P.F. Chang's Restaurant, Manila

After Ella's dinner date with Vic and their daughter, Paulina, at P.F. Chang's, she decided to invite the Jungolf moms for lunch ar her latest fave restaurant.

We trekked to Alabang to check out what all these hullabaloo is all about. This is Ella's fifth visit since the resto opened. It just tells you how much she loves the food here.

For starters, we had the Dynamite Shrimps at Php 295. This is crispy shrimps with a very, very mild kick. I enjoyed this dish.

Then, we had Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wrap at Php 285. This is minced chicken with mushrooms, green onions and water chestnuts on a bed of crispy noodles. It was served with 4 pieces of iceberg lettuce. This was similar to the minced duck at Citybest Seafood Restaurant but with a more refined taste. My friend, Beng said that the Chicken Lettuce Wrap at Coral Garden was just as good.

The Crab Wanton was the last of our appetizer at Php 350. Ella loves this so much that she ordered two of this. Crab meat, bell peppers, onion, ginger and garlic is wrapped in wonton and deep fried. This was served with a plum sauce. I did not enjoy the full flavor of this dish because of the lingering taste of the dynamite shrimps and the lettuce wraps which had very prominent flavors. Next time, I'll eat this first to see if it is really as good as Ella says.

Our two orders of crab wantons and Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wrap.

Mongolian Beef at Php 695. Steak tossed with tons of scallions and garlic. The steak was very tender and had a very pronounced soy flavor. I can't quite figure out what was missing in this dish but the scallions were cooked perfectly.

Shrimps with Candied Walnuts at Php 460. The shrimps were large and fresh. I enjoyed the crunchiness of the walnuts and the sweetness of the honeydew melon. I never thought of pairing shrimps with honeydew melons but the flavors really complimented each other. While I was eating this, I thought that it would have been better if the shrimps were deep fried too but in hindsight, tossed in a very light cream sauce brought out the freshness of the shrimps.

The Oolong Marinated Chilean Sea Bass at Php 1,115 was in the Emperor's Choice Menu. The Seabass was broiled in ginger, soy sauce and served over spinach. Everything about this dish was cooked perfectly. The seabass was crunchy outside and very tender inside. I wish I can learn to cook spinach this way. It had a really nice bite to it. I suppose this is why Popeye loves spinach so much.

The Fried Rice at Php 200 was such a let down. It had all the ingredients of beef, chicken, pork and shrimps but it still tasted bland. At the beginning of our meal, the waiter made a special spicy sauce for us and so I decided to sprinkle some of that sauce on the rice. It gave it some flavor but it still didn't taste right. Next time, we'll forego the fried rice since the restaurant offers all you can eat white and brown rice for free.

We capped off our meal with coffee and apple fritters. The apple fritters was served with caramel and whipped cream; nothing special.

Our total bill was Php 4,990. True, for the price, we could have gone to Shang Palace or Choi Garden for a more authentic Chinese cuisine. But dining at P.F. Chang's is really more about the dining experience. Eating here gives you a taste of Chinese American food which is so different from eating at Choi Garden for a real taste of honest to goodness Chinese food or at San Jacinto for a taste of Chinese Filipino food.

On my next visit, I'll definitely order all their Szechuan dishes or their vegetable dishes since they seem to know how to cook their veggies. New York on my mind....