LONG FU SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

At the recommendation of a facebook friend, and it just so happened that we were in chinatown last Maundy Thursday, we decided to try the said chinese inspired resto.


As far as interiors are concerned, its very typical and does not deviate much from other chinese inspired restos.

FISH LIP SOUP



Nicely seasoned and piping hot starchy soup (yes, I don't make use of the black vinegar if possible) with some finely sliced bamboo shoots, enoki mushrooms (the server called them golden mushrooms) and of course some finely chopped fish lips.

My dad was complaining that there isn't enough fish lips to begin with..... In my opinion, its still a flavorful soup, I especially like the somewhat crunchy texture provided by the mushrooms.

SNAILS in TAUSI (Black Beans) SAUCE



Initially I wanted Clams with Tausi Sauce, but the server told us that they had no stock of clams. Actually there were several items we ordered that were out of stock. But I will give them some leeway since its Maundy Thursday. Instead, the server showed me some snails and I decied to just go with that.

The problem with the dish is that it was very hard to get the meat out from the shell, the chefs/cooks did not crack open a hole big enough to easily pull out the meat with a toothpick. As opposed to the common "kuhol" you find in some filipino inspired restos which are round. The snails we got were a little oblong in shape so it would take a longer sharp object to get to the meat. Another problem is that the resto had no such longer sharp object for us to use. One of the lady server suggested we use a fork which to me is an even dumber idea.



In the end, I just told the servers to take the dish back to the kitchen and request the cooks that they crack open the shells before serving it to us...... as for taste, its very much like the usual snails we are used to. Tausi sauce were a little watery but still there was good flavor.

SPECIAL TURTLE IN POT



Since I have never had turtle meat before, I got curious and excited when I saw it in their menu. And for those who are as curious too as to what to stewed turtle tastes like, well I think they taste like pork (my mom said they taste like chicken). The sauce had a somewhat "chinese herb" aftertaste, but it wasn't overwhelming so I didn't really mind.

Of course unlike pork, turtles have more of those tiny bones so you have to a little careful lest you want one stuck in your throat.

BLACK SESAME OIL BLACK CHICKEN IN POT



Don't ask me why the long name as I just copied the name from their menu. Come to think of it, I don't recall ever hearing about black sesame oil. And I certainly did not taste any hint of any kind of sesame oil in the dish. The chicken were still a little tough to chew on (do black chickens need to be braised longer to soften up their skin???)

I think they used the same sauce from the turtle dish because they practically tasted the same.

FROGS LEGS HOTPOT



I actually wanted the fried version but my mom beat me to the punch by ordering the stewed version ...... oh well, it wasn't so bad though I will still prefer the fried version.


On a personal sidenote: Overall, the food we ordered were not bad. What really irritated me was the lack of training of the servers.....

1) Everytime I asked the server about a particular dish (like how its going to be cooked), he has to run to the kitchen and ask their cooks about it. Well trained servers in my opinion, should have at least a basic knowledge about the dishes in the menu. Imagine if I were to inquire about 10 different dishes, does that mean the server has to run off to the kitchen 10 times ??

2) There was an instance that one of the lady servers was placing plates in our table, I noticed some red smudges on the plate and immediately asked her where did those smudges come from. I then saw that her hand was red and asked her about it. The lady server said its red pentel pen ink. I almost raised my voice against her for being so careless since we might unknowingly ingest pentel ink. The server assured us that she didn't touch any other set of plates (or any food items for that matter)

In the end, she asked another server to change our plates and so far, we haven't paid the hospital a visit.


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LONG FU Seafood Restaurant is located at
533-537 Tomas Mapua St. cor. Espeleta, Sta Cruz, Metro Manila