四十二：Choi Palace Restaurant Review

Chinese New Year is approaching and one great Chinese restaurant to celebrate it is Choi Palace.

It was supposed to be a mini reunion with my college friends about a month ago unfortunately there were only two of us who showed up and we just ended up eating dinner at Choi Palace in Eastwood City Libis.

Condiments such as chili garlic sauce, soy sauce and fish sauce.

I first learned of Choi Palace while strolling around Eastwood Mall. I saw their aquarium filled with live seafood such as lobsters, crabs, fishes and shrimps. I also saw their promotional advertisements posted at the entrance of the restaurant and it says there that they were selling frozen hakaw. I asked my friend and co-worker if she would like us to try buying some and we’ll steam it ourselves but then we thought it was too much of a hassle for us and so instead we chose to eat inside the restaurant. The restaurant's theme is dominated by the white and red color with gold accents which I believe are considered lucky to the Chinese. Most of the table wares and utensils are made of ceramic or China wares. 

I'm not sure if it was a busy that for them though it was a weekend but the one who took our order looked like one of the managers there because he was wearing a suit compared to the other waiters who were only wearing vests on top of their white long sleeves. That day we ordered a beef noodle bowl, wonton noodle bowl and an order of xiao long bao (pork stuffed dumplings with soup inside) and to my surprise we only paid less than 500 pesos in total. We were even given a complimentary hot tea (which was really good and had great calming effect on both of us) and kropek with vinegar sauce.

The food that we ordered.

During our so-called reunion, my college friend and I were looking for a place to eat and he told me he wanted to eat noodles so I suggested Choi Palace. I again suggested to him the noodles that my co-worker and I ordered. We ordered Beef Noodles served in a large bowl which is only 120Php each and an order of hakaw (whole shrimp dumplings) which is also 120Php for 4 pieces. We also ordered fresh calamansi juice as our drinks which are 75Php per glass. This time we were not given any complimentary tea maybe because it was a weekend and they had a lot of customers that day but it was still a good experience.

Hakaw.

Our bill was around 500 to 600Php which already includes the service charge. For me it was very reasonable and quite cheap considering it’s a real Chinese restaurant compared to let’s say Super Bowl of China or North Park though the latter two also serve delicious Chinese foods , Choi Palace is more authentic and has better ambiance.

Closer view of hakaw. Beneath the wrapper is a whole shrimp.

  Choi Palace serves traditional Chinese food and from the ambiance and menu of the restaurant, it’s more like a family restaurant especially for those celebrating special occasions such as birthdays or Chinese New Year. They even have function rooms for larger events. When we went there, there were actually Chinese families eating dinner on the traditional round tables.

Beef Noodles.

 Choi Palace serves noodles, dimsum, dumplings, tea, fresh seafood, Peking duck etc. Choi Palace in Eastwood is at Eastwood Mall 3/F along the veranda.