David's Tea House: Salvation in a platter of cold cuts

Our household staff, Analiza, who has been loyal to us for years probably because she has nowhere else to run to, recently graduated from college. Unfortunately, economic circumstances have constrained her folks from gracing this momentous event in the life of the poor lass. This was why she settled on us to stand in for her family and to bear witness to her emancipation into the growing class of unemployed graduates.

Honestly, I hate these affairs. You go through the motions of the usually political monologue of the guest speaker, who would go through absurd extremities to connect her irrelevant homily to graduation, the handing out of certificates to (count ‘em) hundreds of graduates, and, as if those weren’t enough, the valedictory speeches containing dreams and aspirations that are doomed to fail. Fearing this threat, I cruelly condemn my wife and kids to this Calvary, with all apologies to Analiza. Since they were holding this affair at SMX, SM Mall of Asia’s convention center, and since I had a huge backlog of records to work on, I proceeded to the mall with my laptop pc, hoping to find a comfortable corner to serve as my temporary work station.

Lest I fall into another dining misadventure at Mall of Asia, I finally chose David’s Tea House, a joint I should have visited ages ago. I had already sampled their cuisine at their Malate branch a few years ago. I had known that their dimsum was splendid, but I had reservations about their prices, especially as they don’t announce the said prices on screaming tarpaulins as with the other establishments in the area. But I wanted to eat light because I was resolved to treat Analiza with a relatively impressive dinner (cheapskate standards) to celebrate her hard-earned graduation. And I was in the mood for dimsum with abundant amounts of hot tea to accompany me in my work.

The dining nooks at David’s Tea House were perfect for my situation. The tables were more than spacious enough to accommodate my papers, laptop, dimsum and tea. As I had expected, their dimsum was quite expensive at P69 (that’s P70 to you morons) and they charge P15 for their house tea. Calculating that 2 dimsum orders with house tea and a comfortable interim office for a few hours wouldn’t cost me more than P200, this was indeed an agreeable arrangement.

I was elated when I learned that they had shredded ginger sauce! This was one thing that Chinese diners must have, but which most, even in Metro Manila, don’t. Their pork and shrimp siomai was just wonderful with its lingering gingery flavor that sort of freshens one’s palate. The shark’s fin siomai was a bit disappointing, having been a bit salty, but the grated ginger and chili sauce fixed this problem.

Upon receiving the text message that Analiza’s graduation was over, I got the bill and was surprised that it said P113 only. I realized that David’s Tea House had an ongoing promo that offered their dimsum at P49 per order only that time and day. This was still relatively expensive, but the taste and place made up for the price. And there were no hidden charges. E-vat was included. There was no capricious service charge. I was so happy with this development that I decided to hold Analiza’s graduation dinner at this joint.

Analiza, my mum-in-law, my wife, her cousin, my 2 kids, and my househelp – this was my company seated at David’s Tea House that evening. We had sautéed asparagus, steamed fish with garlic sauce, Yang Chow rice, and a platter of cold cuts which contained chicken, roast pork, asado, pig’s ears, century egg and, the best of all, seaweed. Except for the sautéed asparagus, which could only be as good as the asparagus naturally was, all these dishes were simply marvelous! My wife and I particularly loved the cold cuts because of the magnanimous volume of its serving - for this platter we had leftovers enough to see us through lunch the next day!

And they had BEER, priced at P40, which was Mall of Asia beer price standard.

The only thing I regretted at David’s Tea House was that they do not have roast duck, but I believe this is a personal caprice.

The bill

As is my routine, I was already doing some mental computations as to how much I was going to pay for this feast. I came up with the amount of roughly P1200. But when I got the bill, I was charged for only P984, exclusive of the discount that followed in lieu of my mum-in-law’s senior’s citizen card.

Service is fine, too. They hand you the menu and stay away although the waiters’ eyes stay on you while you make your choice. With a wave of the hand or a nod of the head, the waiter is immediately right by your side to take your order. And no service bullshit involved. No superfluous welcome exclamations. No synthetic expressions of gratitude. Just plain business of providing satisfaction for customers who expect just that.

Right now, David’s Tea House replaces Savory Classic Chicken as my favorite restaurant at Mall of Asia. In fact, it has proven to be my salvation in my growing despair with mall cuisine. These two diners provide equally fabulous food, but it must be said that David’s Tea House’s spacious but cozy atmosphere and the availability of ginger sauce and beer, small things easily appreciated, are major factors in my change of preference.

Rejoinder: NOT the chicken and the juice

However, NEVER EVER order their Crispy Fried Chicken. I made this mistake on one subsequent visit and was disappointed to discover how small the chicken was, unworthy of its Php220 price tag per half. It was actually a spring chicken, maybe a broiler less than 40 days old when it was slaughtered, deep fried into infernal blandness. It was made even pitifully smaller by the white chips that they garnished it with. I ordered this chicken because kids loved fried chicken, whatever its form; surprisingly, they hardly touched this fried chicken! Come to think of it, the garnishing chips tasted better. If you want chicken, go to Savory Classic a few meters away.

One more thing: AVOID ordering drinks from David's Tea House, except for the house tea and, of course, the beer. During my last visit, during which visit I called for our usual fare, my sister-in-law ordered juice and iced tea for everybody. When we got the bill, I was surprised to read an almost 40% increase added on my usual tab. Yes, the drinks were the culprit. Thank God, it was the same sister-in-law who got the check!