Boon Tong Kee

Cagdas Sen

3.0

When mucking around the Mall of Asia, give Boon Tong Kee a go - it's a culinary trip to Singapore without the expensive airfare. Don't forget uncle Thian's Signature Boiled Chicken, lah!With Singaporean food slowly finding its way to Philippine shores, I can relish in as many fond memories as I want, with imports like my newly discovered Boon Tong Kee serving my favorite Boiled Chicken and Cereal Prawns. Now that's damn shiok!The story goes in 1979, Mr. Thian Boon Hua started a small stall in Chinatown serving Cantonese chicken rice. Building upon the popularity of his silky white chicken rice, uncle Thian and his family established Boon Tong Kee along Balestier Road in 1983. My parents hadn't even thought about having me then.I ordered a lot for five people, but we still managed to lick most of the plates clean, plus a few extra orders of Chicken Rice.We started dinner with an order of Prawn Toast, each bite chock full of fresh prawns with a little bit of what I taste is mayonnaise that's been colored green and a teensy bit of fish roe for contrasting color. There's definitely no skimping on ingredients here. I had two of these delicious babies - we were off to a great start!The Fried Sambal Kang Kong provided us with the much needed vegetable component in our protein-heavy dinner. Braised and then mixed in spicy sambal sauce, it has just the right amount of heat to complement the rest of the dishes without taking away from their individual flavor profiles. This gave everything I paired it with some much needed spice, as it is after all, an important component to Singaporean cuisine.The Fried Spare Ribs with Zhen Jiang Sauce was both sweet and spicy, but not overwhelmingly so. I was also surprised at how generous the serving was - there was so much! I would get as much meat as I could off it with my spoon and then give the bones to the dogs. They quite enjoyed their spare ribs dinner since they definitely weren't getting scraps! The golden mantao on the side was over-fried and a bit of a let down.The Signature Boiled Chicken was a hit at the table. But then again, why wouldn't it be? It's a Singaporean staple. The quarter that we ordered was good for two people (if that is all you're having), the silky white chicken breast boiled in a rich stock and dipped in a mix of ginger, chili, and dark soy.We had an order of Boon Tong Kee's large Crispy Cereal Prawns. Not only was it a large serving, the prawns were massive! They should rename this dish to Massive Cereal Prawns instead. I was over the moon with joy - so many giant, juicy prawns! Jericho's mom found the cereal breading to be too salty, but this was fine for me. Is was less salty than the Coffee Pork Ribs.For dessert, I really wanted to try their Green Tea Creme Caramel for dessert, but they were out. I settled for the Choco Almond Jelly instead. Hey, if I can't get my green tea fix, at least there's a chocolate alternative - and that's all good in my book. It was alright, but nothing special. The almond jelly slid down my throat leaving the mild taste of almond essence in it's wake, with the pistachios and sesame seeds giving the silky dessert some crunch and the chocolate leaving me on a happy high.

David Sindhu

3.0

Having just come from a magic show at the arena, i wondered if my lunch would be just as magical. Boon Tong Kee is at the far end of the second level restaurant row fronting the bay. Diners may eat inside or outdoors to enjoy the breeze and the view. It has an onsite restroom. It was not my intention to go there. I was just looking for a restaurant with serving sizes good for one and a quiet, not too crowded and safe environment. What attracted me to Boon Tong Kee was a poster announcing the newest additions to their menu, personal sets. The sets are not really of new dishes but rather smaller servings of Boon Tong Kee favorites over rice plus soup and iced tea. I ordered the Signature Boiled Chicken set. First to be served was the egg drop soup. It was steaming hot with generous egg portions. It tasted very good although I found it a little salty for my taste. Pickled vegetables was also served. These too were flavorful and crunchy. The boiled chicken was served on a bed of Hainanese rice. The chicken was soft and juicy. The Hainanese rice was perfect. It was not too wet or sticky. Iced tea was good.What I loved about my meal is that it was very good yet very affordable. For PHP138, I got appetizer, soup, chicken and rice plus iced tea. Magic indeed.

Mytasteoffood

4.0

Fried Beef Fillet w/Black Pepper, Crispy Cereal Prawn, Salt & Pepper Squid (request lang)

Happy And Busy Travels

4.0

Boon Tong Kee is another Cantonese chicken rice shop that specializes and known for its Hainanese Chicken. It's actually similar to Wee Nam Kee as both were franchised brands. The Hainanese Chicken is comparable to the latter. We ordered the Hainanese Chicken and other Cantonese/Chinese dishes such as Sweet and Sour Pork, Braised Tofu with Seafood and Pork in Claypot, Spinach with century egg and Coffee Pork Ribs. Food was good. And since we used voucher deals, great savings as well. Service was okay.

Michele Josephine Alonzo

4.0

We had some of their popular dishes sometime last year at a discounted price courtesy of online discount vouchers.Signature Boiled ChickenAlso alternatively known as Hainanese Chicken, it is the simplicity, natural flavor of the meat, and the mixture of the condiments that characterizes this dish. This is a good choice for the health conscious.Crispy Cereal PrawnsThis is not the usual breading you get in tempura nor furai. As the name suggests, it is made out of some cereal. Floss also covered the prawns. The breading is flavorful, a bit salty to match the big prawn meat. It was indeed crispy.Crispy Roast ChickenAnother chicken dish, this time roasted. The skin was browned and the meat is also quite simple in taste.Braised Yi Mian with PrawnsNoodles and prawns. Not exactly a soup nor pancit but more like saucy noodles topped with halved prawns.more food adventures at:

Anika Lima

3.0

Being a fan of chinese cuisine, the food is like your usual chinese taste. It was quite pricey coz' my family just compared its taste with HapChan's. But they have great service and cozy place. They also offer, refillable oolong hot tea and unli- house soup. Their place is kinda small, most of their large group tables are outside. They have pork buns like TimHoWan's but it didn't satisfy our taste for pork buns. We've ordered half roast chicken, yang chow rice, some dimsums and their sweet and sour fish fillet. Btw, my family loved their fish fillet and dimsums..

Sonia Nih

3.0

We went here a few weeks back. My wife was craving for Chinese food at that time so we saw this restaurant. First thing we saw outside was they were offering pork buns. This is a restaurant with a mixture of Chinese/Singaporean/Cantonese (reminds me of Wee Nam Kee)The place looks cozy but maybe needs better spacing with all the stuffs inside, Asian ambiance was there, the place was clean, and not too crowded, but the downside for me was it was kinda hot inside. They were using 2 fans, I think their AC was broken at that time.Now for the food, we ordered the following: * Baked pork buns (P30/pc but a minimum of 3 orders)* Hakaw* Quarter signature boiled chicken* Chicken rice* Crispy cereal prawns regularThe pork buns were literally disappointing. I only wanted to try 1 piece of pork bun but we were informed that it was a minimum of 3 per order. Okay fine no problem because I was craving for pork buns we ordered 3. The buns looked good from the outside but then came, it was warm not freshly cooked, burnt so bad I had to take a photo & was 70% air. So this one is a BIG NO!Now comes the hakaw, kinda weird looking thing with the shell still intact. This is the first time I saw a Hakaw with a shell...but fine maybe it's a Cantonese/Singaporean Hakaw. But hey I'll give them this one as the taste was quite good. Okay so for the main dish we had their signature dish the boiled chicken which I really liked and I matched it with the chicken rice and the Crispy cereal prawns (reminds me of Singapore). For me these 3 dishes is a MUST TRY! The prawns were huge :)

Melissa Denman

4.0

Although this Boon Tong Kee branch is designed with minimal embellishments and isn’t much of a looker, it takes its food dead seriously — presentation-wise and taste-wise. The menu is patterned after the River Valley Road branch in Singapore.The Crispy Cereal Prawn (PHp 375, Regular) was the star of the night, leaving me struggling to find suitable adjectives to describe its merit. I thought it was perfect, with lovely fragrant morsels of cereals mixed with pork floss or mahu (肉鬆) that burst into flavorful bites complementing the taste of the freshly cooked big prawns.On the other hand, the Sambal Rice (PHp 225) was outstanding as it had just the right balance of heat and spice. It was topped with shrimps, peanuts, vegetables and sambal sauce. Warm and very authentic, it’s one diners should not overlook on the menu when dining at Boon Tong Kee.As for service, the server greeted us with a smile and maintained his graciousness till we left. The food was served in 15 minutes as promised and at perfect temperature. To conclude, service was quite remarkable here! :)It was an awesome evening of deliciousness that made us feel sated for the night. The portion of the dishes was enough for two or three people to share. I thought the prices were passable and proportionate to the quality received in the food served. So I’m excited to dine in here again; and next time, I gotta try the Baked Prawn with Cheese (PHp 395) and Yam Donut with Typical Seafood (PHp 345). :DFor more info, please visit: http://rochkirstin.com/review-boon-tong-kee-sm-mall-asia-pasay/

Lexter Yap

3.0

I think it was around 2012 when Boon Tong Kee opened its branch in Mall of Asia. During that time, there used to be a fad for Hainanese chicken. Boon Tong Kee is actually a Singapore restaurant chain. Their specialty of course is the popular Hainanese chicken which comes with three choices of sauce. Of course I prefer the ginger sauce. Aside from the chicken, we also orderd yang chow fried rice, coffee pork ribs and fried bean with scallops. The dishes were okay. You can check out this place when you happen to drop by Mall of Asia if you're craving for Hainanese chicken.

Linda Stevens

3.0

I tried to order roasted duck and a fresh mango shake, only to discover neither of these were available. I had to order something else, and that food was really good. But if you don't have something available on the menu, then either take it off or at least have the decency to indicate its unavailability. The ac vents from the ceiling also leak on the seats at two spots and the washroom was "out of order".