My parents are currently rejoicing that I’m actually home on a Saturday night. This is just one of those fortunate moments that no one is going out on a Saturday night, and to celebrate that, we ordered some takeout for dinner. I’ve heard so much about Suzhou Dimsum, and to add, Patty has been raving about their Xiao Long Pao and Spicy Tito, so I dialled the number and started ordering stuff for the family.

When my folks came home , my sister and I started preparing for dinner, and to our surprise, the servings of the food we ordered were actually huge! We excitedly prepared the dinner table to eat dinner as soon as possible. Heck, I didn’t have time to take pictures of the food that we ate because of our excitement!

To review each of the food we ordered, well,

Xiao Long Pao - To explain what Xiao Long Pao is, well, it’s bigger than the normal dimsum or dumpling, shaped like a siopao, but has dimsum fillings inside, with some soup stock. The best sauce for this is black vinegar. One order of this costs 70 pesos for 4 pcs. Not bad, considering they’re very big pieces. While I haven’t tasted anything that could beat the Xiao Long Pao’s I have eaten in Shanghai ( of course, it’s the dimsum wonderland! ), this is just alright. It tasted sort of generic - I have tasted Causeway Bay’s Xiao Long Pao and they tasted the same. My mom even bought home frozen Xiao Long Paos ( 8 pcs. for 100 bucks ), and I think they would taste the same, too. I love the sauce that came with it, which is actually black vinegar with thin strips of ginger. Even if I considered it generic, it tasted good!

Hot and Sour Soup - In Chinese Cuisine, Hot and Soup is actually my favorite that I would order it in any Chinese resto that I would eat in. Suzhou Dimsum’s Hot and Sour Soup was actually unique in terms of taste. I loved what they have included in it - the silky soft tofu, tenga ng daga ( don’t take this literally! ), and some seaweeds. Surprisingly, it wasn’t sour at all. It was spicy to start with. I added some black vinegar in it to suit my taste, since I loved anything hot and sour ( duh! haha ! )

Fried Noodles with Beef - I actually could not remember how it was called , but it was noodles, sauteed with beef. It sort of tasted like they sauteed it with curry , hence, the yellowish color. It had scrambled eggs, and beef, and it tasted great!

Seafood Hotpot - I was surprised with the big, generous servings of this dish. Two HUGE soft tofu’s with seafood such as fish fillet and squid. This is actually one of my tummy fillers. This is a must-order for any family in seek of a great dish for anyone ( from dad to small children! Haha! )

Spicy Tito - Now, this is one GREAT find in Suzhou, perhaps , it can be considered their specialty. Thin strips of tito sauteed with also thin strips of bell peppers, in some spicy oil. The serving is insane, and let me tell you that it can feed five people! The taste is incredibly spicy, that I kept on refilling my glass with cold water. I told my dad that this is the perfect pulutan food, and he agrees!

Overall, we didn’t spend much. Our bill was below a thousand pesos and it fed 8 people! That’s crazy! I didn’t expect that big servings, and was actually thawing some sukiyaki beef from the fridge just in case I get disappointed when the food arrives - but in the middle of dinner, everyone kept asking for more rice, and by the end of dinnertime, everyone was passing the food to each other, looking at who’s gonna finish it, for our tummies were all about to explode from being full.

Now, will I ever get a chance to diet in this lifetime? I just couldn’t find a way, given the great food available in this world! Life is short!

To contact Suzhou Dimsum, the number for their Retiro, QC branch is 7842216 ( they only accommodate pickups and walk-ins ), and San Juan Branch is Tel. 744-3846 ( they deliver! They’re located at the Promenade Foodcourt at the Ground Floor ).