i was out with my boss to attend few meetings along south of metro manila and after the first one we decided for a lunch. i often see king bee whenever i visited one of our client located around paseo outlets, a greenfield group-owned site. anyways king bee was a surprise for me. reminiscent of the chinese restaurants i tried in binondo manila i was curious how a similar restaurant ended up somewhere in sta. rosa, but i digress. important thing is i really loved the food. we only ordered five variants in their menu: salted egg prawns, bird's nest soup, cold cut plate, salt and pepper pork and a bowl of yang-chow rice.
loved all of them, but i was baffled by the method they did for the salted egg prawns, i mean why batter it with the salted egg mixture with the shell on? even if the salted egg mixture seeped into the prawn it's kind of a waste for removing the shell just to bite the plump flesh of the prawn. i mean this is the case for my boss, who isn't fond of the shell and would do best to have them removed. for my case however it's hilariously different. call me weird, but since the dish wash cooked into crisp, i didn't bother removing the shell, so eating it was like munching a camaron rebosado (a type of deep fried shrimp dish with the shell removed and cooked to almost crispy goodness, it's like you're biting a good'l prawn cracker junk food except there's still a little plump, fleshy part of the shrimp left). the salt and pepper pork was just right. the vinegar alongside makes it not so overwhelming given most chinese dishes are oily-fried. the bird's nest soup was fine. i kind of regret though that i failed to finish one cup since it gone cold. the cold cut plate was just right. we ordered the small one, but all the right cold cuts you'll normally encounter in a chinese menu is there, or that's what i think i can recognize (as long as there's a century egg that's it, lol!). what surprised me the most was the yangchowrice. i mean there's a hell lot of restaurant boasting yangchowrice but most of them are just downright oily and saturating to my taste. this one is not. it had the right mix and texture. i specifically love the amount of egg incorporated in it.
my only qualm was the ambiance. it's not that too bad, but the spacing seems quite crowded. there's little room for you to pass through tables without moving carefully. the waiters are welcoming and i have to give a point for the security guards for being welcoming, and some went into trouble escorting you with huge umbrella, shading you from the scorching sun. talk about hospitality. anyway, i would certainly recommend king bee to anyone. it's pretty good stop for a work-field trip or just a simple, casual voyage with friends and family.