MANILA, Philippines?I have experienced many exceptional fine-dining Chinese lauriats in my life: One of them was in a Hong Kong restaurant called Fuk La Moon, where we were served the best of Hong Kong cuisine.

In the US, I?ve tried the best of San Francisco cuisine at the Hong Kong Flower Lounge restaurant in Burlingame. Vancouver also has its share of outstanding fine-dining places?like San Sui Wah, which boasts of one of the best dimsums, as well as the best-tasting fried pigeons.

I thought those were the only places that could outdo one another. I was wrong: My closest friends and I have been preparing for a reunion. There was always someone who said he couldn?t make it?until I told them it was going to be a lauriat prepared by one of the finest Hong Kong chefs in Manila today. Suddenly, everyone was available.

Most delicious

As soon as we sat down, we were served warm peanuts, which seemed like they were simmered in aromatic-flavored tea. After that, a crispy Peking duck was brought out, cut up and served in two ways. With Hoisin sauce on the side, it was pure perfection. Then, we were served the most delicious roasted skin of suckling pig. It was the leanest suckling pig I have ever come across.

We were then served a piping-hot bowl of shark?s fin and crabmeat dumplings in a superior broth. You could tell that the chef put so much into it. Delicious!

Then, the main dishes started flowing in: We had roasted baby pigeon, wok fried scallops with XO sauce, wok fried tender beef with sweet walnuts and XO sauce, steamed stone fish in light soy sauce, sea manthis harbor-style (which is wok fried with dried chili, black beans and crispy garlic), steamed vegetable with garlic, salted fish fried rice, egg white fried rice with dried scallops and pine nuts, orange jelly and an East-West dessert, buchi with Valrhona chocolate inside.

Sauce

I highly recommend the beef dish, which was so tender that it practically melted in my mouth. The sea manthis looks scary before it?s cooked, but after it?s dumped into a smoking wok, it is transformed into one of the best seafood dishes. The chili and black bean sauce of this alupihang dagat was so good that we even mixed it with our rice.

Another scary-looking creature was the fresh stone fish, which, like the Japanese blowfish, can be poisonous when it?s not prepared properly. However, it?s terrific when prepared the way chef Choi Wing Ki does it. It was steamed in light soy sauce. The egg white fried rice with dried scallops was something new and delicious, too.

You can enjoy the same experience at the Jasmine Restaurant of the New World Hotel along Pasay rd. and Makati ave. Call 811-6888. Happy eating!

E-mail sandydaza@shaw.ca