We visited the newly opened UP Town Center in Katipunan recently. The place was packed since it's fairly new and has different restaurants, which most are making its mark in Quezon City for the first time. We were there at around 8:30 PM to get some late dinner with my family. Almost all establishments still had waiting lines. We settled for the restaurant with the shortest queue which was Boon Tong Kee.
*We apologize for forgetting to take a picture of the signage. We were very hungry then. :(
Boon Tong Kee is a Singaporean export that specializes in -- you guessed it right, Hainanese Chicken. It has branches in Power Plant Mall, Mall of Asia and Tomas Morato. The UP Town branch was small, but it didn't feel cramped. But the small space could have played a part in the very poor acoustics of the place. And considering it was dinner time, they were undermanned. The waiters were courteous enough, though. They were still on soft opening so maybe they can still improve on the service and acoustics. More staff during peak hours and some acoustimats behind the wall perhaps?
We ordered the following:
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| Boiled Seaweed Soup with Bean curd. 195php. |
This actually tasted better than it looked, and everyone seemed to have enjoyed it. The cloudy broth wasn't really all that special, but taken in together with the meat, seaweed and bean curd, it created a great mix of subtle flavors and textures in one's mouth.
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| Signature Boiled Chicken (Whole). 845php. |
Almost everyone I know likes Hainanese Chicken which really puzzles me since I've always found it bland and tasteless. And this meal was no different, everyone in the table raved about the chicken while I still couldn't see what's so great about it (I still tasted it despite my aprehension about it). Since my family and Kim loved it, I'll take their word for it that it's a great dish. They loved putting copious amounts of the different condiments (crushed ginger, soy sauce, chili) at the table on it.
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| Crispy Roast Chicken (Half). 425php. |
This is basically a roasted version of their Hainanese Chicken/ Signature Boiled Chicken, and it was ordered especially for me. LOL. Now this is more to my liking. I find this way more flavorful even without the crushed ginger, soy sauce and chili sauce.
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| Crispy Cereal Prawn (Large). 655php. |
This certainly didn't look like anything we expected it to be. It actually resembled the floss breads from Break Talk and similar establishments. Despite how it looked, it actually tasted great and didn't feel oily at all despite it being obviously deep fried. The cereal outer was crispy and the prawn inside was moist enough.
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| Coffee Pork Ribs. 295php. |
The Ribs had a nice aroma to it when it was served. You can certainly smell and taste the coffee in it. It was more sweet rather than being bitter which is how coffee more often tastes like. There weren't really a whole lot of meat on it since it was ribs, but it was flavorful.
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| Fish Fillet in Soya Bean Paste. 445php. |
This really didn't stand out over any other fish fillets we've had before, but it was still cooked nicely and tasted good.
The food were a little pricey but considering we don't have a whole lot of Hainanese Chicken restaurants around, I'd say it's justified. The location of Boon Tong Kee, and UP Town Center as a whole, would certainly guarantee more than enough diners on any day of the week so it's best to arrive early or late during peak eating hours. We'll certainly consider eating here again, but probably after trying out the other different restaurants inside UP Town Center first.
Boon Tong Kee
2nd Floor, UP Town Center,
Katipunan Ave., Quezon City
https://www.facebook.com/BoonTongKeePH
http://www.boontongkee.com.sg/
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