Finding Peace and Happiness

Peace and Happiness - Beef Stick and Searing Hotpot Noodle The shop is small with only four tables and save for some huge prints on the wall, it was rather nondescript, resembling the hole-in-the-wall eateries in Binondo. The two aircon units look fairly new but on several visits, they were never on. Not even the Binondo eateries were this hot. If you close your eyes for a moment and take a sniff of the air, you can imagine being in a Chinatown restaurant instead of a Makati hole-in-the-wall.

The steady stream of Chinese patrons coming and going seems like a good indication of how good (and authentic) the food is. Diners brave the stifling heat at Peace and Happiness Dumpling House so the food must be that good, right? That takes a taste test to find out.

Hot soup, superb dimsum in chilly HK at Mak’s

Hong Kong - Mak's Pork Dumpling & Wonton
We capped our first day in HK watching the sunset and admiring the early dusk view of the Kowloon and Central nightscape at the viewdeck of Victoria Peak. Boy, was it a chilly 19 degrees up there with the wind adding to the cold. We chanced upon Mak’s on the way out of the Galleria mall, the warm lighting looked inviting and the thought of having hot soup on a chilly night sounded like a good idea.

Cantonese as Fine as Jasmine

Jasmine Crispy Skin of Suckling Pig on Crepe Just hearing the name of this widely cultivated flower calls to mind adjectives like exquisite, delicate and versatile. It is a flower of many attributes beyond its beautiful form. To have a restaurant bearing its name means having big shoes to fill. Good thing that Jasmine Restaurant found at New World Hotel lived up to its name, serving some of the finest Cantonese Cuisine in the metro.

Macau’s Little Turtle with Big Noodles

Small Turtle Octopus Noodles The noodles came one after the other. It seems overwhelming but after at least a two hour- flight, we were famished and ready to eat just about anything. It’s my first time in Macau and what better way to get started but to sample some good ole local food. “We’re heading to the Little Turtle,” said Joao, our Portuguese with Chinese lineage guide. The name was intriguing enough to make everyone want to check it out.

Singapore’s World of Flavors (1 of 2)

Maggie's Restaurant  Buttered Squid Hopping in from a hole-in-the wall restaurant to an al fresco street dining , to a humble stall in a kopitiam to an unpretentious mall restaurant, food tripping is one activity I cherish when I’m in Singapore. Food offering is so diverse I can eat different cuisines from different parts of the world depending on what my appetite dictates that day. During my week-long stay in Singapore, I tried different restaurants my friend recommended which were good on the type of cuisine they serve yet thrifty.

On the Chinese food trail with the Big Binondo Food Wok Map

Big Binondo Food Wok Loose Rice Grains and Map

Say Chinatown and one of the first things that comes to mind is the chow. It’s almost a sacrilege not to sample the food when one ventures to Binondo. Little wonder that Manila’s foremost streetwalker, Ivan Man Dy, came up with the Binondo Food Wok Map.

He was getting too many texts and calls from people asking about the whereabouts of eating places in Manila Chinatown that he felt compelled to come up with something to help people find their way to the divine food offerings that await in the busy streets.

Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Orton Blog by Crimson Themes.