Pork ribs cooked with coffee? Only at Mr. Choi Kitchen

MANILA, Philippines - It is said that if you are looking for a good place to eat in Hong Kong and have no idea where to go, you can’t go wrong if you choose a place that has an assortment of roasted meats, ducks, and chickens hanging from its store display window. 

At Mr. Choi Kitchen in Robinsons Magnolia, Quezon City, you’ll find roasted meats hanging over the counter fronting its open kitchen. Inside this casual-dining Chinese restaurant, you can also see fresh dim sum being made there.

The spicy wonton — steamed wonton with a spicy, tangy twist — was a nice starter that gently opened our taste buds, ready for the parade of other dishes that were to follow.

“Mr. Choi Kitchen has always  known for its popular Cantonese dishes,” says general manager Angie Tan. Recently, they expanded their already extensive menu, which was developed exclusively by Hong Kong chefs, to include Singaporean specialty dishes.

The Three Cups Chicken dish is a Singaporean dish, so called since it is cooked with a cup each of wine, soy sauce, and water, Tan explained. It is mixed with aromatic herbs and served in a hotpot.

Another Singaporean dish is the ever-popular Crispy Cereal Prawns, deep-fried prawns breaded with crispy cereal and mint leaves. The intriguing Spiky Shrimp Balls are spiky-haired, crispy deep-fried round shrimps, which are delightful.

“We like to offer our regular customers always something new to try,” says managing director Bernardine Ong. They have something new in the menu every quarter. But of course, there are always the mainstays, the all-time bestsellers such as the baked rice — Seafood Baked Rice and Chicken Curry Baked Rice.

A famous Hong Kong dish is the Soft Shell Crab Black Pepper, rare seasonal soft-shell crabs cooked in aromatic black pepper sauce. A variation would be the Soft Shell Crab Garlic, sautéed in spicy garlic sauce.

The Spicy Fish Fillet with Sotanghon is a “healthy dish of fish fillet stir-fried in signature spicy sotanghon sauce,” Tan noted, while the XO Seafood Green Beans is “crunchy green beans and seafood cooked in XO sauce.” 

I particularly liked the Mixed Vegetables with Salted Egg made with a slice of Baguio beans or eggplant coated with a batter mixed with Hong Kong salted egg, which added another subtle note to its taste.

Another dish we found interesting was the Coffee Pork Ribs, described as “pork ribs cooked with thick coffee sauce and served together with kinky fried kailan leaves topped with mayonnaise.” Kailan, as you may know, is the Cantonese name for a vegetable that is also called Chinese broccoli, since its flavor is very similar to broccoli, only slightly more bitter.  Another dish that featured kailan was the Kailan with Pork Floss — sautéed kailan leaves mixed with fried kalian leaves and topped with pork floss.

The lapu-lapu, that all-time favorite local grouper, seems always to be present in any Chinese feast, and this Chinese meal was no different. The Lapu-lapu with Mango in Sweet Chili Sauce was a whole lapu-lapu fish deep-fried, before sweet chili mango sauce was poured over it.

Our sweet Philippine mango also found its way into the desserts, particularly the mango pudding — flavored and smooth topped with milk and a cherry, as well as the Fresh Mango Mochi — glutinous rice rolled in cake powder and stuffed with fresh mango cubes. Yummy!

“We have also started our catering service,” Ong informs us. These are usually for corporate events. The biggest catering they’ve done recently was for 200 people.

They can cater for a minimum of 50 people. With the holiday season just around the corner, Mr. Choi is also offering Christmas packages for P4,000 for at least 10 people.

“We also offer set menus at P1,400 for four people and P1,900 for six

people,” Tan adds. They also have toppings for solos. An average meal would cost from P250 to P300 per dish, and the servings are all really good for sharing. Enjoy dim sum from 2 to 5 p.m. with a 20 to 30-percent discount.

The first Mr. Choi Kitchen was opened in 2004 at the East Wing of Robinsons Galleria in Ortigas. It has since opened other branches: at Robinsons Place Manila, Forum Robinsons, and Waltermart Makati.

Mr. Choi Kitchen at Robinsons Magnolia is the newest branch, located on the second level with indoor dining as well as al fresco overlooking the landscaped space where the new Magnolia Ice Cream House is located, at the corner of Aurora Blvd. and Dona M. Hemady St. in New Manila, Quezon City.