#Polonchay Soup

[beingjellybeans]

Indulge in delicious comfort food at Borro Manila

During the pre-pandemic era, the Tomas Morato and Scout areas in Quezon City have the distinction of being local foodie havens. In these relatively quiet and mostly residential areas have popped up a diverse collection of dining choices offering a wide array of cuisines. While the pandemic and its resulting lockdowns have slowed down this once vibrant food scene, it has slowly but surely shown…

[thehungrykat1]

Choi Hotpot is Now Open at the Promenade Mall

With the rainy season and the ‘ber months now upon us, a hot bowl of shabu shabu really sounds so comforting. That’s why I was excited to learn that Choi Hot Pot had just opened at the Promenade Mall in Greenhills and I was invited to try their hot pot lunch one afternoon.

Choi Hot Pot is part of the Choi Garden group of restaurants which has its original branch at Annapolis Street in Greenhills, just a few blocks away from the mall. I enjoyed my previous hot pot experience at Choi Garden before so it’s great that they converted this former Choi Garden branch into a dedicated hot pot restaurant.

Choi Garden opened in 2000 with its founder, Mr. Choi Tak Pui, bringing the delightful taste of Hong Kong cuisine to the Philippines. With the rise in demand for hot pot restaurants, or shabu shabu as we call it here, Choi Garden decided to branch out their own hot pot creations into its own restaurant.

Choi Hot Pot has two floors of shabu shabu tables for small or big groups. We took our seats on the second floor which can also serve as private dining areas for parties, birthdays, and other celebrations.

What differentiates Choi Hot Pot from the other shabu shabu restaurants in the city is that all the ingredients, meat, and seafood are all flown in fresh everyday from Hong Kong. 

Another specialty is its rich and unique soup broth which is set up at every table. You can ask for a Double Soup Base and choose two different soups like the Chinese Herbal Soup, Sate Soup, Pork Bone Soup, or Chicken Soup base. 

You can customize your own dipping sauce at the condiments station. I prefer putting lots of garlic and sate on my sauce.

Each order at Choi Hot Pot is only around P120 to P260 so you can definitely have a shabu shabu feast. Our first set of orders were mostly vegetables such as polonchay, watercress, fried beancurd, crabstick, fish fillet, corn, and radish.

I like getting lots of meatballs and dumplings for my hot pot. These include beef balls, lobster balls, handmade squid balls, shrimp wanton, and smoked cheese sausage.

Be careful with these dumplings because they tend to squirt very hot soup when you bite into them. 

Choi Hot Pot also offers Live Suahe and you can still see them moving about as they are served on the sticks. Simply dip them into the hot pot and you have the freshest shrimp available.

The meats at Choi Hot Pot are of premium quality and definitely worth ordering. The Australian Sliced Fat Beef and Imported Fat Beef are highly recommended with their thin slices of tender and fatty beef.

The Japanese Wagyu is a bit on the expensive side but it is really so good. These wagyu cubes just melt in your mouth and it only takes a few seconds to cook them inside the hot pot.

Now it’s finally time to eat! I can’t wait to have these slices fat beef on my bowl. Each table has its own hot pot area in the center so you can just put all the ingredients inside.

Aside from the beef and wagyu cubes, I particularly liked the delicious lobster balls and the live suahe. It’s actually easy to peel off the shrimp skin using your fork since they are already placed on sticks. I must have had almost a dozen!

Another great feature at Choi Hot Pot is their automated hot pot cookers which can lift up and drain the broth with just a touch of a button. This way, you can grab all the dumplings and balls that you want easily after they are cooked.

They also have an ongoing promotion this month where BDO World Elite Mastercard, Platinum, Titanium and Gold Mastercard holders can get a 50% discount at Choi Hotpot and Choi Garden from September 2 to 30, 2019. This is available for lunch and dinner from Mondays to Fridays only for a minimum purchase of P5,000 with a maximum P5,000 discount. So take advantage of this promotion and head over to Choi Hot Pot this September for a truly authentic hot pot experience.

Choi Hotpot

G/F Promenade Mall, Greenhills, San Juan City

(0945) 133-7391 / (0999) 872-2537

www.facebook.com/choigardengreenhillspromenade

[thehungrykat1]

Four Seasons Buffet & Hotpot Opens in SM Southmall

The Hottest Buffet in the City has just moved closer to the south with the opening of the newest branch of Four Seasons Buffet & Hotpot at SM Southmall in Alabang. This marks the third branch of this well-loved restaurant that was initially just a hotpot venue but has expanded into including other exciting buffet dishes as well. It’s original branch opened at the SM Mall of Asia early 2015 with another branch opening soon thereafter at the Manhattan Parkview in Araneta Center, Cubao.

Four Seasons Buffet & Hotpot was conceptualized by the Vikings Group which operates the country’s most popular buffet chain, Vikings Luxury Buffet Restaurant. I am proud to have visited all nine Vikings branches all over the Philippines, including those in Davao, Cebu and Bacolod, so I am also happy to complete my Four Seasons collection by dining at the new SM Southmall outlet during its opening week.

The new branch had its grand opening last January 11, 2017. I was not yet actually planning to visit it that week but I had made a mistake on one of my scheduled events and ended up in Alabang with nothing to do. Thankfully, Four Seasons was there just a few minutes away in SM Southmall to save my trip. The restaurant comes with the same bright, cheerful and homey interiors you can find in their Cubao branch.

As with all other Four Seasons and Vikings branches, expect the restaurant to be full of hungry diners. The SM Southmall outlet is not as big as the other two branches, but it can still comfortably seat around 200 diners. The buffet area can be found in the center of the restaurant. The round tables offer the bigger communal hotpot bowls for sharing while the long tables offer individual mini hotpot bowls. Unlike other branches, there are no VIP function rooms in this branch.

I started with the appetizers section where you can find the salad bar and other cold dishes. If you know me, I usually skip this section entirely and head to the more interesting sushi and sashimi stations. They have an assortment of sushi available like the California Maki and the Tokyo Sun Rise.

Salmon and Tuna Sashimi are always on the top of my buffet list so I made sure to get a few slices for myself. These Japanese offerings are really what makes Four Seasons Buffet and Hotpot special and I’m glad that they always have this on the menu.

The main attraction at Four Seasons Buffet and Hotpot is the green wall of vegetables that you can place inside your steaming hotpot bowl. You can choose your favorite vegetables and ingredients from this beautifully designed area.

Different types of colorful noodles are also available if you want to put more carbs into your hotpot. Take your pick from mushroom noodles, carrot noodles, polonchay noodles, chili noodles and even squid ink noodles!

Now let’s get to the more interesting ingredients for our hotpot. A wide array of dumplings and balls can be found on the chillers like mushroom balls, chicken balls and beef balls so if you can’t decide which ones you like, just get all of them.

Seafood options are also displayed which include gindara and other fresh and delectable fish. Make sure to also grab a few orders of shrimps which are the best items to have inside your hotpot.

Premium meats can be ordered at the Sliced Meat Section and these include Pork Belly, Pork Neck, Lamb, Beef Striploin, Beef Shortplate and Beef Karubi. Just place your order at the counter and they will deliver your plates of meat right to your table.

A hotpot bowl in not complete without adding a few more sauces and ingredients which will serve as a dip to satisfy our taste buds. I usually combine some satay sauce and soy sauce, but you can also ask the servers to prepare a Four Seasons Mix for you if you need some help.

Once you choose your type of soup from the servers, ranging from chicken, satay, pork or sinigang soup, just place all the ingredients you got into the bowl, turn on the heat, and then wait for your hotpot to finish cooking. I really enjoy using the individual hotpot bowls on the table because you can cook everything according to your preference. There’s also no need to fight over that last piece of shrimp.

But Four Seasons is not just all about cooking and hotpots. Taking from their big brother Vikings Luxury Buffet, they also offer a big selection of cooked and prepared dishes which is getting even wider and wider. The Carving Station is always my favorite and I ordered a few slices of their Herb Roast Chuck Eye Roll together with the Garlic & Rosemary Studded Roast Lamb.

They even have Crispy Pata included so I had a few servings of that as well. Ask the server to grill your slices of steak according to your preferred doneness. I usually have my orders done medium so that the pinkish center remains juicy and flavorful.

I didn’t know that you can also ask the servers to grill your shrimps! I just saw them prepare this for the other customers so I also asked them to cook my shrimp in garlic and butter. Now I can have my shrimp two ways, cooked inside the hotpot or grilled with buttery goodness.

There’s actually a third way, because Four Seasons also has Tempura on the menu. These crunchy and delightful tempura are always a sure hit with the guests and I can eat a lot of these in one sitting.

Another fan favorite is the sumptuous and tender Patatim with its thick sauce and even thicker portions of meat. 

One of the highlighted dishes that afternoon was the Corned Beef Karubi specially created by Vikings Executive Chef Von Ragodos. This looks like something that could be presented in a cooking competition. The tender slices of beef karubi are complemented by its sweet and savory sauce.

Finally, the Dessert Station offers a great way to complete your buffet with crepes, kakanin, fruits, frozen yogurt and several flavors of ice cream all at your disposal. 

Don’t forget about the Fondue Station! Dip your fruits, marshmallows, or just about anything else into the chocolate and white chocolate fountain.

Beverages are also included with the buffet so there is really no need to look for anything else. Juices, iced tea, coffee, tea, sodas, beers and frozen Milo Shakes are all here. 

Four Seasons also has its own Birthday Promotion so birthday celebrants can eat for FREE on their exact birthday when accompanied by One full paying adult. They can also dine for FREE during their entire birth month when accompanied by at least Three full paying adults. Whatever the occasion, the entire family and barkada is welcome at Four Seasons Buffet & Hotpot. Those living in the south now don’t have to go all the way to SM Mall of Asia because The Hottest Buffet in the City is now open in SM Southmall.

Four Seasons Buffet and Hotpot

Upper Ground Floor, SM Southmall, Alabang-Zapote Road, Las Piñas

556-2777 / (0977) 834-5888 / (0998) 995-9888

www.fourseasonsbuffet.com.ph

www.facebook.com/FourSeasonsSouthmall