Food trip in Choi City

Many Cebu residents will always try at least once any new restaurant that opens in Cebu. Since the year 2000, many restaurants have opened their doors, providing customers with a wide variety of cuisines from native to the more exotic foods. Hotels also have promoted culinary journeys from New Zealand to Switzerland, and these have made Cebu a Culinary Mecca outside of Metro Manila.

Unfortunately, many restaurants and dining establishments (Manhattan Express, the Marco Polo Chinese Restaurant and Le Paris, to name a few) also closed in less than a year because competition had been very aggressive and there are a finite number of customers with adequate disposable income for entertainment. So many economic crises have come and gone and this has pressed the Cebuanos to spend their money very wisely. Value for money gyud!

A new player in the restaurant sector is Choi City Seafood Restaurant, South Arcade, Banilad Town Centre, Banilad, (email: [email protected] phone 239 0999) and it is a branch of the Choi restaurant chain of Manila, operated by Mr. Choi Tak Pui. Its specialty is Cantonese cuisine with emphasis on live seafood and roasting (pig, duck and pigeon).

Chinese foods have gained acceptance in all levels of Cebu society, from the general public eating instant pancit, siomai and ngohiong to the elite dining on birds nest soup, Peking duck or live seafood like the Pacific lobster. When Chinese food is served on a Lazy Susan table, there is the feeling of intimacy and a sense of sharing of the various dishes among invited guests.

Your favorite food columnist made reservations a day ahead for 12 people and Mr. Jerry Notario was most accommodating in guiding me to the intricacies of the Chinese menu and the restaurant facilities of Choi City. Working on a limited budget, I selected a Special Set Menu for 10 dishes with instructions for some minor modifications.

We had Roast Pork Belly for appetizer with a skin very crispy and the delicious meat, very tender and non greasy. This was followed by the Seafood Tofu Soup and the Fried Wonton with Japanese Seaweeds accompanied by the Yang Chow Fried Rice and drinks was the Pfaffenheim Reisling. Selecting which wine to match these Chinese dishes can be a formidable task since the service of red and white meats swings back and forth.

The following dishes were then served: Beef Belly in Oyster Sauce Hot Pot, Fried Chicken, Stir Fry Mixed Vegetables, Salt and Pepper Crab and Steamed Fish Fillet with Garlic. I had prepared a nice red wine, the Chateau Teynac, Saint-Julien 2001 to be served with these dishes.

The beef was very tender, the crabs on the lean side, the veggies slightly overcooked and, surprisingly, the best dish that night was the fried chicken. Crispy skin and luscious white meat! Dessert is the weakest link in a Chinese dinner (compared to Western menu) and usually, I would order a platter of fresh fruits. This time, I tried the Malay cake and that was another surprise.

That dinner was actually my third food trip to Choi City: I have eaten an inexpensive Sunday family dinner and have been invited to a luxurious Chinese buffet (main dish was, excuse me, live Pacific lobster) by a most generous Chinese gentleman. And this restaurant will be a major contender in Cebu's culinary entertainment scenery!