The enduring Ma Mon Luk

In my five decades and one year of existence, I have only visited the iconic 
mami-and-siopao place Ma Mon Luk in Quiapo once, about seven years ago. So last week, I thought of making a second visit, this time with my friend, who decided to treat me 
for her birthday at the Quezon Ave. branch.

Ma Mon Luk may not ring a bell for millenials but for us Gen X members and older, it is an institution. It is even believed by some food historians that it was the Chinese man named Ma Wen-lu or Ma Mon Luk as he became known in the Philippines after whom "mami" was named (Ma, his name, and "mi", meaning noodles in Chinese). The man migrated to the Philippines from China in 1920 and thereafter opened his first noodle restaurant in Binondo. The Quiapo and Quezon Ave., Quezon City branches 
opened next but for some reasons, the original store closed down 
while the two have remained open to this day.

Anyway, my friend and I came for dinner on Saturday last week. Fortunately, the place wasn't full so we immediately caught the attention of servers. Well, I was there by myself just a few days earlier but had no luck. I waited for about 20 to 30 minutes trying to get noticed by the crew but they were all super busy! I decided to 
just leave and transfer to another restaurant because I was starving! 

Anyway, here's what my friend and I ordered:

Original mami

The broth was quite thick compared to other bowls of mami that I've had elsewhere and looked milky, too. However, it was bland for my taste, but a dash of salt 
and pepper could lend more flavor to the soup.

Bola-bola siopao

This, I loved! It was delish, with a generous amount of pork filling. 
No wonder Ma Mon Luk siopao is well loved by patrons.

Pork rice

My friend and I were surprised when this was served because we were expecting a dish of pork with rice. We thought we were given chopsuey rice by mistake. The server assured us, though, that it was their pork rice. Well, the veggies tasted good, 
although it was essentially chopsuey in both look and taste.

Pork fried noodles

We were expecting a plate of crunchy noodles but these were already drenched in sauce and already soft when it came on the table. Nevertheless, 
the pancit tasted good so my friend and I still enjoyed it.

Menu

Inside Ma Mon Luk along Quezon Ave. in Quezon City

Ma Mon Luk may be really old and quite rundown, with no air conditioning system, but the fact that it still exists decades after decades, attests to the fact that Pinoys love this Chinese restaurant. I know it will still be here for my future grandkids 
to visit, to enjoy good food and a slice of history.

Bang-for-the-buck banquet at King Bee Chinese Restaurant

My mom and us siblings recently marked the first death anniversary of our dad. Since he was laid to rest in Antipolo, we decided to look for a restaurant there where we could take our relatives after praying in the cemetery. One of our cousins who lives in Antipolo (we take residence in Manila) was the one who looked for a suitable place for our huge group (we were 34 in all). His choice? King Bee Chinese Restaurant, which turned out to be a very good choice in terms of service from the time I called for arrangements a few days before the date till we were actually there. After giving our orders over the phone, I was asked to text an hour before our expected time of arrival so they could start preparing all the food. Very convenient and hassle-free! On the day itself, 
everything went smoothly and we were immediately 
served the food once we were seated. 
Our orders:

Hototay soup

Our soup being poured into mini bowls.

Yang chow fried rice

White chicken

Bihon guisado

Lumpiang Shanghai

King Bee fried chicken

My family and our relatives were satisfied about the nice, filling meal that we enjoyed over loads of laughter and banter. I personally liked all our orders except for the Lumpiang Shanghai basically because of its unusual size. I (all of us in our table, actually) thought it wasn't "normal" for it to come in such a large size, making it uhmmm... dubious. Tee-hee. And the crunch was absent, too, which is sad because it's what makes me love lumpiang Shanghai aside of course, from the taste. Everything else was delicious, though, specially the Hototay soup and White Chicken. But as for the pancit bihon, I remember having it sooo good at King Bee-Fisher Mall, way better than the one we had  here in Antipolo, which was a bit dry. Hmmm..

Anyway, we didn't order any dessert because we brought a huge box of delicious "sapin-sapin" that my sister-in-law gave. And bless the King Bee manager, not only did he not charge us corkage fee, he even had the sapin-sapin plated and sliced for us. What excellent service! 

What's more, our bill was surprisingly low at only a little over P7,000, considering we were 34 persons in our group. Wow, real value for money!

I would definitely recommend King Bee Chinese Restaurant to everyone as it's perfect for family dining. Food is generally good at very affordable prices and service is fast, friendly and attentive.

Inside King Bee-Antipolo

King Bee at 120 Marcos Highway, Antipolo City

King Bee Chinese Restaurant also has branches in Fisher Mall, Commonwealth and 
E. Rodriguez in Quezon City, Las Pinas, Laguna, Cavite and in Angono, Rizal. 
Visit their website and Facebook account for more information.
Happy eating, folks!