Authentic Taiwanese Food at Shi Lin

Alabang Town Center recently opened new wings (yes, wings!)... and with that, new restaurants have arrived as well! It's refreshing to see a bunch of new restaurants appear in a place we're often in. It's difficult to choose a restaurant when you've eaten in almost all of them. Then there's me, the difficult person who wants to eat in new places all the time. So... yey! Anyway, Marcus decided to eat in Shi Lin because he was entranced by their dimsum. 

Waiting for the food... :)

 The menu is simple with fewer options that most restaurants, but I wouldn't call it limited. So, it wasn't very difficult to choose what we wanted. First of all, the service was very quick. I was already hungry, and before we even realized it, our orders were already there. Obviously, we were off to a good start.

Passionberry Iced Tea - P60

We ordered the spicy spareribs, because as usual, we wanted something spicy. I loved how it was drowned in pepper, garlic and onions. The spareribs itself was good as well, but a tad bit oily... but honestly, what can you expect from such a dish? Because of that, I wasn't bothered by the oiliness. But yeah, I loved the spiciness of the dish. It was very tasty.

Spicy Spareribs - P289

Of course, we had to order some Xiao Long Bao. These are dumplings with broth in it, recently made popular by another restaurant, Lugang Cafe. We were trying to figure out how to eat it in the best way, then we realized there were instructions right there. Helpful!

How to eat Xiao Long Bao

Xiao Long Bao. 6 Pcs - P138, 10 pcs - P230

I loved the XLB. It was so soft, but not in the sense that it would fall apart if you poke a hole in it (which as you can see, I did). The dip which they recommend (soy sauce, vinegar and ginger strips) went really well with the XLB. It was a contrasting taste of sourness, but it worked well.

Mmm, broth...

We also ordered some fried rice. It was fine. Just normal fried rice. ;)

Fried Rice w. Chicken Chop & Egg - P 245

Then, we also had some Shrimp and Pork Shiomai. We didn't know beforehand, but it also had broth in it. Marcus was surprised because he thought it was just normal shiomai, but as you can see from the picture, it was quite larger than the ones we were accustomed to. Honestly, it tasted just like the XLB, and I wasn't a fan of how the 'neck' (sorry, what should I call it?) was tough to chew. I suppose it's done that way to keep the shrimp on the 'head'.

Shrimp & Pork Shiomai - P165

Interior

Verdict

Food and service was great, though the bill came out larger than we expected. I have no real complaints though. It was a good experience. Of course, I recommend the XLB and the spareribs!

Taste - 4/5

Ambiance - 3/5

Service - 4/5

Price - 3/5

Overall Value - 4/5

Posted in: alabang, alabang town center, ortigas, rating: 4/5, taiwanese, the podium