So I found a new favorite at Paradise Dynasty!
Paradise Dynasty is one of those restaurants that we consider a “staple” restaurant.
When we don’t have any particular craving but just want to eat out, Paradise Dynasty is one of those “defaults”. The food is good, the place is nice, and it is accessible – they have branches in the Podium, SM Aura, and S Maison — with big parking lots and where one can also get other chores and tasks done (i.e. getting groceries, shopping, etc..).
Plus, the 8-flavored Xiao Long Bao is always something to look forward to!
But the familiarity has led us to have favorites that we order all the time, missing out on other dishes that were actually quite good, too!
You may check out my previous blog posts on Paradise Dynasty dishes here:
On my most recent visit, I was able to try some new dishes and discovered new favorites:
Dynasty Crispy Chicken (P298)
How have we never ordered these before? Or have we ordered them but I forgot about it?
I think we ignored them thinking they were just ordinary fried chicken, but these were really good fried chicken!
The crispy coating hides a juicy chicken with a hint of curry. Throughout the meal I was wondering what this unexpected, but familiar, flavor in the fried chicken was, and of course, I had to try more fried chicken to figure it out! Haha!
And you know what? It works. I couldn’t figure it out until a whiff of a memory flitted in my brain of my mom’s chicken with cornflakes and mayo. I tried googling the dish but I couldn’t find any recipe for the 80s version of baked cornflakes chicken to link here. Anybody else remember this dish? There’s chicken at the bottom, then a curry mayo topping, it is baked then topped with Kellogg’s corn flakes.
Served with Dynasty Crispy Chicken is a milky, sweet, mayo kind of dip.
Anyway, I will definitely be ordering this again. It is delicious, and the nostalgia makes it even better 🙂
Deep Fried Garlic Pork Ribs (P388)
Again, how have we never ordered these before? Or have we ordered them but I just forgot about it? I think we always went with the pork chop/rib with the mayonnaise version that we totally ignored this.
It’s actually pretty good – it’s a Cantonese or HK-style pork chop (the regular salt & pepper one, not the version that is baked with tomato sauce), and if you are missing HK Pork Chop Rice, this is an affordable alternative that tastes just like HK pork chop – tenderized with baking soda, hot off the wok, flavorful, topped with garlic salt & pepper.
I think there were around 6 boneless pcs per order. And, as the name states, they use pork rib meat and not pork chop meat. Pork rib meat has better texture 🙂 But most people aren’t too fussy about this and just call it a pork chop.
This kind of Chinese-style pork chop is not that easy to find in Manila, oddly enough, since most restaurants do Filipino-style pork chops or western-style pork chops with the bread crumbs.
Some Chinese restaurants only do Salt & Pepper Squid or Tofu, and if they have pork, sometimes they use other cuts like pork belly or spare ribs.
Even with Chinese-style pork chops there is the flattened Taiwanese style, as well. So if you are looking for this specific style of garlic salt & pepper pork chops, Paradise Dynasty does a good one 🙂
Pork Dumpling with Hot Chili Vinaigrette (P238 / 6 pcs)
I’ve already had this before but I just wanted to mention it because it saddens me that many people don’t appreciate this more.
It’s a boiled pork dumpling swimming in a mildly sour, mildly sweet, garlicky chili oil sauce.
This is now how I like my boiled dumplings, even at home, and I make a similar sauce for my dumplings to pool in.
This is a Sichuan-style dumpling that I wasn’t familiar with until I tried it at a dimsum place during a trip to HK a few years ago when this style of dumpling became popular outside Sichuan.
In our table of blogger guests, only one other person tried it. Everyone else ignored it. More for me, then 🙂
It is expectedly spicy, but not unbearably so. The Chinese vinegar balances out the chili oil for a more dimensional flavor.
If you haven’t tried Sichuan-style dumplings before, and you can handle heat, I suggest trying this 🙂
Here’s a quick video of our lunch:
Free Xiao Long Bao Promo
But wait, there’s more!
Paradise Dynasty is having their 6th anniversary on November 9, and they are giving away FREE 6 pcs Xiao Long Bao to all customers (minimum spend of P1,000) that day.
First 20 customers can get the free 6 pcs Xiao Long Bao without reaching the minimum spend.
This is for all branches – Podium, SM Aura, and S Maison.
Make sure to visit Paradise Dynasty on November 9 (Wednesday) to take advantage of the promo!
Paradise Dynasty
Website: http://paradisedynasty.ph
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paradisedynastyph/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paradisedynastyph/
