Battle of the Xiao Long Baos part 2: Lugang Cafe

This is the continuation of my last week's post:

Battle of the Xiao Long Baos: Shi Lin and Peace & Happiness

After 4 hours of studying Japanese, I often craved for Xiao Long bao so upon returning home, from Trinoma, I'll have to cross the mall bridge and pass through a lot of people on my way to satisfy my cravings at SM North the Block.

At last! I have reached this restaurant. Yey! Even though I am a frequent customer here.

The restaurant's name is somewhat disgusting for some but it is really clean. I wonder why they chose Lugang Cafe instead of Lukang Cafe. Lukang 鹿港 is one of the places in northwestern Taiwan.

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Battle of the Xiao Long Baos: Shi Lin and Peace & Happiness

This is a comparison between Shi Lin and PEACE & HAPPINESS Dumpling House

For part 2, Lugang Cafe review will be coming soon. :) :) :) :)

I first came addicted to Xiao Long Bao when I, together with my friends dined in Shi Lin (士林) located at Bonifacio Global City. There is also a branch in The Podium located at Ortigas.

My friends introduced me to this delicacy while listening to Teresa Teng's songs being played in the restaurant.

Since I saw spot.ph's article about the Top 10 Xiao Long bao in Manila after many months from my first Xiao Long bao, I decided to write this post so you can see the delicacy based on a commoner's experience.

I don't know if Shi Lin refers to one of the districts in Taipei, Taiwan or if it means a Stone forest. Since I am currently taking Japanese classes, there are 3 japanese writing systems, those are hiragana, katakana and kanji. Kanji came from chinese characters and whether it is used by the Chinese or Japanese, the meaning are the same even when they were saying it differently to the point that you can write these characters and show it to them even if you don't know the literal translation of these words.

Let's go back to Shi Lin, 士 means earth, ground or soil while 林 means woods. 

Here's my Shi Lin experience for the nth time: (I can't remember the number of times since I'm a frequent customer)

The waiters are courteous and they respond quickly. The place is clean. They are still playing Teresa Teng's songs which I really like. My order came at the nick of time.

There's a second floor but too shy to capture it

Left side where the cooks are making dumplings

Sorry ^^, forgot to include vinegar on this photo. The vinegar looks like a soy sauce because of its color

                                               

                                

                                      Here's the actual amount of soup and it's really tasty

The ground pork with some onions and green veggies

                                               

6 pieces costs Php 148 while 10 pieces costs Php 246

Shi Lin has 5% service charge.

The only problem is the dumplings were easy to fall off unlike in Lugang Cafe's. ( part 2 soon :) )

Overall, Shi Lin is really tasty and worth to try for fine dining at a high end place and not too expensive price.

Prices ranges from Php 150 - 300, here's the menu.

 

Let's talk about, PEACE & HAPPINESS Dumpling House.
It is the cheapest that I've tried. It is located at SM Makati foodcourt.

                     

This is my third time here so I tried the slightly spicy sauce which is normally a dip in eating siomai instead of the real sauce like in Shi Lin.

I have drank the soup and  eaten 1/4 of the meat already

Not bad for Php 115 but I think the dough's too thick for my liking and it's too oily. Nevertheless, it is still delicious and worth craving for.

What is the delicious xiao long bao for you? Comments will be deeply appreciated. :)

Before this post ends, I wanted to share this video about the proper way of eating Xiao Long bao:

Update as of August 16, 2013:

Part 2 of this post is ready to be read!

Beat karaoke bar

We went there after work to celebrate, sing and enjoy delicious snacks. I did sing on videokes before but only on restaurants and small stalls in arcades.

This is my first time going to a videoke bar

My friend reserved a room for 5. After office hours, we went there and got the biggest room. It is also the same night were Mickey Ferriols went there.

Courtesy of Beat

Courtesy of Beat

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Rai Rai Ken

This is my second time here in Rai Rai Ken - Ali Mall branch

I ordered Gomoku Ramen, 3 pcs. Gyoza and 3 pcs. Ebi Tempura.

I like the music they played and I always heard "Rai Rai Ken Radio"

Last time I visited, there's a 50% discount on ramen. Now, there's a 50% discount on ramen if I buy 3pcs of gyoza worth 65Php so I ordered it.

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Tempura Japanese Grill

 SERVICE SUCKS!!

There's also a 50% discount on tempura if you buy 8 pcs.

I ordered a Gomoku Ramen and 3 pcs. Ebi Tempura.

The Gomoku ramen is delicious but not as delicious as Oki Oki (Trinoma). 190Php

The tempura were big and tasty. It also costs 190php

tempura sauce

Service here makes me pissed off and I didn't leave a tip. Thank goodness there's no service charge here.

These are only my orders and they took more than 1 hour to serve this! It isn't a busy hour and when I entered here, the waiters come only one by one like they have no initiative to go out, greet and serve the customers unless they were really called. You have to look for a waiter just for the order. When I was pissed off because my ramen didn't served yet, I called the waiter then I said that I want to cancel the ramen.. The waiter said just wait and then.. he served the ramen.. If I didn't tell the waiter to cancel my order, I think they will not serve it and don't really care if you wait long.

Normally restos have tissues on table or they will give you a tissue dispenser but here no.. Management here is really stupid.. I wonder why the manager in this branch was hired at the first place. There's no japanese music or you can't feel a beautiful ambiance.

Delicious food. Bad service. I'll not return here!

K'naan - The now rising Afropop star!

Before the World Cup 2010 came, I am already aware of K'naan. He is a Somali-Canadian poet, rapper, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist.

This is one of his best songs:



About the Wavin Flag, this version has different lyrics from the Coca-Cola and World Cup song:

BTW, this is his 3rd song from the Troubadour album.



Waka Waka is great and catchy but I prefer this for the FIFA World Cup 2010 official song. Anyway this song has many versions and it looks more popular than Waka Waka.



K'naan is one of the underrated rappers but now, I think he will get what he deserves in the music industry.