Spread Some Awesome

Budget : ~Php200-300 per dish

 

Duration : ~2 hours

 

Bummers : plates used for eating are quite small

 

 

Tarlac City isn’t that far from Manila so when I feel like going home, I just pump gas on Jacob and drive home. For more than 10 years now, I haven’t stayed in my hometown for more than 2 weeks because I spent my college days in Laguna and my after-college days in Manila. Usually I only stay long at home due to Christmas break or sembreak.

 

This weekend, I went home Saturday then went back to Manila on Sunday. I just wanted to check in with my family and spend some quality time with them. Woot! We usually attend anticipated mass on Saturday at around 5 PM. After that, we dine out and just talk – a lot. Eating and talking are some of the things we love doing together. Sometimes we don’t even notice how time has passed just talking about stuff.

 

My family loves to eat that’s why I am really happy when I splurge on food for them. No plate is left unturned. All are emptied and sometimes the plates are so clean that you don’t need to wash them. Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit on that.

 

I have been hearing about this restaurant in Tarlac for a long time now but they say that’s it’s quite expensive so we haven’t tried until one day they gave in to my persuasion. Fortune Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant is a posh Chinese restaurant located along McArthur Highway, which is right across Jecsons Medical Center.

 

 

Fortune Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant, or simply Fortune to the locals, offers a chic and relaxing ambiance. It was something I didn’t expect in a restaurant located in the province. The white tablecloth and the elegant-looking chandelier on the ceiling made it appear very classy. No wonder many people think that the food here might be ridiculously expensive. But in my opinion, their prices are pretty reasonable especially if you want to indulge on awesome Chinese food without going to Manila.

 

 

I would like to commend Fortune for their excellent customer service. I observed they have lots of waiters around, maybe one is assigned per table. They really know to how to take care of their guests.

 

From ordering to serving the food, they are efficient and very accommodating. If you are not used to being served like a prince or princess, you might get a little annoyed with their super nice attitude. They even put the food on your bowl or plate. And when it’s near empty, they immediately ask you if you want more because they’d put some again. Even with the occasional questions my mom and I threw in, I am quite impressed that they answer quickly and confidently.

 

For instance, we asked why the plates where you eat are so small. They told us that it was a Chinese practice to have control on quantity of food eaten. I just wished they were bigger because me and my family are serious when it comes to devouring food. Haha.

 

 

Upon seating on our table, they gave us this fresh warm hand towels to clean our hands with. The towels smell nice. Aside from making your hands clean, the scent will refresh you. Unfortunately, I just noticed now that the towels were Php 5 a piece. They should have told us that.

 

 

To warm our tummies, I got the Fortune Seafood Soup (Php 280 – Small). It’s a gooey, green soup which is not appetizing to look but don’t let this fool you because it tastes good. I think it’s green because of the ground spinach used for it. It tasted salty like the sea. It has bits of cuttlefish to add texture and taste to the soup. The egg made t creamy.

 

 

When in a Chinese restaurant, you never forget to try their dim sums. So we ordered Steamed Shrimp Dumpling (Php 100) and Sharksfin Dumpling (Php 100). Fortune’s steamed shrimp dumpling or hakao is packed with shrimp chunks. Other restaurants use shrimp to flavor the dumpling but this one has real shrimps inside. Even the sharksfin dumpling had shrimp cutlets. I think it was actual sharksfin shrimp dumpling that we got.

 

 

Vegetables are healthy so we need to get some of it as well. I remember when we were eating in another Chinese restaurant before, Mama was curious with the vegetables served on the other table. I said it was polonchay (Chinese spinach), which looks like bok choy but with darker leaf color. We got the Mixed Vegetables with Garlic (Php 260). The veggies were polonchay, asparagus, and broccoli.

 

 

The Fortune Fried Chicken (Php 250 – Half) is Fortune’s own version of crispy fried chicken. It is served with lots of crunchy prawn chips.

 

 

The Steamed Lapu-Lapu Fillet in Garlic Onion (Php 320) is a personal favorite. The soft Lapu-Lapu fillet is accentuated by the garlic sauce and the chopped spring onions on top. I guess Lapu-Lapu is a bit expensive because I wish the serving was bigger.

 

 

Another dish I loved from Fortune is the Prawn Salad (Php 380 – Small). The battered prawns are served with a creamy and lightly sweet sauce. Yum!

 

 

Of course when in a Chinese restaurant, you get Yang Chow Fried Rice (Php 220 – Small). The serving was huge because it was already enough for the five of us and my bros never joke around with rice.

 

 

I downed a glass of Watermelon Shake (Php 90) after the meal. It was sweet and refreshing like a dessert and beverage in one.

 

 

I would definitely be back here again. There are a lot more to try especially their huge cold cuts selection. When in Tarlac, I’d surely give Fortune a visit.

 

Spread some awesome..ness..

 

Tags: Chinese food, dim sum, fish, fried chicken, soup, vegetables, yang chow