Notes on Hobbies: Mandarin Tea Garden at SM City Iloilo

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Mandarin Tea Garden at SM City Iloilo

My partner and I are very fond of eating at different restaurants, it's our hobby together. Whenever we are out on a date, we always make sure to try out new restaurants and new food even if it's our nth trip to that resto. One restaurant we are fond of eating in is at SM City Iloilo and it is named Mandarin Tea Garden. We have been eating at this place for so many times already but I never had the idea of blogging about it until now.

Mandarin Tea Garden is a Chinese inspired restaurant (food is much better than Chowking) found at the left wing, upper ground floor beside Greenwich. To start off with, the motto what you see is what you get really applies here. When you look at their menu and see the way they took the photos of their food, you'll be amazed that how much is shown there is how much you'll really get. So there's no photoshop trickery involved in their menu. For all rice lovers out there, you will never have to order an extra rice.

The price may come out as a surprise at first but you will soon find out that it was all worth it because all that money was spent on good and satisfying food. Their steamed scallops is one of the best and my girlfriend's favorite. I have not personally tasted it as I am allergic to crustaceans but I'll take her word for it.

We ordered beef brisket soup, steamed squid, steamed scallop, soy chicken rice, halo-halo, and four seasons shake. All of these for 500 pesos is well worth it. Let's start with their beef brisket soup which is full of meat. I recently ate a beef ramen at JD Bakeshop and found it unsatisfactory as the meat it had was about 4-5 pieces only and it was sold at 61 pesos. The beef brisket soup at Mandarin Tea Garden however was full of beef and you just can't get enough of the meat for only 81 pesos, a bit more expensive but you'll know every penny's worth it.

The steamed squid - 62 pesos and scallop - 74 pesos only. A cheap bargain compared to other restaurants out there and is full of goodness. Their plain rice is priced at 24 pesos and the four seasons shake is a bit expensive at 54 pesos a glass but it's about 500 mL, I think. The Soy Chicken Rice is at 88 pesos but with a big slice and a lot of rice already included in the meal. The halo-halo sells for 57 pesos but as I will say again, full of ingredients and you will never find yourself scooping only ice or milk because every scoop will get you either a gulaman, jackfruit, and other things you'll find in a halo-halo, and did I say it also comes with a big scoop of ube flavored ice cream?

See links below for the pictures as I am currently having problems uploading them here.