Tsing Tao Garden (Dela Rosa, Makati) Review

Tsing Tao Garden is a 24 hour restaurant offering Chinese cuisine located along Dela Rosa St. near Pasong Tamo (Chino Roces Ave). Tsing Tao Garden, which is Beer Garden in english, has a good selection of Chinese food and delicacies, ranging from the usual braised beef brisket and pancit noodle dishes to the exotic eel and frog meat dishes.

Having a neat interior design and being just opened for barely a week, this restaurant restaurant piqued our curiosity and during one of our office lunch outs, we had to try this place out. And just to see if this place deserves a second try, we started with checking their value meals - the rice toppings.

 

We tried their Braised Beef Brisket and Hot & Chili Fish Fillet rice topping meals and upgraded our combo meal to a value meal (by adding 30php each), giving us the right to get unlimited rice, soup, and vegetables.

Hot & Chili Fish Fillet Rice Topping

Braised Brisket Beef Rice Topping

Their rice topping meals are priced at 128php plus 30php if you would like to go for unlimited rice, soup and side dish (vegetables). They do also have service charge where an additional 8% is added to the customer's total bill.

The restaurant did meet expectations even if the soup and vegetable were just okay, the main meals were in large servings without compromise in taste and quality. The beef was tender and had that braised beef flavor we were looking for. And although the hot & chili fish fillet tasted more like a sweet sour dish than a chili hot one, it still passed our standards. To sum things up, we were satisfied on our first round of tasting, so we're giving this store not only a second but a third try as well.

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Empanada Nation (Dela Rosa, Makati) Review

Empanada Nation, along Dela Rosa Makati, is a newly opened restaurant serving Ilocano dishes - their main offerings are Empanadas, Bagnet and Longganisas.

Empanada Nation

Located near Makati Med, along Dela Rosa St., beside My Tea House and D'Cream

Longganisa Combo Meal

A rice meal with three pieces vigan longganisa, half salted egg, tomato salad and soup. Add 20php to go for their combo meal which adds a medium red ice tea to the set. 

Bagnet Combo Meal

A rice meal with three to four pieces of bagnet, half salted egg, tomato salad and soup. Add 20php to go for their combo meal which adds a medium red ice tea to the set. 

Double Special Empanada

A fried empanada - consists of two longganisas, one egg and a mixture of vegetables wrapped in an orange sort of lumpia wrapper

Though their store name is a little bit misleading as you would think they would have one of the better empanadas out there, they only serve Ilocano empanadas and their version didn't really suit my taste (which may be just a matter of preference as I'm only used to eating the normal empanadas).

Overall, their price falls on the low to medium budget range where you can eat a decent meal for 150php or less. I believe their best dish would be the longganisa and then bagnet as second. So if you have cravings for Vigan longganisa, you should definitely give this store a try.

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