SO you think you know Chinese cooking, do you?

Yang chow fried rice, beef with brocolli, sweet and sour pork ... Well, dear Chinese food lover, just because you have the menu of North Park and Chow King memorized does not mean you know Chinese food. You have not even scratched the tip of the iceberg! Just as the Philippines has Pampanga, Bulacan, Ilocos, Negros, Bicol or Cebu cuisine under the umbrella of Philippine cooking, so does the ginormous country of China have Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien or Fookien cuisine. So if you think Chinese food revolves around the flavors of sweet, gingery or salty, well, you haven?t tasted the flavors of places like Singapore or Taiwan.

Personally, my exposure to Chinese food is embarrassingly peasant. I was exposed to the amazing flavors of Fookien cuisine in the distant hills of ... Ortigas Avenue, San Juan. Yup, in a small, easy-to-overlook Chinese karinderya called Maki Place that is gaining popularity via Filipino-Chinese word of mouth.

?Put ketchup on that,? Maya Mahn said, as I tried the oyster cake. And later, as I tried the radish cake: ?Put ketchup on that, too.? And then again, when I tried one of the house specialties, machang, ?That?s great with ketchup!? Maybe they should rename the restaurant Makiketchup!

It?s a small restaurant, seating about 40. Yellow walls, giant xintra board pictures, white lights, waitresses with caps who greet you as you enter, although they have no clue what goes into the dishes they?re serving, and really delicious food.

Machang reminds me of tamales. It?s sticky rice but it is savory. And it has an odd (in a good way) flavor that I was to learn later, is rice wine. It comes shaped like a pyramid, wrapped in banana leaves and smells wonderful. Similar, although it comes in a bowl is the kiampong. This dish is rice cooked with peanuts. It reminded me more of Indian cuisine because of the addition of nuts.

The viands are simple dishes that come very plain. The rellenong hipon (stuffed shrimp), radish cake and goyong are all deep fried viands that are practically like street food and, as recommended, taste great with ketchup.

More complicated and with larger servings are the fish dishes and the soups. Most interesting is a siomai soup which I gather is the restaurant?s take on bola bola soup. The steamed fish fillet, though, was a little too salty.

When you visit, you will notice that there are men quietly sitting enjoying a bowl of what looks like mami. But upon closer inspection you will learn that this is the house specialty of Makime, a noodle dish with a very sticky sauce easily mistaken for egg drop and topped with pork. What distinguishes this signature dish is the sticky sauce, to be sure. I later learned that it is thickened using gawgaw (starch), and not egg. Delish, nevertheless.

I also appreciate the fact that you can come to this restaurant in slippers or just as you are. Because at the end of the day, whatever part of China your cuisine comes from, and whatever you are wearing, what is important is that your food tastes delicious. ?

Maki Place. Ground floor, 368 Sekai Center, Ortigas Avenue, San Juan (beside the entrance to North Greenhills). Tel. 383-6890. Approx. P200/head. Cash basis. Wheelchair accessible.