[2011 Throwback] 101 Hawker Food House

[updated]

The Project 12x2-1 Page

Hunger is the best sauce in the world.
- Cervantes

Trying out 101 Hawker Food House is a unanimous call to be our next food spotting trip after we saw it this one time we are passing by the Buendia-Ayala corner. Sakto naman na pumunta kami sa Makati Med recently kaya pinilit namin mag-hapunan dito kahit maaga pa for actual dinner.

101

Pasakalye:

Sabi ni K, na-feature na daw ito sa TV. Kaya nung una naming nakita ito, sinama na namin agad sa listahan ng mga dapat namin makainan.

The place is located along a strip of hole-in-the-wall eateries along Urban Avenue. Kung nasa main entrance ng Makati Med facing Buendia, just take the road going to Buendia then take the first left-turn (may Mercury Drug sa kanto). That should be Urban Avenue, and 101 should be on the left side of the road.

andaming choices

Singaporean food ang binebenta nila, particularly yung hawker-type o yung nakikita sa mga food court.

Chicha:

• Thai Bagoong Rice
• Kung Pao Chicken
• Char Kway Teow
• Lemonade
• Milo Dinosaur
• Pandan Pudding

Thai bagoong rice

Gustong gusto namin yung pagka-alat nung bagoong rice. Yung strips ng hilaw na mangga, adds a contrasting asim flavor. Actually, hindi namin malasahan kung nasan yung bagoong. But it works for us, dahil hindi naman kami mahilig dito. Baka iba lang ang lasa ng Thai bagoong sa hinahanap naming lasa ng Pinoy bagoong. For all we know, baka yun na yung nalalasahan namin na maalat. In any case, we liked it. Kanin pa lang ulam na. It has pork strips to boot.

Kung Pao chicken

Panalo yung kung pao chicken. Tamis anghang ang lasa ng marinade (but more on the sweet part), which is slathered over breaded fried chicken. It's around 6 or 7 small pieces of chicken. Most Western-version of the dish has ground peanuts deep-fried with it. Buti itong kanila, wala. Hindi ako kumakain ng mani!

Ang reklamo lang namin dito ay medyo mabuto yung chicken parts na ginamit. Not sure if it's always like that pero mas masarap sana kung mas madaming laman kesa buto.

Char Kway Teow

Nothing special from the char kway teow. For a supposedly flavorful food, matabang ang luto ng sa kanila. Hindi man lang maanghang to expect the least. Mura ito though, compared sa most char kway teow na sinubukan namin. Pero sana hindi ito ang rason to skimp on the food's quality.

lemonade

Yung in-order naming kung pao comes with a free soup at lemonade. Soup is as we expected, not much flavor in it. And the lemonade doesn't taste like lemonade at all. Hindi maasim at hindi rin matabang. Parang malamig na tubig lang.

Milo dinosaur

Ang Milo dinosaur ay malamig na Milo chocolate drink na binudbudan sa taas ng madaming Milo powder. Yung froth ng Milo drink + mga cubes ng yelo ang pumipigil sa Milo powder na mag permeate with the liquid drink. Pauso ito sa Singapore and 101 is heaven-sent to have included it on their menu. Matamis ang panlasa ng mga Pinoy at for sure, papatok ito dito. We liked it!

pandan pudding

Pandan pudding ang dessert namin. I expected something sweeter from their variant. The last two times we tried pandan pudding, they are consistently outright sweet. So una naming naisip ay baka ganun yung version ng Singapore. However, etong isang ito ay may maasim na creamy toppings (kulay puti) na nakikipag-agawan ng lasa sa tamis nung actual na pudding. Akala nga namin sa unang tikim ay panis. The taste kinda grows on us though. Still, we're not a fan. We want our pudding straight-out matamis.

Chechebureche:

The menu has a LOT to choose from. Kaya pinili muna naming mag-stick sa basic na madalas bilhin sa mga Sinagporean hawker places. We can go on for weeks eating here and still not have tried everything. Ganun kadami ang options.

half of the menu, the other half is on the flipside

Most of the main dishes have an option to be served with rice (toppings) or ala carte (short order). For couples, we recommend taking the toppings since they serve the dishes generously anyway (can serve two). Nakatipid na, mas madami pa ang masusubukang ulam.

Trip namin yung minimalist design nung loob ng resto. Relax. At the least, hindi try hard na magpaka-Oriental look. KISS rule, kumbaga... Keep It Simple and Stupid. Medyo mainit lang yung lugar. Pero kasi wala pang masyadong tao nung pumunta kami, kaya nakapatay pa lahat ng ceiling fan. Nakalimutan lang siguro buksan... sige na nga.

The waiters are polite and easy to deal with.

K.I.S.S.

Kaching!:

P100 to P200 ang price range ng mga ulam. Can be more (up to P300) kapag yung mga may premium sahog ang in-order na ulam (e.g. salmon or prawns).

Still it's comparatively cheap than most Singaporean-hawker food place na napuntahan namin. At para sa binayad, pwede na yung quality ng most ng pagkain.

Update: Fast forward to 2015, nasa P120 to P200 na ang price range ng mga ulam. Not much change so good job.

Hatol:

Okay itong dayuhin just for the sheer variety of food available.

Karamihan ng dishes ay Singaporean-inspired, if not cooked authentic Singaporean. So it's still a good way to check out what's "in" sa panlasa ng ating kapit-bayan. At sa relatively cheap price tag, abot-bulsa nang matitikman ang mga ito.

Definitely, we should try some of their other stuff next time.

aftermath

Rating:
4.5 out of 7




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