Yummy Adventures

North Park must be one of my favorite restaurants. Why? Well, I have tons of reasons. First, it’s so darn near my place. Second it closes late - much, much later than the restaurants along the whole strip of Banawe. Restos along Banawe just close early, le sigh. Case and point - one of my favorite restos, Tasty Dumplings closes around 8:30 pm - 9pm. My goodness.

Other reasons actually include why I love North Park as a restaurant. Haha! Well, the prices are affordable here, for the most expensive dish is around 300 bucks already, and the last reason why I love North Park? Yummy, yummy, yummy. Chinese food. Exquisite honest to goodness Chinese food. I have Chinese tastebuds, and I shall forever salivate over, and pig out on Chinese food. Any time of the day. No getting tired of it. Haha!

Anyway, after doing some late shopping, my folks and I crashed in North Park Banawe to eat our dinner, which was coincidentally, my sister Candy’s birthday dinner. Well, let’s see what we had!

The North Park Special Toasted Noodles ( picture above ) are tossed toasted noodles mixed with sauce that end up like pancit canton, only that it is more moist, and the noodles are not as soft. The result is a gratifying, and unique pancit experience. It’s like something crunchy drenched in sauce - eat it while it’s crunchy, or eat it when it softens from the sauce.

The North Park Special Fried Rice with Sauce is the most budget-friendly item in the North Park Menu. Priced at below 200 bucks, it includes a huge serving of fried rice that can be good for 5 people, and the sauce to be served separate from the rice, can be your viand ( I love to call it ulam) already. The sauce has sliced mushrooms, asado strips, fish cakes, and vegetable in there. Truly something that I’d order to fill in my tummy, but I need to be with someone to be able to finish this! Haha!

On with the viands, we had Lechon Macau. The skin was really, really crunchy and the meat was deep fried that it reminded us of the taste of peking duck. I’m not exactly fond of this, but my sisters loved it.

Wok Fried Lapu Lapu Fillet in Superior Sauce is a dish with perfectly fried lapu lapu - not too brown, but just a perfect golden brown, retaining its crunchy batter despite being sauteed in superior sauce. Now, what is superior sauce? I really have no idea. Superior sauce tastes like black vinegar minus the strong flavor - it’s just like a really good brand of soy sauce mixed with vinegar - and the mixture was very light. Earned love from me.

Manchurian Calamares is something that I order over and over again. It’s one of my favorite dishes in North Park. Deep Fried Squid sauteed in sweet and sour sauce ( soy sauce style, I think ). I promise, this is one of the yummiest dishes served in North Park.

Sweet and Sour Pork always earns a rave from me in every Chinese restaurant, but this one puts alot of resto’s to shame. The sauce - is just so heavenly! I definitely tasted the height of what the “sour” is all about with this dish. It’s such a wonder that something delightfully sweet can be excitingly sour at the same time. Definitely a must try.

In every meal, one must not forget vegetables. A neutral, but healthy indulgence. We ordered Soft Tofu Stir Fry. The broccoli was just delightful, but I’m just a crazed tofu lover! I am just sad that North Park changed their tofu selection - before, it was silken tofu - so heavenly that once you sink your fork in it, the tofu starts to lose its balance because of its jelly-like texture. Now, it’s not as soft anymore, but still o-kay.

Overall, we went home with our tummies filled, warm, and happy, set to rest for another week ahead of us!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at 9:48 am and is filed under Chinese. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.