Delivery Snippets: White Flower Tea House x Milky Way + Cirkulo x The Pad by Samyan

WHITE FLOWER TEA HOUSE

When I first heard of White Flower Tea House, I was dead set on getting two things: its Lechon Macau and the Bottled Pei Pa Koa Honey Tea (P120). I opted for the Charsiu and Lechon Macau combination over Dry Noodles (P295) and carted out my order via The Grid’s delivery website.

CHARSIU OVER DRY NOODLES and BOTTLED BLACK GULAMAN

Unfortunately, the restaurant messed up both my orders. The two things I really wanted to try were the ones they failed to deliver: my noodles only came topped with Charsiu; while they swapped my Pei Pa Koa Honey Tea for Black Gulaman.

I didn’t request for a refund but I immediately provided feedback through their customer support. To be honest, I was expecting them to credit me with some rewards points that I can use in their delivery website for the trouble; but I came back empty-handed. To be fair, my lunch tasted fine – but I guess it felt a bit lackluster than what could have been if they got my orders right. Don’t get me wrong – the noodles were generously tossed in a sweet soy glaze and had the perfect bounce to them; while the charsiu pieces were well-marinated, tender and boasted of a nice char. However, it wasn’t much of a departure from the roasted meats I can conveniently get within minutes from the office – Kam’s Roast, Tai Koo, Wu’s Kitchen and the like.

I still do want to try its Lechon Macau and Pei Pa Koa Honey Tea; but somehow, their less-than-stellar customer service is definitely not making me excited to do so.

White Flower Tea House

Date of Delivery: June 15, 2021 via https://thegridfoodmarket.com/; also available via Grabfood

MILKY WAY + CIRKULO

My dad’s been craving for some cochinillo; however, it was difficult to find a restaurant which serves half servings (as we were just a family of 5)! Since cochinillo isn’t cheap, we also didn’t feel very experimental when it came to trying out lesser established brands so we limited considerations to more known concepts.

We initially planned getting a Spanish themed spread + cochinillo from Alba, but it took forever for them to confirm with us that we ended up ordering from tried and tested Cirkulo. As it’s housed inside the Milky Way Building, we decided to cross-order some classic favorites from Milky Way to complete our father's day spread.

CIRKULO’S COCHINILLO ASADO (P5975), MILKY WAY’S CRISPY HITO (P695), ADOBONG PUSIT (P495) and HALO HALO (P225)

Instead of opting for delivery service, we figured that the volume of transactions for Father’s Day can get pretty crazy and result in delays in delivery. As we ordered precious delicate cargo – the cochinillo – my siblings and I decided to pick up our feast ourselves.

I loved how the Milky Way Building utilized its basement parking as an efficient take-out station for all its concepts that ensured social distancing.

The trip home still took around 40 minutes despite the supposed lighter Sunday pandemic traffic; but the cochinillo still boasted of a divinely crisp skin and juicy meat that was extremely flavorful on its own. No additional sarsa needed here! Both the Crispy Hito and Adobong Pusit delivered on taste and nostalgia…but admittedly, we were a bit disappointed with the small serving sizes despite a relatively hefty price tag on both.

I actually wanted to try out Milky Way’s Halo-Halo Kit, but no one else from the family was in the mood for Halo Halo so I settled for a solo serving of its beloved Halo-Halo. I had no regrets (despite taking on the additional calories) as it’s definitely still one of the best halo-halo you can get in the Metro!

Milky Way + Cirkulo

Date of Delivery: June 20, 2021 via http://cafe.milkywayrestaurant.com/

The Pad by Samyan

When it comes to Pad Thai, I’ve already identified three concepts which I absolutely adore; each with varying price points that can match whatever budget I can shell out when the pad thai cravings hit me. There’s the affordable (and conveniently near) Boa Kitchen, the mid-range savory version from Flowerboy (that I can only get if dining in the office, as it’ll probably won’t age well when delivered to my house), and the exquisite Mango Tree if I'm on a splurge mood!

CHICKEN PAD THAI (P320)

Despite having locked down my go-to favorites, I couldn’t help but be curious about The Pad by Samyan’s pad thai selection. First, it rides on the prestige of being associated with the awarded Samyan restaurant (which I’ve been wanting to try but is unfortunately on hiatus), it has a pad thai-centric menu, and I caught a glimpse of the gloriously golden chicken skin that covered pretty much half of its chicken pad thai bowl in a Spot.ph article that I simply couldn’t get off my mind!

The result? I arranged it immediately for an office lunch. Its price point, ingredient quality and taste profile matches that of Flowerboy’s (interestingly, both are stalls at The Grid); but the chicken skin that initially drew me in, didn’t really do much for the dish. Sure, it was a welcome addition; but it’s not enough of a game-changer that I’d start looking for crisp chicken skin to pair with my future pad thai orders.

The Pad by Samyan

Date of Delivery: June 30, 2021 via https://thegridfoodmarket.com; also available on Grabfood