Palace fare
An old favorite still tastes like royalty
Sometimes one can gauge a neighborhood by the specialty food outlets and restaurants that are part of the upwardly mobile area. Many would look at the telltale signs such as a good Western deli, wine shops offering a good variety, Asian food shops with a wide selection, and even a specialized bakery.
One other gauge I have is the presence of a Hong Kong-style restaurant.
In our Morato neighborhood we have had a restaurant of this class named Oriental Palace which, in the course of more than a decade, has undergone various forms of transition, from serving panciteria cuisine in the beginning to Hong Kong style dishes in the last few years.
My last visit to Oriental Palace was when it had started its renovation to clean, cool surroundings. The food was wonderfully well executed, especially the seafood selections. Unfortunately, serving seems to be in the direction of lauriat portions which would be handled by a group of three, with only a limited order of four items that we could not fully consume.
The improved style stayed in my mind, and so I jumped at the invitation of my brother, Toto, for his birthday. I was sure that as a bon vivant, he would feed us well in the tradition of a Capampangan host.
Because of the holidays, many of the attendees could not make it. I was wondering how we would be able to consume this table for 14 he had ordered with only seven adults and three kids present.
True enough to Capampangan entertaining, the seemingly abundant menu of several courses was not enough, so he ordered an extra platter of steamed shrimps and pata tim.
The steamed live shrimps started our lauriat off and these little live critters though cooked jumping were steamed to an accurate doneness, leaving the sweetness intact as one sucked on their heads, which brought out the natural sauce and the moist flesh.
Next came the roast Peking duck beautifully caramelized with a malt exterior.
No quarrels on how many pieces one had since this duck was only feeding seven adults and provided generous stimuli as we watched the carving on the tableside. (I missed the crispy almost lacquered skin though but nevertheless the pancakes with duck and hoisin provided another great starter).
The waiter was ladling out an intense mushroom soup thickened to a syrupy consistency with potato starch and was great with light dribbles of black vinegar and soy sauce to cut the richness of mushrooms.
A simple dish of stir-fried scallops with celery came next and it was a good choice of scallop variety as each of these mollusk muscles displayed tenderness and a moist sheen, contrasting against the crisp watery stalks of celery brought together by a high heat stir fry, sealing in the goodness of seafood and vegetable. This contrasted with a dish that somewhat looked like peaches topped on broccoli flowers. These turned out to be whole abalone in shiny, clear gravy that displayed an intense mollusk flavor and the brininess of the sea topped on green of
fleurettes of broccoli. As a break we had the traditional birthday noodles which were probably relegated to the minor minions of the kitchen as I found it a bit on the standard side and was lackluster.
It differed greatly from the next two dishes, which were the pata tim, so meltingly tender served with steamed man to mop up the rich, thick sauce infused with the gelatin coming from the pig’s foot from hours of braising and finishing in the steamer; and ur duck meat, done the second way, which was cut in small dice and stir fried in a dark bean-based sauce and laid on a bed of crispy noodles to be eaten on crisp lettuce cups.
Skill and cooking accuracy were also displayed with the steamed garoupa, preserving the precious oils of the fish that tenderly flaked with its white delicate flesh swimming in a sauce of soy and superior stock.
As a final dish, steamed crabs in garlic hit the mark with meaty male and female crabs loaded with red orange fat.
For dessert, a warm almond soup with mochis stuffed with lotus paste was flavorful enough and made a little more room for freshly fried buchis with black bean paste.
Overall the wonderful multi-course dinner provided at its end a little more time to chat and catch up with the friends at the table. As we left the premises with hardly any doggy bags, my brother and his band of big eaters crossed the street to the creperie for dessert number three. What could I do? I had to be there.
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