Chinese Cuisine
by: Derrick yu
Chinese Cuisine in the Philippines is in every corner of the street here because we as Filipinos have already adapted the Chinese people and their culture into our own country. Our identity as Filipinos have been extended to the multiple races that have passed by our country because of the influence they had left us the Chinese being one of them. Chinese Cuisine is very much part of our own history and culture and if you analyze your surroundings you can find the bits and pieces of their influences even in some of the food we eat. Sure there are those restaurants that label themselves as “Chinese Cuisine” but they cannot be considered authentic. Knowing where to search for that perfect place to experience authentic Chinese Cuisine is easy to consider when you live in manila because the hub for almost everything Chinese lies within the streets of Binondo and growing up in a Chinese Family I have dined at numerous Chinese restaurants and so I have knowledge about a few them. While driving around we decided to settle for UNO restaurant for some unknown reason maybe because it was my first time seeing it and it piqued my interest. The front facade of the restaurant was really plain and unappealing but thinking back from when I was walking the streets of Hong Kong I remembered that good food does not need to come from a beautiful place and vice versa. It was big brick-style panelled walls with a huge sign above it. The inside of the restaurant was nothing special. The whole place was laden in gold and red coloured designs which I found sort of tacky yet felt a strange familiarity to. As with every other Chinese restaurant I’ve been to we were seated at a standard lazy susan table in front of a large mirror covered pillar. The service was okay, It actually started out good; the dimsum cart handler was attentive and we were able to get a few select dimsum just right after sitting down which was a good thing because I was hungry. The rest of the service went downhill after that. We were given only two menus and it was hard to get their attention no matter how many servers were on duty and how visible our table actually was and the table was not fully equipped with enough sets of chopsticks or teacups.
"My overall experience with UNO restaurant was okay. Good food, an okay ambiance and a lacking service. I’d definitely like to go back to try their other dishes but it’s not somewhere I’d go out of my way for just to eat there"