One of the best Chinese restaurants in Manila that taipans are known to frequent is the Hai Shin Lou Seafood King Restaurant on Arnaiz Ave. (Formerly Pasay Road) in Makati. This restaurant boasts a seating capacity of 270 people with 5 Private Rooms for an intimate party and a selection of dishes fit for a king from their well renowned specialties like Peking duck and steamed crab with garlic to exotics such as mantis shrimp, sharks fin, abalone and the blue dotted fish. This combined with attentive and knowledgeable staff, spacious minimalist interiors, ample parking and valet make it a great place to appreciate Chinese food.

Our family enjoys dining at Hai Shin Lou as it is easily accessible and has no pretensions with respect to dress code. Since it opened in 2002 we have been there on numerous occasions, the proprietor was the manager of the original Jade Garden in Greenbelt 1. This is the second year in a row that Aksana decided to celebrate her birthday with a nine course meal including one of her favorite dishes – Peking Duck!

Assorted Cold Cuts (3 Kinds)

The cold cuts were comprised of vinegared Jellyfish with sesame seeds, roasted pork and soy chicken served with dark soy sauce and gingered oil. These traditional Chinese cold cuts were of excellent quality and tasted as such. The jelly fish even had the extra touch of sesame seeds which added additional crunch factor to the jelly fish.

Winter Melon Soup with Dried Scallops

This is one of our favorite soups at Hai Shin Lou because although served hot it is quite refreshing with black vinegar as it is similar to a cucumber. The bits of dried scallop add the necessary saltiness to complete the dish. This soup is often served at Chinese banquets and did you know that winter melon can be stored up to 12 months?

Steamed Prawns with Garlic

They don’t call Hai Shin Lou the Seafood King Restaurant for nothing, they have numerous salt water tanks where they store their live fish and crustaceans. You can tell that these steamed prawns were jumping by the fact that even a baby could remove the flesh from their shells and there was no denying the bite to it. These were consumed in a flash!

Aromatic Peking Duck

What makes Peking duck so special? First of all, it has been a dish that has been prepared from the days of imperial China but they don’t use any random duck, as these ducks are a special breed that are butchered after 60-65 days. Luckily they may roam free for the first 45 days of their existence and then they are force fed and kept in cages until the day that they are slaughtered. But this is just the beginning of the process as the duck will now have to be air dried for at least 24 hours after the skin has been separated from the fat by blowing air into the neck cavity – this is probably the most difficult part. Then the duck is slow roasted in a convection oven. After this the duck has to be cut into equal slices with the perfect amount of crispy skin and meat. At PHP 1800++ for a whole duck, you definitely get what you pay for! Did you know that the original Nanking ducks used in preparing this dish were black?

Aromatic Peking Duck Pancakes!

Once rolled in a pancake with scallions, cucumber and hoisin sauce they become an unforgettable experience to your taste buds. The crunchiness of the roasted duck skin, rich unmistakable flavor of the tender duck meat combined with the cucumber and scallions and sweetness of the hoisin make this a truly imperial experience! We had some friends that never tried this before and they were ecstatic!

Crispy Lapu-Lapu Fish Fillet in Lemon Sauce

Normally we would order the whole steamed lapu-lapu with a sweet soy sauce and scallions, but Aksana wanted to try something new, so we had the crispy fish fillet in lemon sauce instead. It was a good contrast in flavor to all the other dishes we had.

Steamed Crabs with Garlic

My favorite course in every Chinese Laureate is the super crustacean which may either be the crab or lobster. It is difficult to imagine a Laureate without one as have been to over 50 Chinese weddings in my lifetime and this has never occurred. The steamed crabs at Hai Shin Lou are dangerously delicious. Its difficult to stop eating as they are so fresh and the meat easily detaches from the various chambers. We like the claw the best because the shrunken pincer is just exquisite!

Black Mushroom and Vegetables with Scallops

The black mushrooms (a.k.a. dried shiitake mushrooms) in this dish were just so succulent from the sauce. It is a common belief that black mushrooms relieve high blood pressure but more importantly are a rich source of vitamin D.

Braised Efu Noodles with Seafood (Birthday Noodles)

These crispy birthday noodles may not be the healthiest as it is deep fried, but they sure are tasty especially with cuttlefish!

For dessert we had the usual iced sago with mango. Even after such a feast, everybody still had room for dessert!

The laureates are suited towards any reasonable budget and range from PHP 3,600 ($90.00) up to PHP 25,000 ($US 620.00) + 10% Service Charge for a table of 10 people. A reasonable budget for a group of four ordering from the a la carte menu would be PHP 500.00 ($US 12.00) per person.

HAPPY BDAY SHUSKI!

Hai Shin Lou Seafood King Restaurant
810 Arnaiz Ave. (Formerly Pasay Road)
San Lorenzo Village
Makati City
Tel: +(632)-892-5148
Telefax: +(632)-844-1734

On our next post we try Army Navy Burger + Burrito. We saw this restaurant while we were in Tagaytay, but decided to try out their Makati-Glorietta 5 branch instead. Please click here.

Remember life is way too short, don’t let it pass you by. Enjoy Hour Philippines!

Sincerely,

Lord and Aksana
HOURPHILIPPINES.COM
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The Hong Kong Emperor Seafood Restaurant opened on Feb. 13, 2010 at the SM Mall of Asia and offers a wide variety of Chinese cuisine from abalone to sharks fin, peking duck and gourmet dimsum.

The establishment was full and we did not have reservations but were lucky to get a booth next to the window as another couple had left.

The booths offer the most comfortable seating in the restaurant for a group of four but they also have the usual round tables for traditional laureats seating twelve. The service was fast and efficient and the menu was simple with a good selection of dishes that would easily make your mouth water.

Steamed Shrimp Dumplings (Hakaw) – PHP 98.00++ ($US 2.00)

We started off with the hakaw and they were perfect – very thin wrapper that did not stick to the wooden steamer or other dumplings and the shrimps inside were juicy and delectable. We could hardly wait to try our other orders.

Radish Cake with XO Sauce – PHP 98.00++ ($US 2.00)

Radish cake has always been one of our favorite dimsums as a kid and we can say that this version was simply delicious, crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. Dip it into a mixed chilli, soy sauce and red wine vinegar sauce to enhance the flavor!

Shanghai Siu Long Pao – PHP 85.00++ ($US 2.00)

To top off our dimsum appetizers was the Siu Long Pao or Siu Long Bao as some people call it. This was the first time for Aksana to try this famous dumpling from Shanghai that has soup injected into it. At first bite, the soup pours out into your mouth with a truly exquisite flavor of meat and then the tender meat of the pork and shrimp combination just melts in your mouth. Even a vegetarian would be tempted by this dish. Make sure not to turn it upside down or bite into it as the precious soup will ooze out. Do it all in one shot!

Steamed Prawns with Garlic – PHP 360.00++ ($US 9.00)

After the dimsum, we could not help but try their prawns to find out just how fresh their seafood is. The six butterfly cut prawns easily came off the shell and had a nice crunchy juicy bite to it.

Pork Liver with Egg White and Vegetables - PHP 260.00++ ($US 6.00)

All the dishes we had exceeded our expectations and the Hong Kong Emperor Seafood Restaurant is definitely worth the trip even without the other worthwhile things to do at the mall such as the IMAX and shopping.

Fresh Fruits (Complimentary)

They currently offer 20% discount during weekdays and 10% on weekends, so take advantage while you can! We would like to hear your suggestions on other dishes that you have tried.

Hong Kong Emperor Seafood Restaurant
2nd Level Entertainment Mall
SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City
Tel: +632-497-9855

Mr. Henry Kuan
Tel: +63-917-531-4896
Tel: +63-922-881-2522

In our next post we will share with you the 2010 Bridal Collection Launch of Vanda Fondunueva and Nicole Whisenhunt, please click here.

Sincerely,

Lord and Aksana
HOURPHILIPPINES.COM
FOOD | TRAVEL | LIFESTYLE
All content is the sole property of HourPhilippines.com, any reproduction in whole or in part shall be subject to prosecution.