SORRY JOLLI, THERES A NEW KING BEE IN TOWN!

Hail to the King, baby

                   
             Rina And I usually visit my folks in Antipolo on Sunday mornings.. We have lunch there, spend the day with the kids and leave in the afternoon. Having a home in the mountains of Antipolo has both it's pro's and cons. The pro's being the refreshing mountain air devoid of pollution, the picturesque scenery, and the calming peace and quiet. Once you're in the house and plopped down a comfy bed, expect to be knocked out cold within minutes. It's really the perfect place to relax and recharge yourself after a grueling working week. 


                  The cons? Well, It's not exactly far, but it's a little bit isolated. When your there, you feel like you're away from civilization. It's actually really not that far from the city, and there are some malls that are a 20 minute drive away. But you do get the feeling that you're in the province, especially if you're used to working in busy business districts like I am. 

                   Since its along Marcos High Way, I would pass what seemed to be a newly opened restaurant called "King Bee" every time I'd head off to my parent's place.. And I was pretty amazed how it never failed to be jam packed. I asked my brother if he'd ever eaten there, and he re-affirmed it and said "No but it's always full!". So they must be doing something right. 






       
             As I was driving with Rina to Antipolo, my brother called me up to tell me that instead of going to the house I should go straight to King Bee. I couldn't help but downshift and slam on the gas, completely ignoring my wife's screams. 

The force is strong in this one

                     If there's anything I enjoy (apart from Chinese food), is spending time with my family. Rina and I don't have children just yet, but we do have a bunch of nephews and nieces on both sides of the family whom we can't help but spoil every chance we get. One character you definitely have to meet is my nephew Gael  Hernandez. (pictured above) This little boy, with all his heart, believes he's a superhero. Don't believe me? I got proof.  Let's call the photo just below us, "Exhibit A". 

 "Mamee I wan jooz.. I wan jooz Mamee... I wan... I wan.. Pppsshhhhh!!!!!!" 

(yes he does his own sound effects, much to the dismay of everyone within "spitting" distance of him)

           He couldn't reach his mom's Mango Shake, so he tried using his "Web Shooters" to bring it closer to him!  And you know what? he's got practically every member of the Marvel universe memorized.. and he doesn't even know his ABC's yet!  One time I asked him "What's your Name?" and he said, "Iron Man." I laughed and said, "No that's your hero name. What you're REAL name?" I was thinking he was going to say "Tony Stark", but he instead calmly replied, "Iron Man HERNANDEZ".  

            More on Gael and his funny super hero experience later. Let's get on with the food.

       ENTREES

                   Since my family was already there when Rina and I arrived, they took the liberty of ordering for everyone. I knew that would be fine because they know me so well, they knew exactly what to order for me. Listed below are the notable entries of the menu that Rina was able to take pictures of.

Seafood diet.. When I see food, I eat it. That's a new one.

              Seafood lovers would definitely get a kick out of the Seafood Fried Noodles (P200 small, P340 for large) The noodles arrived very crispy, and after a few minutes of stewing in it's thick sauce, it softened up without losing any of its flavor. The noodles had an abundant of squid, shrimp (Both of which I picked of my plate and gave to Rina because I am such a thoughtful husband) and fish fillet. The fish fillet was really tasty making me wish I could have asked them to dump out all the other seafood and just have the noodles and fish fillet instead. Oh and it had veggies too. Blah.

They ordered me Sweet and Sour Pork. What a pleasant surprise! Hehe

                          

               Lemme say it right now. It may not be as popular as other more popular Chinese Restaurants, but King Bee's Sweet & Sour Pork (Small ₱220, Medium ₱330, Large ₱440) can stand toe to toe with any of the finest in the metro. The generous helping of pork was fried to golden brown perfection, and the amount of veggies and pineapples mixed in did not overpower the dish. The sauce was blended masterfully, totally personifying the term, "Sweet and Sour".  I'm telling you, you can't eat just one piece. Or even two. or Three. (You get the drift).
.

Lemon Chicken. Nuff' said

                   In case you hadn't noticed, or in case I hadn't mentioned it before, I'm into sweet tasting food. my entire family knew this, that's why they ordered Sweet and Sour Pork, and Lemon Chicken (Small ₱200.00, Medium ₱300.00, Large ₱400.00) , and knew I'd be fine with either, but I'd be happy with both. I try to avoid ordering those two dishes at the same time (for Rina's Sake), but since it was there already, what could I do, right? I would go out of a limb and say that King Bee's Lemon Chicken is far superior to that of Super Bowl. The Lemon sauce had a light sour taste, but never lost the sweetness of it. It also served as the ultimate coating for the crispy chicken strips. And I love how they include the deep fried chicken skin too! Maybe the could've done away with the lemon slices though. It gave the meat a bit of light bitter taste when laid against it for too long.

                 Other items on the menu, that Yang Chow Fried Rice, and the Pork Siomai were also worth trying, but Rina wasn't able to get any pictures of it. (we were both starving so we forgot)

           Back to Gael: King Bee is one of those restaurants with aquariums in it that displays their fresh fish. When you choose a fish you want, they catch it from the aquarium for you. As expected, those aquarium also serves as some sort of an attraction for the kids. And little Gael was no exception. He was totally mesmerized with the Eel, and seemed to even take a fondness to one of them.

                So you could imagine the look of horror on his face when his new friend was plucked out from right in front his face while he was playing with him.

                

                   "Yaya, wer dey bring him?", Gael asked. "He will cook the eel so it can feed many hungry people", Yaya said. Being the wanna-be Super hero that he is, Gael made sure he got a good look at his new enemy. Gael just couldn't resist and did the Spiderman web shooter "Pppsshhhh" to him!

                  

                  Maybe the Eel wasn't big enough, or they already had one in the kitchen, but the waiter eventually put the Eel back, making Gael believe that he saved his friend's life!

          Gael ran back to the table to tell us about his new super hero exploits!

                        Of course, he had to Baron Munchhausen it up a bit. His version was, he got into a fist fight with the bad man that tried to take away his friend, so the bad man had to put him back. "I go bog bog bog!" is how he described it! (I love my sister's (Left, partially hidden) and my mom's (Right) reaction to Gael's story. They really got into Gael's action sequence re-enactment!)

    

                I asked him to demo of his Spideman pose, and my mom can't help wanting to hear his story all over again!

Super Gael gives King Bee the thumbs up!

 (Check out his other hand, still in spider man pose)

                 At the end of the day, we had a wonderful time at King Bee. The food is rather excellent and the prices are very reasonable, it's no wonder why it's always jam packed during meal hours. I just hope that the Diabolical Waiter learned his lesson about trying to kidnap any of Gael's friends ever again!

                So kids, the moral of the story is, The food of King Bee is awesome, and never mess with Gael Hernandez!