A Hainanese Delight

Hainanese Delights is a great little place in the Fuente area. It is a restaurant that serves up a very unique cuisine. Hainanese cooking, and especially the Hainanese Chicken is adapted from the Hainan province of Southern China and is now considered the national dish of Singapore. However, varieties of this dish can be found in Malaysia and Indonesia as well.

This restaurant is a nice place, it's quiet, it's clean and it is pretty affordable. I have been here a couple of times now and although not everything is great, most of the items are. It's a great place to buy take-out from and enjoy it at home with a movie. You will get unique flavors, and dishes that you hardly see anywhere else in Cebu and the staff is pleasant as well, which is big plus for me.. So if you are in the area, give it a try. It is not a bad place to eat at.

Now, i am not sure how they cook the chicken. But traditionally, you stuff a chicken, preferably a chicken that is free ranging (they are just better and healthier) you rub it with salt and you stuff it with ginger and spring onions and then you basically poach it in boiling salted water. But now that i remember it, this chicken was steamed. Which is a lot healther. Either way, the result whether it was poached or steamed is that you get a very flavorful, ​​fragrant, juicy and tender chicken. The chicken ​is served together with a hainanese rice.

I don't know how they make the rice, it is most likely not with saffron because that is ridiculously expensive. But in my mind, it is rice that has been cooked together with chicken stock. Most probably the same chicken stock that was used to cook the chicken in. It works very well together with the chicken and any other dish you mix it with.

For the next couple of dishes, the first one is a chapchae, which is not authentically Singaporean and quite honestly, i do not know what it is doing in this restaurant. Chapchae is originally Korean and i love chapchae, but i dont think it should be in this restaurant. In addition, this chapchae is also not the best. It just doesn't have the chapchae flavor, that sesame flavor, that fragrant smell that a chapchae is supposed to have. In this dish, there is some bits of fried pork and i'm pretty sure that it doesn't belong in a traditional chapchae. It just doesn't taste the same.

Lastly, which is definitely a good dish and i enjoyed it very much is a mixed vegetables with fried tofu. Now, i am not really a tofu fan, i can eat it but not too much of it. Frying tofu is probably disasterous to the plenty of nutrients that the tofu packs, but in my honest opinion, i don't really mind! The mixed vegetables are crunchy and tasty and have a really great sauce at the bottom. It is a sweet, and savory sauce. I wish i knew what was in it but i just couldn't figure it out while i was there. I need to ask!

The other nice thing about this place is that they give you a free soup, i think it's a nice gesture but the soup is kind of bland and simple, it it a clear soup with some chopped spring onions. Tastes like hot water with a bit of spring onion flavor, there might be some chicken stock in there as well but if it was a menu item, don't order it. It is not worth it. But since it's free, you might as well try it. If you don't like it then you may set it aside.

Other dishes that i can comment on are the Kutchay and the Laksa. Unfortunately, i do not have any pictures of them. I have eaten here before i decided to blog about food, and at that time i thought it was quite annoying and strange when people were taking pictures of their food the whole time. And now, i do the same thing, sometimes i feel that people are looking at me.... But i do it for all for you lovely people!

The Kutchay, is a deep fried pork dumpling. They are surprisingly tasty! You should try them, they are nice. I couldn't get enough of them. Normally, me and Suzette share equal portions but i always tend to get a bit more from her side of the plate. I'm a big guy! I gotta eat!

The laksa on the other was disappointing. I really love laksa, you can't beat eating laksa in a tucked away hawker place in a Singaporean alleyway, it's just phenomenal. Laksa is coconutty, curryish, with fresh coriander and seafood and good noodles. It's just so comforting! But the one that they have here was not. I wouldn't recommend ordering it. There was a lot of oil floating on top, the soup was a bit bland, it lacked flavor, it didn't taste fresh. I was really disappointed because i can't find a good laksa here in Cebu!

I try to give you guys my honest opinion about a restaurant and it's food and i know i am not a culinary genius but i appreciate good food. There are good things and not so good things about this restaurant but in the end, i would still go here. I would know what to order and what not to order. Like i stated in the beginning, you can bring some of this food with you, watch a movie and you will be satisfied and i really mean that.

Try it out and see for yourself!

The restaurant is located inside the Robinson's Cybergate Mall on the second floor, and you will immediately see it when you go up with the elevator. You can't miss it.

Hours: Mall Hours Monday to Sunday 10:00am - 21:00pm

Price Range: ₱₱