Last weekend, we had dinner at Paradise Dynasty in Podium. We have been ending up at Podium mall a lot recently, and then we just walk over to Megamall if we want to watch a movie. I wish Podium had a nice cinema so we wouldn’t have to cross malls every time.
PARADISE DYNASTY PODIUM
Paradise Dynasty is located at the second floor of the Podium Mall, J. Vargas side, near the escalators. They have another branch at S Maison. The restaurant is bustling!
Ordering is done by using this Order Slip:
Tea is free, thank goodness. I just hate it when Chinese/Japanese restaurants don’t provide house tea for free.
Condiments are provided on the table:
THE FOOD
I’ve been to Paradise Dynasty Podium twice. The first time was a restaurant invitation where I was able to try most of their dishes, and the second time, we went back and ordered the ones that I really liked. Let me share what I think are “must-orders” and my favorite dishes at Paradise Dynasty.
Paradise Dynasty is known for their colorful xiao long baos, and every time we are at Paradise Dynasty, we just can’t help ourselves and ALWAYS order this specialty. One set is P388 (8pcs), and we always order one set per person so every one can have the complete experience.
Each set contains 8 xiao long baos, one of each flavor. There are 8 flavors in all, and they are best eaten in order, from the mildest to the strongest flavor. Don’t worry, you can ask for this guide from the waiter:
This is definitely a “must-order” for us and if can only order one thing, order this! And you know what I noticed? Contrary to what we are usually told, I found that these xiao long baos taste better when they are cool! Since I always have them whenever we’re at Paradise Dynasty, I left them to eat later and ate the other dishes first. So when I finally got to the xiao long baos, they were cold, but surprisingly tasted so much better than when I was eating them hot! When cold, I could better taste all the flavors of the different xiao long baos. When I ate them hot previously, I could taste the different flavors, but the taste was mild. I don’t know if it’s this branch, but when I ate these xiao long baos cold, they were really, really flavorful and each xiao long bao flavor was distinct! Even blindfolded, you’ll be able to tell the different flavors apart.
My second favorite order from Paradise Dynasty is the Charcoal Custard Lava Bun (P188 for 3 pcs). These are soft, black buns filled with salted egg yolk custard. It is as yummy as it sounds 😀 I like that it has a generous amount of filling. The filling oozes out when you bite into it! As you can see, we also got one order per person! 😀
My favorite “ulam” dish was the Kung Pao Chicken (P298). The flavors have depth – it’s thick, sweet, salty, but has a bit of sourness, too. Very savory. I love the cashews, and I like that they also included a lot of chicken pieces. It is spicy but not too spicy. Generally, I wouldn’t consider this hot spicy as in “maanghang”.
I also made sure to order the Crispy-Fried Crystal Prawns with Salted Egg Yolk (P588) – this seemed more delicious during my first visit, but this was still good. Best eaten when hot, and with some rice.
We had Yang Chow Fried Rice (P238) for our rice.
On a previous visit, I was able to try the La Mien with Dan Dan Sauce (P230), and I loved it! Sorry I wasn’t able to take a pic at the time. The sauce is a thick spicy (not really that hot) sesame peanut sauce that was also a bit sweet. It’s similar to a thick kare-kare sauce but with a stronger peanut sesame flavor. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include any meat, so order a meat dish and share the La Mien with Dan Dan Sauce with a friend. It’s very filling and you’ll get full fast if you don’t share it with someone else, and you won’t be able to eat other dishes.
Other dishes that I tried that were good:
- Spicy SzeChuan Crispy Chicken (P298) – the chicken pieces were delicious but there was so much chili! I don’t eat the chilis so it’s a bit of a waste for me, but my companions who eat the chilis say that they are delicious. I really liked the chicken though. It absorbed some of the heat from the chilis but it was not too spicy for me.
- Scrambled Egg White with Fish and Conpoy (P328) – this is meant to taste like crab, and it does give the same effect. The story goes that long ago, an Empress wanted to eat crab. But since there was no crab available, her servants cooked egg white and some fish together and made it seem like it was a crab dish, and the Empress did not realize that it wasn’t crab 🙂
SUMMARY
My recommendations are the Xiao Long Bao 8 Flavors Set, of course. The Charcoal Custard Lava Bun should also not be missed. I loved the Kung Pao Chicken, which I thought was priced very reasonably at P298. For noodles, my favorite is the La Mien with Dan Dan Sauce, but since it has no meat, you might want to order a meat dish and just share the noodles.
The other dishes, especially the Sze Chuan noodles, while unique, were just too spicy for me. I mean, I was able to eat a very small amount, but I don’t think I can eat a whole bowl of it. Some of the pricing at Paradise Dynasty is reasonable (Kung Pao Chicken, 8 Flavors XLB Set), while some can be a bit high (the prawns).
Service is good, our waiter paid attention to us and always checked on us. Food arrived fairly quickly. On our first ever visit at Paradise Dynasty in S Maison / MoA, we had no idea what to order and we didn’t get the best experience we could have had. Now that I know what to order, we were very happy and satisfied with our meal. I have no problem recommending Paradise Dynasty, and I’m so glad we don’t have to go all the way to MoA for Paradise Dynasty anymore!
Paradise Dynasty Podium
Level 2, Podium Mall, Ortigas Center
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paradisedynastyph/
