I’ve been hearing King One stories from Richard, Irene and Wendy ever since the Foodie Club meet at Beijing Hand Pulled Noodles and since then it’s been included in my “food/restaurant” hit list to try. I don’t know how the King One Plurk thread started but when somebody said June 6, it was immediately a “green light” for me without even peeking at my calendar.
June 6 was such a hectic Sunday. Bubba and I went from one end of Manila to another end but nothing could have stopped us from joining the King One lunch get-together. It wasn’t too tough to find the place with specific directions from Richard. A little before 12 noon, Carlos, Bubba and I were welcoming Irene and Richard back in Manila (fresh from a Davao trip). Our group of five sat comfortably in the reserved booth near the conveyor belt.
King One has a conveyor belt that showcases all their little plates of ingredients available for hot pot. They will basically provide the Hong Kong curry broth on your table and set it to boil. Once boiling starts, cooking begins. Grab the plates that you want to add to your curry soup. Sze Chuan sauce is also available as an additional spice.
On the Table
I’m so happy that I was sitting across Irene because she knows good food! She picked the right plates off the conveyor and requested some more plates directly from the servers who are stationed inside the “belt”. We started off with:
Tao Pao
Tao Pao is basically beancurd skin. I learned from Irene that this is used to wrap Kikiam meat. Interesting huh? It takes a while to cook them but it’s worth the wait to bite into the soft beancurd skin. It gives a different texture to your palate –the beancurd sheets have a unique bite about it I can’t quite explain. It was soft yet textural… almost still crunchy.
Mozzarella Balls
It’s Singaporean fish balls with mozzarella inside. Be careful when you bite into it because even if the outside might not be that hot, the inside could be piping hot!!! It’s best, as Irene advised, to cut it first on your plate.
I like the soft fish balls (I’m not a fan of fish balls, maybe squid balls, but Singaporean version is good!) without the evident fishy taste and interestingly semi-sweet and cheesy mozzarella bit inside.
Lamb Slices
Bubba and I love Healthy Shabu Shabu but it can get quite pricey. Some plates there cost PHP 500 already and your limited to just one plate for that price. King One has great meats available with the “all you can eat” price. I particularly loved the lamb slices and I think even finished one plate by my own. It had enough meat and fat combined in the strips.
Instead of dumping the meat/shrimps on the boiling soup that makes them a bit overcooked and dry, the trick is, I learned again from Irene, to place the beef on the ladle, submerge it in the hot pot and wait a few seconds for the pink to turn light brown, then pull it out onto your plate. The lamb tasted so delicious soaked a bit in the curry soup.
Hong Kong Curry Soup
Enoki Mushrooms
Also known as Golden mushrooms… it’s one of my favorite
Fresh Scallops
We didn’t get to try this since it wasn’t available that day… but Richard and Irene were able to try it on their previous (dozens) visits.
Shrimps
Do the same trick with the lamb slices to the shrimp. King One can serve the shrimps without the shells anymore. Best to dip the cooked shrimp in the Sze Chuan sauce… it’s like dipping suahe in Chinese restaurants into the semi-sweet soy sauce with spring onions.
Dip and Shake -and it gets cooked!
—
Other than the above, we also tried litid, pork dumplings, shrimp dumplings, watercress, fresh squid, Hong Kong fish cutlets, etc.
Richard and Irene brought several pasalubong from Davao –langka yema of 2 brands and durian yema. My favorite (and I think Joan and Carlos agree with me on this) is the Apo ni Lola Yema Langka –has the sweet milky yema flavor to it and strands of fragrant langka adding a different sweet tang to it. I almost finished the whole bag.
Apo ni Lola has the sweetest yema langka! 😉
–
Richard and Irene 🙂
Love this HAPPY photo! 😀
—
Abet and Joanne 🙂
—
—
It was a battle won by “us”
After eating the yema langka, I had to eat some more savory food. I can’t end with only a sweet note on my palate. I ate more shrimps soaked in the sze chuan sauce and half a plate of lamb slices. It was a wonderful lunch where the food are abound and of good quality –prepared well I should say. I get turned off with restaurants that offer buffet sometimes because of the way the food is prepared… but in this case, King One’s staff handles the food properly. Service was friendly, prompt and inclined –more reason to enjoy your King One feast.
King One’s “all-you-can-eat” hot pot was such a pleasant and satisfying lunch –all for a good price of PHP 529 per head. It’s a bit far off the usual Metro highways but the trip to Macapagal Avenue is worth the while. Best to go on a Sunday where traffic is really light in the area.
King One Rotary Hot Pot
M2-A Lower Hobbies of Asia
#8 Macapagal Ave., Pasay City
(632) 556 1370
Related Entries
Photo Credit:
Carlos Palma of FoodieManila.com
Richard Co of TalesfromtheTummy.blogspot.com
—
Recent Table Guest