Most of the time it's just a sio pao take out when I visit Kong Kee restaurant. But today it was different; brought about by my frustrating pancit Molo quest, I decided to have a snack in this old school Chinese restaurant (which I think I haven't done ever since)
In fact, I didn't know that one can just sit down and order from the waiters, I found myself making a "pay as your order" thing. If it wasn't for their pancit Molo, it would just have been an inquiry visit. Though expensive at a PhP 58 per bowl, it didn't matter since my blog awaits this experience.
While waiting for my order I sort of took some semi-stolen shots of the restaurant though my position was very awkward since I had my back to the subjects of my photo.
Kong Kee still is a popular Chinese restaurant as I have observed numerous orders mainly of various pancit and sio pao. With an old school type of running a family business, family members and helpers work hand in hand, in and around the restaurant. Their ambiance is very antiquated from their mirrored walls to their plastic covered mantel laden tables to their monoblock chairs, but still I felt good being there despite these.
Maybe being located in the heritage district of the city and seeing familiar establishments located in old buildings combined with the hustle and bustle of "Calle Real" brought nostalgia or maybe it was just frustration combined with hunger.
When my pancit Molo arrived, I could actually smell the flour or starch that have been used in the wrapper and eventually tasted the same. I then realized that eating at Kong Kee without any sio pao is juts like eating at Ted's without ordering La Paz batchoy so I quickly ordered pork sio pao.
Their pancit Molo also had lang-lang and no chicken strips. It was nothing spectacular and just ordinary for my taste but Kong Kee probably had the best looking pancit Molo balls among all the restaurants I've been; that is to be expected since they are a Chinese restaurant.
My unplanned visit to Kong Kee was just ordinary, but I hope I can visit it soon for a much better order (and photos hopefully). What is considered to be one of the city's best traditional Chinese restaurant deserves more than this post.