I have to warn you, this might not even be a coherent review as this is a super late post and it was all a blur of "Damn, that was good!"
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| Love the modern vibe of the interiors |
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| Notice the plastic bowls un the upper right corner? They give it to kids to use. Very thoughtful. |
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| Seafood and Spinach Soup |
The soup was good but nothing special. It tastes like the seafood and spinach soup from any other chinese restaurant.
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| Pork Xiao Long Bao |
I think that perhaps this is the best part of the meal. Xiao Long Bao is an automatic order for me whenever I see it on the menu. The broth is good and the filling is very flavorful as well. It was served steaming hot and I didn't dig in immediately because I am wary of hot food and drinks because I had a traumatic experience when I was younger where I accidentally burned off my taste buds with hot soup and couldn't taste anything for months. I might have waited too long to eat it because the soup inside was lukewarm already. The skin is thicker than what I am used to so it is chewier than how I would like it to be but this makes it a bit more puncture-proof than most xiao long bao.
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| Roast Duck |
The roast duck was amazing as well. The skin is thinner than what I am used to but it is better than the thicker skins because it is crispier. The seasoning was a bit on the salty side for me but my dad and brother didn't think it was. This was so good that my brother who wasn't hungry and only wanted soup when we were deciding what to order, finished one cup of rice with the duck.
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| Spicy Garlic Fish in Claypot |
This was my favorite dish after the xiao long bao. The fish were soft and succulent but the sauce is really what made this dish. The sauce was a perfect blend of spicy and sweet which is my 2nd favorite flavor combination, the 1st being sweet and salty. Despite the name, it isn't as garlicky as I thought it would be. The gaelic was subtle but undeniably present and enhances the flavor.
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| Garlic Pork Roll |
This wasn't that memorable for me. It wasn't bad but it wouldn't rock your panties or briefs or whatever. It tasted like a meatier spring roll or a lumpiang shanghai with vermicelli.
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| I want to get inside that display case sooooo baaaaaaaaaad. |
After our meal at Lugang Cafe, we headed to Tous Les Jours for me to pick out a birthday cake. Let me tell you, it is so hard to pick out one cake. They have so many types of one flavor. There are like 10 different chocolate cakes with minor differences. I decided that I wanted something fruit flavored so I looked at the strawberry choices. The differences were so minute that it wouldn't help at all with the decision making process so I went with what I think was the prettiest. Aaaaaand the winner of the prettiest strawberry cake award is, Kiss Strawberry!
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| They have at least 4 types of strawberry cake. |
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| Kiss Strawberry |
This is so pretty and the dried strawberries were so fragrant that our table smelled like strawberries. I love how it tasted as well. It tasted really of strawberries and the strawberry flavor was strong which I prefer unlike the subtle strawberry taste of other strawberry cakes I have tried. Coming from Baguio, I have tried a LOT of strawberry flavored everything. The chiffon cake was light and airy and just the right amount of sweetness. The taste could be likened to Vizco's Strawberry Shortcake which is THE BEST strawberry cake at the moment. It was so good that my dad, who isn't much of a dessert person, asked for two slices.
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| All cakes come with free cake knife and candles. |
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| Cakes are one of the reasons my birthday is my favorite day of the year. |
Lugang Cafe
The Block at SM North Edsa
Tous Les Jours
The Block at SM North Edsa
