I have been to a lot of Chinese restos especially those that caters to banquets and functions, but somehow I have never tried Mandarin Sky in Banawe. I think whenever my family goes there, I am always unavailable. While scouting for a place to eat in Banawe, I tried searching for a QC resto and found this Mandarin Sky Wok in Paligsahan. It is located together with Artsy Cafe (continental food) and Komedor (Filipino food). It has the same owner as this restaurant and the one along Banawe.
The interiors of Mandarin Sky Wok is very Chinese, like the fine dining ones in China. It is very cozy and filled with customers. Service is good. Food was quite disappointing considering all the raves I heard about the Banawe branch.
We started off with dimsum because we were famished: pork siomai, fish head, and beancurd roll. Fish head was okay since not many restaurants serve those as dimsum. The pork siomai was bad, it has more flour than meat. The beancurd roll was truly disappointing. It's like the meat of the siomai then wrapped in bean curd skin.
For the main course, we ordered: Polonchay with Two Eggs, Singaporean Bihon Guisado, and Dong Po Pork. The polonchay with eggs were okay, nothing special. The eggs visible are duck eggs and century eggs, plus a slurry of chicken egg whites. I was disappointed that the yolk of the duck egg was invisible, probably used to complete their salted egg prawns dish. The bihon was flavored in curry. It was good but we just got surprised that it has curry in it. The Dong Po Pork comes with steamed buns. It took a really long time for them to serve this, and it turned out just normal. There were about 8-10 pre-cut slices of the pork but only 6 pcs of the bun. The meat was tender and the sauce was strange. Not a usual sauce in Chinese cuisine, but I'm guessing the sauce is made from ketchup, sugar, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, and vinegar - almost the same ingredients as a sweet and sour sauce. The pineapple on top of the dish was a misplacement as well.
Most customers there ordered shabu-shabu so maybe it's their forte? Would love to try the two restaurants beside it though. And oh, you can also order from the other two as well since they only belong to one owner. read more