Chowin' down again at Chow King (National City, California)

Chowking


Of course, no visit to San Diego is complete without a visit to Chowking for some fast food, Filipino style! After Sunday mass with my folks, we trekked to National City for some breakfast.

It seems that fried chicken is the big thing now with Filipino fast food; both Jolibee and Chowking have their own variation. The furs were quite upset with us for not bringing home any.

Half bangus (milkfish) and rice. My dad and I got this one. Milkfish is a mild-flavored saltwater fish. Here, it is marinated and deboned, and is served broiled. Underneath the fish is a little bit of atchara (pickled green papaya). The atchara was bland and way too mild.

My mom got the bihon guisado, made with bihon (rice noodles) and chicken.

Tocino (cured pork), bangus and rice combination.

We got three taho (soft tofu with syrup) and got one free. Unfortunately, it was bland and did not taste too fresh.

My mom picked up a few bags of siopao for us to bring home. The furs liked the egg and chinese sausage flavor and DJKung agreed that it tasted better than the asado flavor.

I think just for the nostalgia factor alone, Chow King easily makes it to our SUPERROTATION. I am waiting for the day a franchise opens up here in the NY/NJ area!

Philippine Day Festival at Passaic Park

Under furs, food & fun:

Philippine Day Festival at Passaic Park
Passaic Park, NJ

Cocina de Geepee
13-A Wanaque Avenue
Pompton Lakes, NJ
(973) 616-2482

Here in NJ, Philippine Day is celebrated around the second Sunday every June, to mark its independence from Spain in 1898. We've had the festivities here for the past 30 years or so. There is usually a parade in the morning, then a program with native performances. And of course, lots of yummy food. This was Babams' first time and he was very excited.

The day started off very overcast and dreary. By the time we got there at 12:30 pm, the food stalls were in full swing. The turnout was not huge yet. We took some shots before picking out some grub.

At left is lumpia (little fried egg rolls, filled with meat). I am not sure what the middle dish was. The one on the right is empanadas (meat pasties).

A lot of the stalls (there must have been seven or so in all) have brick-and-mortar stores on northern Jersey. We were surprised that there were a lot of restaurants/catering joints that we have not even heard of.

Hey guys, I found the bubble tea place!

Lots more yummy goodies. This place specialized in bbq skewers. The Philippine style meat skewers are usually marinated in a soy sauce mix, and is on the sweet and savory side. Very addictive.

Fresh bbq sticks right here!

Miss Visayas kindly posed for this pix. Thanks!

Chibs and Babams enjoying the festivities at a safe distance. Babams was really excited and wanted to try everything!

Chibs savoring the bbq meat skewer. Lucky dawg!

Now that's some good bbq!

DJKung ordered got this from Cocina De Geepee's stall. The mechado (chunks on left) was good, but the pernil (roasted pork, right) was superb. Their flyer advertises Spanish and Filipino food.

Here's Cocina de Geepee's stall.

We also got some fried turon (bananas wrapped in rice paper) at this stall. I did not get the name of this place, unfortunately.

Close-up of the fried turon.

Unfortunately, our grazing was interrupted when an old guy approached Chibby and started petting him. Chibs is quite leery of strangers, so he reared back and started barking. Babams, who was already hyper to begin with, decided to bark at some kids playing with a bright red toy airplane.

Mind you, they were under the control of DJKung, so all was in order and they were just letting off some steam. Nevertheless, we were asked to leave because we were "scaring" the kiddies. Who were quite a distance from us. Oh, well.

Piggin' out at Pandan Village!

Under food:



Pandan Village
406 Broad Avenue
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
(973) 748-9997
www.pandanaisiancuisine.com



DJKung and I cannot believe that throughout this time, we have never featured Pandan Village on UFC. Pandan serves great Filipino food in a very cozy corner restaurant in Bloomfield. Over the years, its kitchen has become more adept and has expanded its menu.

Pandan is especially great for certain types of home cooking that you'd just never make at home, either because of the effort involved or the kitchen smells that only industrial-strenghth vents can get rid of.

We were here recently with a big get-together with friends, so I think the pictures that follow are a good representation of the main hit items on Pandan's menu.



For apps, we ordered goi cuon, tom sum salad and savory mussels.

Goi cuon (fresh shrimp roll). It is pretty good, with tender shrimp and lots of rice noodles. I find that I miss the little bit of mint and scallion that comes with the Vietnamese-style goi cuon. The sauce is your basic hoisin sauce, sprinkled with peanuts. Personally, I like having both the peanut sauce and the hoisin sauce, so I can alternate between the two.

Tom sum salad. This comes with shredded green mango, green papaya and carrots. The sauce (lime juice) was bit bland, and not at all spicy. Overall, quite a pale version of the Thai green papaya salad.

Savory mussels. Mussels in the half shell with a black bean sauce. This was pretty hearty, and can be a meal with some white rice.

It was with the main dishes that Pandan Village really shines.

I think this is the Pandan fried rice. The technique is definitely not Filipino-style, and actually comes closer to Thai-style fried rice, which is sweetish and savory. It came with chunks of pork and chicken, and bits of chinese broccoli. Very balanced and deelish.




Kare-kare, or oxtails in coconut milk-and-peanut sauce. It comes with eggplants and bok choy. Typically eaten with rice and sauteed shrimp paste (called bagoong). I love how picture-perfect it came out. This dish is especially time-consuming to prepare at home, and you'd only find it served during special events.

Laing, or taro leaves cooked in coconut milk. Frankly, this dish always seemed quite repellent to me, on par with eating other mushy-type veggies (snake gourds, in particular). The consistency is also very, umm, mushy. I tried it for the first time this day, and it was not bad at all. The taro leaves don't seem to have much of a flavor (DJKung thinks it's bitter), despite its dark goopy appearance.

Grilled pork belly. Served with lechon sauce and a vinegar-and-spice dip. Sighs of rapture were heard all around the table as these babies were devoured.

Yum.

Sizzling pusit (squid). I did not get to try this one, but it smelled divine.

Roast duck with rice and mango-green papaya salad. The duck skin was crispy and the meat quite succulent.

I think this was midway through the meal.

For dessert, DJKung and I got the halo-halo. Halo-halo is shaved ice over fruit preserves, coconut, red bean. . . it literally stands for a mix of different things. This is the all-time summer snack/dessert in Philippine cuisine. This one had some ice cream and flan on top. I think it could've used a greater variety of preserves. But it was ok, nevertheless.

Ube (purple yam) ice cream. I think this is a commercial Philippine brand.

Sansrival. Crispy meringue with a butter cream frosting, topped with toasted cashew nuts. With the right preparation, the meringue comes out very light and wafer-y, and just melts in your mouth. Pandan's version was a bit soggy.


Pandan is really great for small to medium sized groups, because the menu does have a lot to offer. It is open for lunch and dinner and has very reasonable lunch specials. Pandan is also BYOB, which is great for diners on a budget.

Max's Restaurant, San Francisco, California

Under food:

Max's Restaurant
San Francisco, California

Our Fresno friends had high hopes for Max's Restaurant, a highly regarded fried chicken joint in the Philippines. DJKung recalled dining at a Max's in Manila and remembered that they had excellent chicken. Unfortunately,everybody was let down by their recent experience at the Max's in SF.

First, the service. It was appallingly slooow. Mind you, the Ultimate Fun Club tries not to be superserious with the non-food/fur/fun aspects of things. Max's, however, merits special mention for their truly atrocious service. DJKung found that the wait staff, even after making eye contact with you, tries its best to evade actually providing any service.

Second, most of the dishes they got was pretty bland.

Max's Teasers. Includes fried lumpia (eggrolls), fried calamari and fried pinsec (wontons). Everything was very greasy.

Sizzling pork sisig. Good. It was garlicky, fried, very tasty.


Lechon kawali. Deep fried pork belly. It is simply impossible to mess up this dish.

Fried chicken. DJKung thought that this was pre-fried and sat under the warmer lights too long.
It was dry and tough. Terrible.

Nilagang bulalo (beef shank soup). Bland bland bland. DJKung had to ask for patis (fish sauce), which took thirty minutes to arrive.

Chow down at Chowking, National City, California

Under food:









Chowking




2220 E. Plaza Boulevard




National City, California 91950




(619) 472-5580




(other CA locations available)




http://www.chowking.com/









No visit to San Diego is complete without a pit stop at Chow King. For the uninitated, this Filipino fast food chain specializes in noodles and dimsum. I particularly like their breakfast items.









This being California, the location was in yet another strip mall.

Chowking, National City.




This chain has yet to open a branch in the East Coast, so the menu was not completely familiar to us. It was hard to pick among their offerings. Close-ups of the menu follow.

Brother D got this soup, I forgot what it's called. Looks yummy!

Moms got the mixed plate (salu-salo). Counterclockwise from top left: tilapia teriyaki, white rice, pancit.

I got the fried bangus with white rice. This is a white fleshed fish marinated in soy sauce and garlic, then fried. You can make this easily at home, but the frying gets messy and does leave a very fishy smell. The fish was salty and nicely marinated; should've gotten it with some fried egg too.

Brother D got the taho. This is a soy custard and syrup, and is usually a snack. He said it was pretty good.

DJKung does not understand my fascination with the Chowking franchise. For a fast food franchise, it has a pretty good interpretation of Filipino food. Nice and salty, and on the whole, not as greasy as in other restaurants I have tried. (I must confess that I have not strayed beyond the pancit and the bangus dishes).