Call it nostalgia but the flavor of this is, to me, the richest and most flavorful.
chami-bihon guisado. I guess it is the homemade slices of quekiam, five-spice sausage or goyong, and other old-style meat rolls that give unique flavors and textures to what visually would be a Spartan-looking dish without the stereotypical myriad sliced, colorful veggies. The flavor and bite of the noodles and the “sahog” or what goes into the stir fry makes for these tasty, traditional favorites.
Other menu items I keep coming back for and even take home for future drinking bouts are quekiam (quite hefty in diameter), which are fragrantly redolent of garlic, chives, and a good mixture of mixed forcemeat. The goyong or five-spice sausage is delicious dipped in homemade sweet-sour sauce. It is anoth- er quekiam type but has whole cubes of pork on a pork rennet exterior.
One best kept secret is the Delicious’ fried chicken, an excellent balance of old panciteria spices and herbs deep fried without any starch coatings to interfere with the natural state of chicken. As Filipinos like this style, much like the basic Max’s style, the Binondo Chinese have Ramon Lee and Savory, which are probably the most popular and historic among foodies. The fried chicken in Delicious is definitely a good contender, worthy of provenance. As a last note, I can’t leave Chinatown without having a bowl of the Delicious maki (or gawgaw). Call it nostalgia, but never an acquired taste, as the flavor of this maki is to me the richest and most flavorful. Even the dumplings that go with this thick, bronze, viscous soup hinting of sweetwood spices and long simmered mixed stock with a beefy dominance are wonderful. A tender interplay of soft, silky textures, and small tidbits of cartilage gives the bite. Other textures are very clean slivers of tender tripe or goto alternating with fine matchstick slices of young, fragrant, and juicy ginger. Every time I have this I’m back to wearing my polo barong with a bank logo watching these diners in this very Spartan eatery spooning this thick, steamy soup and delighting in its comfort-and the flavors that have never really changed.