In our household, Chinese food almost always spells comfort food. This was why I was so excited to try out the latest Chinese resto in the city.
Xianghe, home of the famous Beijing rice noodles (and a food franchise from that city) opened it's doors earlier this June, much to the delight of those who have tried it out. It's opened from 10 AM to 9 PM daily. Here's what I discovered when I dropped by for a visit:
1. LOCATION - found at the ground floor of Cedar Peak (see our blog on the other food offerings of the place), Xianghe can be found fronting Mabini Street and accessible too via General Luna Street. It's right smack in the middle of downtown Baguio, allowing us to give it a SCORE of 5/5.
2. AMBIANCE - modern and tastefully decorated, I love how they managed to fit in so many seats, without making the place appear crowded. In all the times I've visited, the place was always peaceful and clean. SCORE: 5/5
3. MENU - the menu is still being updated, feeling out how the preferences of the Philippine market (it's the first franchise in the Philippines). Prices are super affordable. There's a good variety of rice toppings, cold and hot appetizers, various drinks, savory and noodle dishes. I scored it 5/5. Here's what they have in store for you:
***RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE MENU INCLUDE: fried dumplings, sweet potato balls, Chinese pumpkin pie, scrambled egg rice noodles and boiled dumplings
4. FOOD - I have, so far, tried out 4 items from the menu. Portions are good sized, even good enough to share. Here's what I got, and what I thought of the dish: SCORE: 5/5
a. Dry Egg - think cold dried bean curd in a sesame oil/soy sauce/chili oil/scallions sauce. Great appetizer, even better as a snack!
b. Chicken Poppers - not exactly Chinese, but these nice and juicy balls made with chicken tenders (and had cheese powder on the side) were nice morsels of yum
c. Beijing Braised Pork Ribs - sweet, spicy, salty and complex! I loved the savory goodness of the sauce and the tenderness of the ribs. Was glad too that they didn't bury the meat in so much veggies. It doesn't taste like the average braised beef/Korean beef stew (admit it, restos tend to interchange them) here in the Philippines. Worth a try!
d. Abalone Mushrooms - thin slices of abalone mushrooms, served cold, in a chiu chow oil/scallions and soy sauce. Delish!!
5. SERVICE - service is seriously fast and efficient and the staff were friendly, polite and informative. The chef is from China and only speaks Mandarin, so the staff has admittedly remarked that translators are now being used to communicate with the chef. I had ordered braised pork rib rice toppings and got it to go. They gave me the braised pork ribs sans my mi fan (steamed rice in Mandarin - one of the handy dandy words I learned before we visited Beijing). Oh well, it's a work in progress. For the no rice boo-boo however, I'll have to score them 3/5 for the mistake.
So there you have, my Xianghe experience. I gave them the rating of 4.6/5. I shall definitely come back, and encourage those who love good comfort food, to do so.
For updates and more info on Xianghe, visit their Facebok page at: https://www.facebook.com/XIANGHEBAGUIO/?ref=br_rs
From TMW, may all your wanderings be better than ours!
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