Liqun Duck Restaurant (Beijing, China)

Restaurant Details
Location: No. 11 Beixiangfeng, Zhengyi Road, Qianmendong St. Beijing
Cuisine: Chinese, of course
Price: PPP
Attire: Whatever you want to wear – but wear thick coats if going in the winter as there is no air conditioning

Our Details
What we had: Peking duck, Bamboo with mushrooms, and Mandarin fish “squirrel style”
Rating: ˜˜˜

Comments:
Food
Duck was simply excellent – the meat was tender and juicy, though quite lean (in peking duck standards); skin was crispy. Mandarin fish was fresh and well prepared – it went well with the sweet-sour sauce. Bamboo with mushrooms was traditional home-made dish, simple yet good.
Price
Definitely worth it – we ordered more than what we should have – the duck itself just costs 120RMB (780PHP)
Service
Don’t expect star-quality service – not just in this restaurant but in most restaurants in China. They react when you ask them to bring you stuff, but there is no proactive asking how the food was or if there is anything else they can get you. Expect less than this service if you can’t speak Mandarin.
Ambiance
This is a run-down old house with less than 10 ratty tables – expect to be taken back in time when there was no air conditioning and people rely on sun-light to see inside the house.
Bathroom
Luckily none of us needed to use the washroom!

The Long Story
We are duck fans – if we can do a review just about duck everywhere we would do that, but we just have too much to rant about. Beijing was a primarily a duck food trip and this place was definitely the best place we had it – and also the ugliest restaurant we ever ate in. The funny thing is there are a few foreigners and chatting with a few friends from Manila, who are studying in Beijing, they’ve all tried this restaurant – this made us wonder whether this wasn’t a well-disguised tourist trap. You need to call ahead to book seats and let them know how many ducks you need – get the hotel to order the whole course for you if you cannot speak Mandarin.
Getting there, we were dead scared that the taxi driver was going to drive us down the alley to mug or kill us, but we saw funny drawings of ducks and we understood what duck heaven (or hell for the ducks) was like. Best have lunch here rather than dinner, where the alleys would make safety a little more than questionable. It was a little less than a five minute walk to get to the main road to find a taxi. But this place is close to Tianenmen Square, so you can do the Forbidden City in the morning then have lunch here. It’s best to go with a couple of friends, otherwise you can only have one dish.
This is definitely a place we would recommend to everyone who would go to Beijing.

Seems like they have an award...

like the year before

The signage

The logo

The menu

The kitchen

The fish

The fungii

The thing we came for

The pigs have left the building

Seoul Barbeque

Restaurant Details
Location: E. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue, Libis. Across Eastwood (Citibank), a few meters after Grilla but before Outback
Cuisine: Korean
Price: PP
Attire: Casual (Family Dining)

Our Details
What we had: Bulgogi, Chicken Bulgogi, Kalbi Gui, Dak (Chicken) Kalbi, Bibimbap, Jap Chae, Samgyetang, and Bibimbap
*To note, we didn’t finish it all by ourselves, we were dining with family
Rating: ˜˜˜

Comments:
Food
The meat was notably well-selected and well marinated. The Bulgogi was moist and tender, and the Kalbi was excellent. (I can’t comment on how it was done because we cooked our own food) The bibimbap was good mainly because of the Korean rice. The jap chae was the best we’ve ever had – it’s not like a lot of commercialized Korean restaurants, where it’s just the noodles with soy sauce. It has all the ingredients that you would find in a quaint authentic local restaurant in Seoul, if not more. However, the samgyetang had ingredients that were not supposed to be there like munggo beans, and the taste of ginseng was too faint. But overall, this is the closest one can get to authentic Korean cuisine (to which I am partial). Plus, they have the Jinro soju, which goes superbly with the meal.
Price
Definitely worth it – it’s surprisingly cheaper than most Korean restaurants
Service
Waiters are not extraordinary but they’re not sloppy either. The control over the level of service is largely because the owner is always at the counter (at least for the last 3-4 times we’ve dined there)
Ambiance
No frills – typical Korean restaurant in Seoul, except bigger and you don’t need to sit on the floor.
Bathroom
Bathroom was typical – not particularly clean or spacious but not cramped or gross either.

The Long Story

We just passed by the restaurant while driving around Libis, having just come back from Seoul a few days/weeks ago and already missing Korean food. We popped in and found that 80-90% of the folks dining there were Koreans. A good sign, we thought. So we had the normal fare – bulgogi and kalbi, and much to our surprise, it was really good! The serving size is larger than most Korean restaurants in Manila would have it, though at almost the same price. The waiters would ask whether you would like them to cook the food inside for you, you have to make sure you say you want to cook it yourself – it’s cumbersome but there’s nothing like having control over what you’re going to eat.

There’s pretty much nothing else to say about this place (can’t go wrong with no frills) except that we would definitely keep going back there and recommend it to other people. The only difficulty is going to Libis on weekdays.

Duo Steakhouse - Serendra

Restaurant Details
Location: Serendra, beside Conti’s and right across Chelsea
Cuisine: French-Italian Fusion
Price: PPP
Attire: Smart Casual

Our Details
What we had: Steak with Foie Gras (P750) and Penne Pasta with Salmon and Sea Urchin (P395)
Rating: ˜˜˜
Comments:
Food
Steak was done just as we request it – medium – which is something very rare (no pun intended) these days. The red wine sauce does not overpower the steak, leaving only the foie gras to do that. Steak was tender; foie gras was pan-fried to perfection. The large serving of pasta was intimidating, but as you savor the shitake mushrooms, salty salmon, and barely visible but definitely noticeable (when already in your mouth) uni, you will find yourself finishing the entire plate. The fresh parmesan grated on top was definitely a plus, unlike most restaurants using cheese that has been in the refrigerator for 3 months or worse, using cheese from a can. The service bread is always freshly baked (you can send it back if it’s not) – but ask for just the round ones. It’s their version of pan de sal, which goes excellently with the salsa.
Price
Definitely worth it
Service
Waiters are knowledgeable and well-trained. They are able to take multiple specifications with every order, barely visible when you don’t need them, but easy to find when you do.
Ambiance
The place looks like a well-built mansion dining area – the high ceiling makes being there delightful and not constraining. The best thing about it is it’s not tacky, the folks putting it together knew when to stop with the furniture and décor – this gives it a clean, fresh feel despite being a quasi-fine dining restaurant.
Bathroom
Bathroom was not fabulous but it was well-kept and spacious.

The Long Story

After finding out (the hard way) that multiple restaurants in Serendra are actually owned by one company, we were eager to try something good to have a reason to go back to Serendra. A friend recommended Duo – we were skeptical but when we saw the penne pasta with UNI, we just had to try it! So we did, and we’ve been going back and recommending it to everyone ever since.

We’ve actually already tried a number of things on the menu – Sea Bass (good), Lamb Chops (very good), Tessie Tomas salad (good), Tortellini Carbonara (good), Baked Cannelloni (normal), Prawn Bisque (very good), and Sugar Free French Chocolate Gateau (very good – must try). We’ve gotten boring after the first 10 visits so we always just order our favorites (Steak with Foie Gras and Penne Pasta with Uni).

The waiters are very formal, but they are not snooty or overly friendly. They do not try to “sell” you their recommendations but they do know what to recommend when you do ask them. The host remembers your name after 2-3 visits, which makes you feel welcome.

By the way, make sure you call in your reservation for good measure. You really don’t want to dine outside, unless you are a smoker. The only difficult part about this is getting someone to answer the phone when calling in for a reservation. Actually, the first time I tried this restaurant was with my dad. We didn’t have reservations, it was 7:00 and there was a table with an 8:30 reservation. We told the host that we would eat fast – after just 2 minutes of thinking and talking, the host let us use the table. Not a lot of restaurants would do that, understandably, but we did finish at 7:40 so we were happy about both the flexibility of the staff and the quality of the food.

You know the restaurant is good when we don’t have a lot to say about the place in the “long story”… it means we’ve been there too often and haven’t had any major complaints.

Max Brenner - Greenbelt

Restaurant details:
Location: Greenbelt along Makati Ave. You can't miss it
Price: PP
Attire: Anything goes

Our details:
What we had: Pumpkin soup, Chicken on vodka cream sauce pasta, and Burger with Gorgonzola cheese and onions
Rating: ˜˜

Comments:
Food
Personally, I don't think the food is all that special. The soup and pasta was rather bland and the burger was just unremarkable. They did have a variety of chocolate drinks that comes in cool cups and glasses though.
Price
The prices for their chocolate stuff are pretty steep, but pretty much OK for the rest
Service
Service is fast and efficient. 'Nuff said. Ambiance Nice and cozy. Great for a lazy afternoon, in my humble opinion.

All in all, this is a place I'd go to if all the better restaurants are full or not available.

I Have Two Eggs - Tomas Morato

Restaurant details
Location: Tomas Morato St. across Alex III
Cuisine: Filipino and eggs
Price: P
Attire: Anything goes

Our details:
What we had: Steak and eggs, arroz caldo and eggs, and a few other stuff
Rating: ˜
Comments:
Food
The food is OK. There wasn't anything in particular to rave about.
Price
Price is just about right for what the restaurant offers.
Service
Waiters seems to forget orders when there's a whole bunch of customers. Plus they always did their eggs wrong.
Ambiance
The place looks like your everyday eatery, but much cleaner though.
Bathroom
Haven't visited their bathroom so I can't really comment on this one.

The Long Story

We saw a plug for this restaurant on an airline magazine, so we thought that it might be cool to try this place out. The name does seem intriguing. First time we tried the place, everything seems to be as ordinary as your everyday restaurant, with the exception of having a side of eggs on every dish. It sort of makes a person want to go back when everywhere else is full (Probably because of the ample parking space available).

About a month or two after, we decided to check the place out again. This is when everything turned sour. It took them ages to ready our meal. Either they forgot our orders of skipped it, I have no idea. It took about 3 follow-ups for our meal to arrive sans eggs. We were already half way through our meal, no eggs. A couple more follow-ups, and the scrambled eggs finally arrived. The problem here is that I ordered my eggs SUNNY SIDE UP.

What would have been a forty minutes dinner turned into a one and a half hour long follow-up festival. My final verdict is that this place MIGHT be good enough to earn it one star more than what I gave, but based on what I experienced, I'm not planning to go back and try them again anytime in the near future.

Aubergine - Fort Bonifacio

Restaurant Details
Location: 2nd floor of the building near S&R housing Secret Recipe and McDonald's
Cuisine: French
Price: PPPP
Attire: Smart Casual/Semi-Formal

Our Details
What we had: Roasted Wagyu Tri-tip with Foie Gras (P950) and Roasted Duck Breast (P860)
Rating: ˜ (Unsatisfactory)
Comments:
Food
The beef was not tender as Wagyu beef should be, having just had kobe beef in Kobe a few days before, this was especially highlighted. Serving size is small, the roasted duck breast had 6 slices 1.5 inch long, 1 inch wide, and 0.2 inch thick, but it is not rare as the French would have it. Same goes with the beef – we ordered medium but it was medium well, only one of the five thin slices of beef was near medium. The presentation was good, but apart from that and the newly opened bottle of horseradish, it was difficult to find anything else good about the place that would make us want to go back. Check out the “long story” for details.
Price
Price is ok for the menu item description but given the above note on the food quality, it’s definitely not worth it.
Service
Waiters tried to be formal and sophisticated but failed to do so. There is a lack of adequate training on menu items and general etiquette, which was inconsistent for the restaurant’s target marketing scheme
Ambiance
Interiors were modern and stylish, conducive for holding dinner parties (just don’t look outside the floor to ceiling windows). There’s a huge floor to ceiling wine storage facility made of glass in the middle of the restaurant, which is a highlight yet blends well into the design scheme.
Bathroom
We were in such a bad mood from the first 3 items that we did not visit the bathroom. But judging from the cleanliness of the dining area, the bathroom would most likely be clean as well. (Then again, the restaurant just opened for barely a week when we visited)

The Long Story

We were planning to eat at Duo in Serendra but there was no parking, so we decided to try the strange Japanese restaurant with a funny logo advertising in S&R. We chanced upon Aubergine, and were impressed with the interiors so we popped in, eager to discover the rare good restaurant.
It was 8:50pm and we were starving. 2 minutes of looking at the menu and we were ready to order, but the waiter was talking at 30 words per minute making introductions.
“We’re ready to order,” we declare. The waiter says, “It’s ok, ma’m”. I say, “No, I’m ready to order.” He fumbles around, not knowing what to say next and decides he needs paper. It takes him 5 minutes (really) to get a piece of paper and walk the 10 steps back to our table. We tell him our order – 2 items only, and he makes us repeat the items 3 times because he is unable to capture it. He does not know what horseradish is. He does not understand what “that’s it” means. We spoke in Filipino, in an attempt to bridge any gaps, but the waiter refused to speak the native tongue.
The restaurant does not have service water – I always thought restaurants are required to serve that. He says, “The cheapest water we have is hidden spring.” HOW FREAKING TACKY! I order lemon iced tea – he said, “One lemonade ice tea.” (Oh, the way he repeats the orders is “One beef, one duck, etc” instead of “Ma’m you will have the beef, etc”) I ask, “Do you even have lemonade iced tea?” At this point we were pissed already because it takes less than 5 minutes per side of a 12 ounce steak to cook it at medium.
At last the waiter finishes getting the orders. After 5 minutes, he comes back and asks how I wanted my steak done. And it takes him a LONG time to ask that. We were served bread, which was dry and tough – barely edible. They must have been reinventing the origins of fondue.
There were about 10 chefs/cooks in the kitchen and the food was served at 9:30. There were about 15 waiters, but they were fumbling on who will be serving the food coming out of the kitchen and which table it will go to. So the food came, we thought it was all worthwhile because the presentation was deceiving. The horseradish requested on the side when we first placed our order was not there. So we ask the waiter to get it, he does not understand what horseradish is (again), so he whispers to his assistant waiter, who whispers back. Quarter of the way through our meal, he comes back, saying, “We will get horseradish and serve it to you shortly.” And then after 2 minutes, someone comes and actually gives it to us. Talk about the power of delegation.
The head waiter came by and asked how the food was. We said, “Not up to our expectations.” And he said, “Ok, great.” So definitely they do train on the formalities, but only the head waiter was given the opportunity to obtain the training. He didn’t even blink an eye when we said that. This proves that it was just a formality.
It took them 8 minutes to get the bill, with 1 follow-up. No credit card facility was available and the waiter could not answer straight. He insisted that “You don’t have a credit card facility?” did not warrant a straight “No” or “Not yet”. He kept correcting us, “We are currently applying for the credit card terminal”.
And that was the end of any possibility of going back.

Our rating system!!! Whoopie!!!

We'll be using this system to rate the restaurants.

P = less than P250 per person
P = P250-P500 per person
PPP = P500 – 1000 per person
PPP = over P1000 per person

˜ – Unsatisfactory: will definitely not go back, will make sure other folks will not suffer the same
˜˜ – Satisfactory: not so bad, but not so good either, will not recommend to other people but may eat there again if in the area
˜˜˜– Excellent: will recommend to other people, will possibly have a party there, will travel just to eat there
*Awaiting Stardom – we may occasionally use this for terrible inedible food but this is really the last resort for criticism