This is a restaurant that suddenly popped up on the Alaminos side of the boundary with San Pablo City, next to Honda San Pablo. It always looked nice from the outside every time I pass by and because this is me and I'm always first in line to try anything new, the other day I decided to pay the place a visit.
There aren't that many places in San Pablo that offers really good Chinese food. Used to be South Plaza was the best, but that place unfortunately went belly up, which is a shame. Hap Chan at Ultimart is just OK, but there have been a couple of occasions when I've been unhappy with the food there. Then there's Chowking, but ever since they phased out Chicken Mami, which is kind of ridiculous, I've been visiting there less.
So yeah, I was pretty excited to try this new Chinese restaurant out. It's not strictly in San Pablo, but it's close enough.
Browsing the menu I was kind of disappointed that I didn't find any duck. Or anything that jumped out at me as something other than the usual fare. They didn't have congee, which kind of as ridiculous as Chowking not having Chicken Mami. What kind of Chinese restaurant does not have congee? The only thing that's a bit different was the "White Chicken". White chicken usually means Hainanese Chicken, so I ordered that, hoping that my guess was right.
Looking over the dimsum menu I saw that they had "Shrimp Dumplings" which the waitress said was actually Hakaw. Hakaw fan that I am, I ordered that.
The other people with me ordered Fried Chicken, and Beef with Ampalaya. We ordered Yang Chow Fried Rice and my wife had bottomless ice tea for drinks.
It took around 30 minutes for our orders to start arriving and first up was the Hakaw. I asked for chopsticks and immediately dug in, dipping it in soy sauce with chili garlic.
Easily, this is one of the best Hakaw I've tasted. It far surpasses any that I ate before. The skin is incredibly soft and the insides very tasty. I loved it. I'm so glad I sent for 2 orders of it. My wife isn't a fan of hakaw, but she really liked this as well.
I didn't get the chance to taste the Fried Chicken, but the kids that were with us really liked it. I did get the chance to taste the Beef with Amapalaya and THAT was really nice. I was saving my appetite for the White Chicken though.
The weird thing about ordering White Chicken is that you can order only 1/4 chicken servings. If you wish to order 1/2 chicken, they will give you two 1/4 chicken serving plates. I suppose if you wish to order a whole chicken, they'll give you 4 plates. I think it would be nice if they could adapt and have half chicken and whole chicken servings in just one plate.
But anyway, the White Chicken came in a bed of cucumber, red bell pepper and cabbage salad, which is really nice. It came with ginger sauce, which is pretty standard for this kind of dish.
Although I really liked it, it didn't rock my tastebuds as I hoped it would. I mean, come on, I've tasted White Chicken/Hainanese Chicken from lots of different places, and I've had some that were just absolutely fantastic. My standards in this area are bound to be high. Although it was good, really good in fact, I guess I just have to say I've tasted better. For one thing it seemed rather bony. Compare that with the Hainanese Chicken I had here, and you'll see what I mean.
My wife was bowled over by the bottom less ice tea though, as one serving came in glass and a pitcher, which is a lot.
For desert, my wife just loved the Mango Sago. I wasn't able to take a picture of it or even taste it, but I promise you. My wife normally doesn't rave about food unless it was just absolutely bloody fantastic. In fact, she wants to come back if only to have this desert again.
As for me, yeah, I'd love to come back as well. The fantastic Hakaw really sold me. I now want to try other things on their menu. In fact, we're already planning it. I'm already thinking of trying out their noodle dishes to see how they handle mami.
Shanghai Palace as an official Facebook Page here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shanghai-Palace-Restaurant/371874976255936
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