King Chef: Fit For A King??

- September 20, 2014, Saturday.

- King Chef has recently been one of the most talked-about Chinese restaurants by Manilenos, most especially my people - the Filipino Chinese. One of the reasons why this is so is because of its dimsum promo during the afternoon (2-5pm,) and the late evening (9pm-1am.) Since a branch opened in Lucky Chinatown Mall two years ago (same time the mall opened,) I have only gone there to have dimsum, and I realized that I have never tasted King Chef's lunch/dinner menu. (Speaking of, King Chef serves ONLY dimsum during promo time, and the "real" dishes during lunch and dinner; their big kitchen is closed during promo time.)

- Choosing King Chef to hang out with my three buddies was a tough decision for me. To be honest, I was not impressed with King Chef's dimsum despite the fancy and not-so-usual items on the list. The price was not amusing too despite the 50%-off-discount during the promo times. Their usually bad service (as far as I am concerned,) also ticked me off, most especially during my first visit there. Being the adventurous hungry person that I am, I wanted to give King Chef another chance, and I wanted to taste another side of King Chef; this compelled me to gamble my chances of getting good food and good service.

- I went to Lucky Chinatown around 3pm and personally made a reservation for me and my friends for 6pm, and also told the reservation person about the peking duck that we would be having for the evening, so necessary preparations could be made a bit earlier. The peking duck is one of the items on the menu that King Chef specifically says would take some time to prepare.

- When I came back around 6, no one knew about my reservation (which also meant no one knew about my peking duck.) I was glad that my companions arrived a few minutes late too, since it gave me some time to fix my reservation mishap.

- Evan, Boom, and Rendel came not long after I settled the problem and sat myself in our table, The four of us had fried seafood rolls, broccoli cooked with garlic, 8-spice pork spareribs, birthday noodles, yangchow fried rice, and of course, our giant peking duck.

If our friend Merrill had come, and she had worn pink (which she would have, she told me,) we would've been the Power Rangers.

Boom and Rendel engaging in a really deep conversation....NOT. :)) :)) :)) :))

- The seafood roll was generally fine, although it was not the usual seafood roll that I expected. This is half good and half bad - it's bad because it wasn't what I expected it to be, it's good because it tasted decent. The noodles was the usual too, and we had no complaints there; same goes with the fried rice and the broccoli. The 8-spice pork spareribs was interesting for me because it had an added kick compared to the usual salted or spicy spareribs. It was quite tender for me, and I enjoyed it. It could be less salty though.

Just ignore the head of the duck and pretend it's not looking at you.

- I was most specific about our peking duck. For those who know how to cook or are at least knowledgeable in culinary arts, the preparation needed to make the perfect peking duck is long and complicated. For an upscale restaurant that serves peking duck like King Chef, I was definitely going to be more critical. I like my duck, and is one of the dishes I look for when eating in a big Chinese restaurant (if not duck, at least the pigeon.) I felt that the heavens opened up after the duck was served, and I was not shy in expressing my happiness when the duck was placed on our table. I took my first bite. Initially I thought that the duck was quite tough, although I later realized that I took a thick piece. The duck was generally OK for me, although a pinch of saltiness and spiciness (maybe from the 8-spice spareribs?) could be added. The duck was served with two kinds of sauces, but daddy likes his duck as it is. (Yes, I was pertaining to myself.) While I've had better peking ducks a lot of times before in my life, their peking duck was not half bad, but not good enough to impress me. I still enjoyed my duck, and although we were not able to finish our duck, it's just because it was too big. (I got to take home the duck and I am enjoying every leftover bit of it up to the bone.)

- For dessert we got to have a mango-almond bowl. Normally Chinese restaurants would have either mango sago or almond cubes, but I was wide-eyed child-like ecstatic to know that they had my two favorites in one bowl. If I had more appetite I would have wanted a large bowl, but I was too full from my duck.

Evan hates it when I do my troll face.

There was also a time when the waiters and waitresses started dancing. It was the most random thing ever.

Heaven in a bowl.

- In the end, I was still not too impressed with King Chef, and I am still not forgetting my reservation mishap. However, I am still hopefully that King Chef (at least in Lucky Chinatown,) will improve so I will enjoy my dining experience there (especially with the prices of their dishes.) King Chef in Banawe seems better in my opinion, although it has been some time since that last time I ate there; I hope their quality hasn't deteriorated. I am looking forward to eating in King Chef again in the future, but hopefully with better food. Despite the comments, I still enjoyed my dinner immensely not really because of the food, but because I had the perfect company.