When I arrived in Seattle in November 2010, I noticed there seemed to be a dearth of Filipino restaurants in the area. All the conversations on Yelp, Chowhound and the like seemed to indicate that Filipinos in metro Seattle either cooked at home or went to catered parties, but there were no eateries as such (except for Oriental Mart + Kitchenette in Pike Place Market, which seems to be closed due to construction). But when I found out that Filipino supermarket chain Seafood City had not only opened a branch in south suburban Tukwila, but also brought along the Manila-based chain restaurants Jollibee, Chowking, Tokyo Tokyo and Red Ribbon Bakery.... well, I for one would have to check it out.
After looking at all the available choices, I opted for Chowking. They specialize in Filipino-style Chinese food, with some local specialties as well. Chowking was my usual choice when I was in Manila.
I liked their menu at this location; of particular interest to me is the fact that they serve breakfast all day, and all breakfast orders come with egg, garlic rice and boneless bangus (a native milkfish). After much deliberation, I chose the pork adobo with garlic rice and pancit, and a side of calamansi (native lime) juice.
I actually found the food at this branch of Chowking to be pretty good. They were actually my favorite chain fast food place back in the Phils. The adobo had just the right flavor and texture, with hints of vinegar, soy sauce, and pepper. The pancit was perfect too. The garlic rice was the only thing that was unusual, it was just regular rice with toasted garlic on top, and was sort of dry, but when i mixed the pork with it it took on a new life and got that good slightly oily texture that good garlic rice should have. I almost ordered desert but I was too full. For 50 cents more you can have mango or calamansi juice with your meal instead of soda. I was very satisfied with my choice here.
See more reviews of Chowking at http://www.yelp.com/biz/chowking-tukwila.
See more of my reviews at http://rickv.yelp.com/
