Since 1936, Lido Cocina Tsina has been serving delicious Chinese food. From it first branch on the busy street of T. Alonzo, Sta. Cruz, Manila, it’s known today as the home of the famous Chinese Pugon-Roasted Asado.
They recently sent over a few of their favorites from the menu and I got to enjoy a delicious meal with my family. Their bestsellers include Shrimp Foo Yong, Pata Tim, Manchurian Wings, and Pugon-Roasted Asado.
I never had food from Lido Cocina Tsina outside of the restaurant before — my family and I would always dine in. Getting the chance to enjoy the familiar flavors from the comfort of our home was great.
Here are our thoughts on their dishes:
Shrimp Foo Yong
The first thing we opened up was the Shrimp Foo Yong. The familiar salty-sweet smell of oyster sauce was released from the foil packaging and immediately had our mouths watering. The Shrimp Foo Yong had sweet pieces of shrimp throughout the dish, the vegetables were bright and crunchy, and the oyster sauce was nice and light.
Oyster sauce has a tendency to overshadow the other ingredients in a dish, but here, it was balanced perfectly. The mushrooms also added a great meaty flavor to the dish that only mushrooms can.
Pata Tim
I love Pata Tim. The thing about this dish though, is that when it goes wrong, it goes very wrong. Luckily, Lido’s Pata Tim was braised to perfection. It hits the flavor and tenderness out of the park! Plus, the vegetables were still vibrant in the luscious sauce.
The baby corn was sweet and still had a great snap, the mushrooms tasted clean and had a nice crunch to them. The pork was nice and tender — you could easily shred it by pressing down on a chunk of meat. I had never actually ordered this at Lido before, so this is definitely going to be an addition to my regular order.
Manchurian Wings
The Manchurian Wings was probably the dish that excited us the most. We just really like chicken in this house, and chicken wings? You have us in the palm of your hand.
The skin was nice and crunchy, the sauce was sticky, and the chicken meat was juicy. The ginger balanced the — what I assume to be — soy/sugar sauce so well that we kind of contemplated calling the nearest Lido Cocina Tsina so we could have another order of these wings delivered. We did not, but we were very tempted.
Pugon-Roasted Asado
Last but not least was, of course, was the signature Pugon-Roasted Asado. The iconic slices of meat looked so juicy.
But truth be told, this can be a homerun or only a first base hit in my experience. We order it every time we visit a branch of Lido Cocina Tsina, and sometimes it’s just okay, but sometimes it’s really good. I am excited to report that we got a great serving of the pork loin and with the golden sauce we pour over it? Perfection.
It had a great meat-to-fat ratio so there were no dry bites, but not so much fat that it felt like you were chewing on jelly. The spices that coated the meat were absorbed well, so that even without the sauce, you still get a flavorful mouthful. But who are we kidding? Of course you’re going to use the sauce.
I definitely recommend Lido Cocina Tsina to anyone who’s looking for food to bring the family together — it’s familiar and warm like a nice, comforting hug in these trying times.
To share a meal from Lido with the family, you may order via delivery here. For updates, follow them on Facebook.
Still hungry? Check out these delicious online food stores, especially if you love rice meals.
