What's New At Promenade Greenhills?

We are always in the Greenhills area. I do my grocery there, eat merienda with the kids or lunch/dinner with the entire family. Even brunch meet-up with mom-friends are also done in the area. There's so many new establishments to try every time we visit.

Just a few days ago, I had lunch at the newly opened hotpot restaurant in the area. Since I was early, I decided to go around first, and I spotted Beard Papa's!

I have heard that they opened a few years back, and eventually closed down. 

I havent had the chance to try them then, but I'm glad that I've tried 

their new product offering called Lange de Chat puff because it's soooo good!

I first tasted Beard Papa's more than a decade ago in Hong Kong. I remember when we would visit Hong Kong, our last stop on our last day would be the basement of Sogo Department Store in Causeway so we can buy these pastries and bring them home.

I took a closer look at this store since I really miss their cream puffs. I was intrigued by this new product offering called Langue de Chat puff. The cashier told me it was like the regular puff, but with a crisp and crunchy exterior. 

Here's the regular pie puff (on the left) and the Langue de Chat Puff (on the right) for comparison.

It comes in 3 different flavors, but I've only tasted Custard and White Peach. They say that White Peach is the bestseller in Japan. But I'm a purist when it comes to my cream puff fillings and so it's just expected that I really enjoyed the custard.

The counter attendant fills up the cream puffs upon order so you are sure of it's freshness. The crunchy exterior is a good foil to the creamy interior.It's a perfect textural match!

Only for the month of September, because they are celebrating their 20th anniversary, they are offering a limited edition promo: Buy 3 regular pie puffs and 3 Langue de Chat puffs for 20% off the original price.

*     *     *

There's another new player to the local milk tea scene, Xing Fu Tang. This Taiwanese chain whose name means Realm of Happiness is known for its unique stir-fried brown sugar pearls. I've tasted several brown sugar milk tea, but what sets Xing Fu Tang apart is that they stir-fry their brown sugar pearls in brown sugar.

This one is located right in fron of Beard Papa. After you order your cream puffs, go have your milk tea fix na din.

Xing Fu Tang stir-fries the pearls in front of everyone in a big iron wok. 
This way of cooking makes sure that the pearls are have a sticky and super chewy texture 
and have a richer caramelized taste 

The pearls are dropped to your drink as soon as you order and you can see the sticky and sweet pearls transform into the tiger streaks that you see on the side of the cups, a sign that you are getting newly produced syrup.

I love brown sugar milk tea as the next person, but I cannot resist Xing Fu Tang's unique offering: the Mango Smoothie with Bunny Panna Cotta

This aesthetically pleasing combination of blended mango smoothie, red pearls, and the cutest rabbit-shaped pana cotta is the most expensive item on the menu at P140. The rich blend of mango is refreshing, and the pearls are super sticky and chewy, almost like eating mochi - among the best that I've tasted!

 I can't wait to be back with my kids! For sure, my 2 girls will go crazy over this!

*     *     *

Choi Hot Pot is now open at Promenade. While there are a lot of hot pot restaurants in Manila, what sets them apart is that almost all their ingredients, from the meat, seafood and balls, are flown in fresh everyday from Hong Kong. As you can see, the balls are bigger than usual, and the variety is not what you will usually find in other restaurants.

The shrimps are so fresh that they were still alive when they were served to us. 

Wagyu beef strips and Australian fat beef cubes were the highlights of our table.

Choi Hot Pot also prides itself in their specialty - their rich and unique broth. I was able to try their herbal broth, infused with different Chinese tonic herbs like goji berries, red dates, etc. It tasted a lot lighter and healthier. I like it!

Eating hot pot is a fun and filling way to spend the time eating and chatting because you’re literally hanging around a hot pot at the table where you cook and eat together. My family loves hot pot and there's another reason to love Choi Hot Pot - their hot pot tray goes up separating the balls, meat, vegetables from the broth so you don't have to keep on searching for that last few remaining pieces.

There's no right or wrong way to do it. Some people prefer to dump everything all oat once, let it come to a boil and leave it to simmer and eat them. Others like to just put in the piece that they want to eat. For me, the only rule to follow in this communal style of cooking and eating is to make sure to not use your eating utensils to get food from the pot.

Choi Hot Pot is currently on a promo tie-up with BDO. 50% off on lunch and dinner, Mondays thru Fridays, for a minimum of P5,000 food bill.

FOLLOW ME!