A couple of week ago, we found ourselves in Newport Mall at Resorts World on a Saturday Night, which meant lots and lots of people. I was late to arrive and was told that we had an 8 pm reservation at Tao Yuan, which puzzled me as to the lateness. It seems Tao Yuan has two seating reservations, one for 6pm and another for 8pm. I’m not really a fan of this one as sometimes you can enjoy your food anymore if you feel yourself being rushed. Tao Yuan is known for its Singaporean dishes despite it being a Chinese restaurant, and most of our dishes that night were Singaporean except for the Roasted Pork, which paled in comparison to Choi Garden.
While waiting for our dishes, we staved off our hungered chowing on these complimentary stewed peanuts, they were big and tender.
Char Kwey Teow. A dish usually served in hawker centers all around Singapore. The noodles were firm and chewy, with scrambled eggs, veggies and bean sprouts mixed in. The dish was not oily, maybe a reason it was not that memorable for me, I still like the one from Nasi Lemak better.
Next up, Hainanese Chicken. The rice in the background is an extra order and does not come with the chicken. The chicken was not bad, but I like the one from Stevie’s better. The rice was very good though and would have tasted much better is if it was part of the chicken set.
Singaporean Chili Crab. My brother requested to lessen the spiciness to accommodate more mundane palettes. A couple of orders of fried bread is practically required to be able to sop up the sauce. Dig in with your hands, eating this dish will be mighty messy. If you have never tasted this dish in Singapore, you’d find Tao Yuan dish quite good already. I had tasted this a couple of times from No Signboard and Jumbo in Singapore so eating this dish just had me hankering for the authentic ones.
We were seated outside so ambiance was very chaotic, especially with the weekend crowd all passing through. I was also not pleased with the dual schedule for reservations, although we got our tables a little earlier since the patrons were already done with their dinner.
Food is by no means outstanding but for people who want to taste the local version of Singaporean cuisine, Tao Yuan, fits the bill. I’ve been told the original branch in Malate has much better food, I should probably go and check it out, one of these days.
Tao Yuan Restaurant
2/F Newport Mall, Resorts World Manila
Pasay City, Metro Manila
846.9998
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I agree that the Malate branch has better tasting food. :) I love Tao Yuan but it’s almost hard to get seats in either of their branches especially during peak hours.