Another taste of Kong Kee's famous sio pao

The mere mention of Kong Kee Restaurant only brings one thing in mind - sio pao! This iconic food shop along Iloilo City's heritage district had been making delicious sio pao ever since I can remember. Prior to this, my last visit had me indulge in their popular Pancit Sun yat Sen to satisfy my curiosity and of course blog about it. Recently, for my column in The News Today, I found myself walking along JM Basa Street to have another go with one of the most popular sio paos in Iloilo City.

I've been seeing and reading about the recent renovation at Kong Kee that this visit was like hitting two birds with one stone - but that time it was actually eating two sio paos during one visit on top of getting the feel of the new ambiance. And yes I had my share of surprises that time.

The interiors greatly improved though it had still signs and feel of the old restaurant. Colorful and modern accents on the ceiling contrast their typical Chinese fixtures. There's still the signature counter where orders to go or even dine can be made. It's like the fusion of the old and the new, improvements without losing character.

And there's still the good ol' sio pao sauce in plastic containers that come with an order of their sio pao. And I did order both their special pork and chicken sio pao to update my photos as well as my tastebuds on the Kong Kee taste I grew up with.

The pork sio pao was still the same - with delicious chunky pork blended in with some seasoning and spices. But I was surpised it now costs PhP35! The bun wasn't that good that time since it came not as warm as it should have been plus the fact that I spent a few more minutes taking photos of them. But I just inundated it with the special sauce that it became the good ol' sio pao of my taste memories.

The chicken sio pao came in as a surprise as I was expecting shreds of chicken. What I got instead were chunks or slices - that means more chicken to bite with and more flavour to savour. And speaking of flavour, it surprised me that it was very different from the chicken sio paos I have tasted, it was sort of a chicken cooked in some native Ilonggo delicacies like binakol, tinu-om or even just tinola. You can savour the veggies s if you are eating these soupy dishes. I'll definitely check it out again to see if it's really their flavour or my taste buds faltered that time. And more surprises that it now costs PhP36.

But nonetheless, having the sio pao sauce accessible does the trick as I almost finished off the one bottle over my two sio pao orders from Kong Kee Restaurant.

An afternoon well spent to satisfy my curiosity at the same time my hunger for among the most popular sio pao in Iloilo City!

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FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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