Are Chinese restaurants in P.I. inferior to ones elsewhere in Asia?

[questsea73 315]

In the past my taste buds have done a quick retreat when faced with the prospect of Filipino food with the exception of chicken/pork adobo, some pancit, and some delicious pan de sal (purchased in Baltimore, Md., USA).

 

I do like very much Chinese food and expect to try to subsist on it until I get my stomach on the ground there later this year, but.....

 

.....remembering I had the same thought before on my short trips to PI long ago I recall the Chinese food I had in small and larger Chinese restaurants was disappointing.

 

For those of you who have experienced the excellent Chinese food in Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam as I have do you find the general run of the mill Chinese restaurants in PI to serve up disappointing meals in comparision?

 

Please ignore "the best Chinese restaurant in town" when considering.  Normally there are 1 or 2 expensive gigantic Chinese restaurants in each sizable city such as Cebu or Davao that has an excellent, deserved reputation.

 

Ken

[udonthani 2,027]

Philippines has by far the smallest number of ethnic Chinese of any of the ASEAN countries. In smaller towns the Chinese styled eateries which might be called Dim Sum and have Chinese lettering on the sign, but they also serve Filipino dishes together with the Dim Sum, Chinese-type soups and so on, a bit like run-of-the-mill Chinese restaurants  and takeaways in Britain also serve English dishes.

[Thelandofku-an 349]

Two places used to do cheap and cheerful Chinese-Filipino food in downtown Cebu, I ate there regularly until more choices came along.

 

1/. Snowsheen restaurant near Unitop Jones junction Avenue/Colon st, (extensive menu now cut to about half the number of dishes)          be sure to try or take-out their Asado (cold-cuts).

     Parking opposite in Gaisano building site car-park 20 PHP.

 

2/. Visayan restaurant rear of Collanade Mall, Colon. Maybe 'Magallanes st'? (sometimes salty so I request no salt added).

     Onstreet parking (goodluck) 15Php.

 

Both places were popular with lower middle class office workers and lack air-con (unless you want to sit upstairs alone in aircon comfort).

Edited March 6, 2013 by Thelandofku-an!

[jtmwatchbiz 31,414]

i thought chinese restaurants were inferior wherever you go?

[miles-high 3,917]

 

Philippines has by far the smallest number of ethnic Chinese of any of the ASEAN countries.

... and most came from Fujian province, a province not known for its culnary art...

 

[Headshot 29,354]

The Choi Restaurant in Banilad Town Center has Chinese food as good as anything I've tasted in Hong Kong. It's not cheap...but it's good. They also have lots of choices in their menu. They are packed with Chinese (people) most days at dinnertime.

Edited March 6, 2013 by Headshot

[smokey 21,914]

ohhh Chinese food in the Philippines i am sure it can be found and should tasted good ,,, same way taco bell taste good in the usa for a Mexican restaurant 

[Stone 83]

 

ohhh Chinese food in the Philippines i am sure it can be found and should tasted good ,,, same way taco bell taste good in the usa for a Mexican restaurant 

 

The Chinese fast food equivalent of Taco Bell in the USA would be Chowking in the Philippines. Although most of the food at Chowking is altered to suit common Filipino taste buds, all the meals are Chinese inspired.

 

Theres another Chinese inspired fast food chain operating in Cebu called Dimsum Break, also very similar to what Taco Bell offers in the USA, but Chinese style.

 

As for real Chinese food, there is a small Chinese restaurant right next to Sun Burst at Mango Square in the city centre. It's not a fancy place and it's not a big restaurant either,  i've only tried the noodles and soup there, so i'm not sure if I would recommend it to anyone, but you might want to try it out.

Edited March 6, 2013 by Stone

[throttleplate 1,900]

here in iloilo the chineese restaurant is terrible compared to the places i frequented in san franciscos china town which were outstanding.I still eat at the chineese restaurant in iloilo maybe 2 times a month just to break routine and usually just order the adobe soup with siami dumplings in it and noodles and its not bad at 138php but the other items on the menu dont come close to what i have had in san fran.

[panther 845]

same in bacolod I went to a large chineese resto there and ended up with food poison took me a whole week to recover from it.The food tasted average to me but I won,t be going back anytime soon.

[Thelandofku-an 349]

i thought chinese restaurants were inferior wherever you go?

 

Not in the UK, hehehe!

[Monsoon 28,941]

Plenty of good Chinese restaurants to be found around metro Manila.

 

Are you looking for real Chinese or westernized versions of Chinese food that are popular in the US/UK?

[Dolsos 504]

 

Are you looking for real Chinese or westernized versions of Chinese food that are popular in the US/UK?

 

Generals Chicken would be a nice find...

[David Kennedy 104]

Years ago, I took a woman from Beijing who at the time had been in the USA something like 3 weeks to a Chinese restaurant. She took one bite and refused to eat any more saying it was terrible..

Edited March 7, 2013 by David Kennedy

[smokey 21,914]

well no matter what anyone says i like the fortune cookies and most of them tell me how smart and good looking i am