The Great Siomai Hunt

SIOMAI

     No words could describe my love for this Chinese food. I could eat a good Siomai for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a month without complaints. And I've done that.

     I first fell inlove with Siomai back in my hometown of Cagayan de Oro. There's this Chinese Restaurant that our family used to go quite frequently, even with my grandparents and all my Aunts and Uncles sometimes. Mandarin Tea Garden (Chinese Restaurant) was the place to be specially during Sundays. Their Siomai was so good and solid. You knew just by the first bite that the ingredients were of good quality. there's still a chunk of shrimp in there somewhere.

Mandarin Tea Garden (Chinese Restaurant)

http://www.mandarin.com.ph/mandarin.html

    Anyway, I was the only one who ate Siomai alone as a viand, everyone mixed them up. Mandarin's Siomai was solid and fresh. The hotsauce made it more and more special, you just couldn't get enough. 

     When I moved to Cebu, I grieved the fact that there was no Mandarin Tea Garden. I searched far and wide for the restaurants that made Siomai as good as Mandarin did. I couldn't find anyplace half as good, until, 4 months later, my classmates introduced me to this Siomai that exploded with flavor.

     I was looking for Siomai in all the wrong places, in Cebu, the best Siomai is sold on the streetside. The most famous one being Siomai sa Tisa. It wasn't fresh, nor was it made of good quality ingredients but the taste was just SO FUCKING GOOD.  This started my addiction to Siomai. I have to eat siomai at LEAST once a day, I JUST HAD TO. Cebu's Siomai makers really took Siomai to another level.

    Sad thing is, I moved to Manila after 4 blissful years of my affair with Cebu's Siomai. The search is on again, this time, it's going to be a wee bit more difficult. I've eaten Siomai's in mall Food Carts, in restaurants, in small little chinese carenderias. I was almost losing hope when last night, in Malate, I've tasted Siomai in Manila that was actually good. 

     It was P40 per 4 pcs, I think. It was a few meters away from O-bar. The Siomai was good.It wasn't the best i've tatsted but it was better then all the other Siomai in Manila. There is hope after all. I'm definitely going back there. They're Open 24 hours from Mondays to Saturdays and Half day on a Sunday.

Manila's Siomai search is on. <3