I had tried this restaurant before where I had only two items their que kiam and the Hototay. The que kiam was very good in fact the main reason I wanted to go back to Solihiya was the que kiam while the Hototay was adequate except the shrimp was tough. My gray hair makes it easier for people to accept criticism and I told the waiter to tell the chef the Hototay was good except the hipon was makunat. This was overheard by the woman who I presumed was one of the owners of the place. She came to my table and told me she was hurt when she heard my comment about the Hototay and promised to do something about it. I have not tried the Hototay again but will do so next time.
For our lunch we started with an order of the que kiam and siu mai. And for our entrees I ordered camaron rebosado wanting to see whether it was anything like what we used to have in the panciteria and added morisqueta tostado with lap cheong (chinese sausage). Anina ordered the kangkong with garlic bagoong. The que kiam and the siu mai took a long time in coming. Our entrees had arrived and as I followed up our starters the waiters kept on assuring us that it is forthcoming. However after a while the owner which could have been the husband or brother of the lady I had spoken to about the Hototay came by our table to tells us he decided not to serve the que kiam because it had a funny smell. Although he was forthright it took a while for them to tell us this which raised my disappointment level. I really looked forward to the que kiam. The camaron rebosado was also a downer because although the shrimp was fresh the batter was limpid and did not come close to the camaron rebosado of the old panciteria. The morisqueta tostado fared a bit better tasting like the morisqueta from ambos mundos and the sausage was good. In place of the que kiam the owner gave us pinsec frito which was also a disappointment the pinsec from Kopitiam and North Park tasting so much better. Although the meal was a disappointment I will still come back to try the other items on the menu and also have my que kiam.
At the same time I still applaud the people behind the restaurant because they have recreated a nice ambiance while possibly bringing up Chinoy food up a notch in the dining ladder.
The next restaurant that I say serves Chinoy food is Spring Moon at Rockwell. April 18 is Papa's birthday and as we are an eating clan any excuse to get together and eat is always welcome. There were thirteen diners, siblings Berto. Mitay, Didi and twins Mel and Louie and myself Len louie's wife, and gen2ers Anina Mikey Anna Regina Karina and Miko.
This time we had a good meal there was unanimity that the food was good not great but good. For starters we had pork siomai and their cold cuts which had seaweed,century egg and asado. Main entrees included roast duck, steamed lapulapu crispy sweet and sour pork and sauteed bok choy. Most applauded was the steamed lapulapu, the roast duck and the sweet and sour pork. For our carbs we had Yang Chow rice and crispy noodles. Louie ordered another pork sio mai and the sweet and sour pork as well as the yang chow fried rice because Len and Anna arrived as we were almost done with dinner. This was a blessing because we had takeout food that became breakfast the next day. To cap the dinner we had four servings of buchi which was served piping hot and was wiped out quickly. It was as they say a good meal.
Good morning as it is almost two am
Papa Bear
