked, and the chicken tasted good.
Mixed Seafood Curry (p220). Assorted seafood cooked with carrots and potatoes in creamy curry sauce. Mom really loves seafood, so whenever we can, we try to choose dishes with prawns in it so mom could enjoy the food trip. Not a nice picture, I know, but it tasted really, really, good. Like the chicken, this was also my first time to taste seafood curry, and this was where I took inspiration when I cooked the same dish last December (recipe HERE). The dish had prawns, squid, scallops, and fish, and it was really delicious.
Broccoli Flower with Scallops in White Superior Sauce (p230). Blanched broccoli with scallops cooked in scrumptious white superior sauce. There were several broccoli dishes, but we went for the one with scallops because it was rare for us to taste it. Another great dish from the restaurant - broccoli were crispy and very fresh, while the scallops in white superior sauce was seasoned just right.
If there was any complaint to the dishes, it would have to be that the sauce tends to get watery quick - something very common for sauces thickened with cornstarch slurry.
Four Seasons Shake (p70). We were planning to just drink service water that time, but when mom saw the waiters serving this drink to the people sitting next to our table, she decided to go for it, too. Very wonderful way of presenting the drink, but there we felt as if there were only two fruit flavors in the shake - melon and mango. I told mom to stir it before drinking to get a good balance of the two fruit flavors, but she didn't want to - she said that by not stirring it, it was like she was having two glasses of two different fruit shakes. :)
Buco Pandan Sherbet (p80). Since mom went to order a special drink, I decided to order this for our dessert. As a house specialty, I already expected this to be delicious, and it was. Very great way to end a great meal. This wasn't too sweet, so it somehow passes as a drink, too, especially when all the shaved ice had melted.
Eating here, we kinda regretted not giving it a try back then. The establishment has been there for a few years, yet it was just this day that we entered to try their dishes. We all agreed this is a place worth coming back to, however, a few weeks after this food trip, the establishment closed up and is now occupied by Koryo (which still hasn't opened as of this writing). It was really sad that we can't eat there anymore, but we were really thankful we go taste their dishes.
Should you want to taste the Flavours of China, too, they have other branches including: SM City San Lazaro (02)786-2583 / (02)786-2584; SM North EDSA (02)442-0030; SM Southmall (02)806-0088; SM Sucat (02)825-7399; and Tomas Morato (02)374-7744.
*** Jenn ***
I come from a family who loves cooking and eating. I never had any formal training in cooking and that I taught myself how to cook based on the handed down recipes, but I could say that I can cook good food. In 2008, I started documenting my food trips for my