Phoenix Court at The Bellevue Hotel, Alabang

My Mom frequents the South quite often. Aside from having to attend to the demands of her career, she loves hanging out with Auntie S whom she considers to be one of her dearest friends. A few years back, she came home to tell us about this really good Chinese restaurant that Auntie S has been telling her about. I guess it was really good that Auntie S proudly declared that it was the best in her side of town. The name is Phoenix Court. Quite posh sounding, don't you think?

We rarely get to venture to Alabang as whenever we do get to go to the South, we just would head straight to Tagaytay. Thus, I was so excited upon receiving a dinner invite from my dear friend Jane during our overnight stay at The Bellevue Hotel last month. What a star-studded dinner it was as Paul and I were surrounded by our favorite fellow food bloggers! There's Anton and Rach, Richie and Rina, Ro and Peter, Sumi and Jerwin, Didi, new found friends Joy and Edric and of course, our gracious hosts Jane and the lovely Go family. Definitely a great way to celebrate the holiday season, don't you agree?

As with any celebrations, Phoenix Court has prepared a feast for us. Let me share what we had that evening with you:

All rise for the Peking Duck! I tell you, every pair of eyes lit up the moment this shiny roasted duck as wheeled out of the kitchen. Look at how plump it was!

We got even more excited when our skilled server began skinning the duck. This is definitely everyone's cue to throw the word "d-i-e-t" out of the window as we were all excited to bite into a piece of crunchy, fatty skin. It's the holiday season after all.



Look at the masterpiece. Isn't it such a beauty? It was such a joy to just pick up a piece of peking duck "roll" as the server has neatly wrapped it all for us in small flour wrappers with spring onions, cucumber and hoisin sauce.

To warm our tummies, we had the Braised Pumpkin Soup with Seafood. I really enjoyed this creamy soup as I loved biting into the tiny pieces of shrimp, mushroom, tofu and crabmeat. The pumpkin contributed to the sweet note which, I'm pretty sure, even the young ones will love.

Normally, when dining at lauriats, we would have the Steamed Lapu Lapu with Soya Sauce at the end of the meal. I think there's a symbolic reason why but I personally would prefer that it be served when I'm not overly full yet. I really love fresh steamed fish and would have this weird habit of getting both sides of the cheeks too. The soya sauce was quite light and not very salty at all. We love drizzling a generous amount on to the fish for added flavor.

Remember the Peking Duck? What I love about it is there are two to three ways to enjoy the duck. First was to enjoy the skin wrapped in flour tortilla, next is to have the Minced Duck Meat and wrapped in Fresh Lettuce. For some, the third is normally to use the duck bones as soup stock. Going back to the Duck Lettuce Wrap, this is really one of my all-time favorites and I'm lucky because Kongkong can prepare this perfectly at home. We would have one with pork instead though which we call "hin din tsum mua" in Hokkien. I love the fried bihon noodles that is actually used as an added decor to the dish but I don't waste food so I would wrap a spoonful of duck meat and some crunchy bihon noodles inside a fresh lettuce cup. Don't forget to drizzle some hoisin sauce before taking a bite.

Moving on, we had the Two Variety of Prawns -- Sauteed and Crispy. I love the Sauteed Shrimps with Celery! The shrimps were very crisp which complemented the celery perfectly. I wasn't able to try the crispy shrimps but it looks like a typical camaron rebosado to me.

For the beef lovers on the table, they were probably delighted with our next dish -- the Quick-Fried Beef Tenderloin with Black Pepper. This is one dish that will surely make you ask for more rice. We all loved the tender beef strips.

The next dish was the Stuffed Crispy Chicken with Sweet and Sour Sauce. I wasn't able to try this as I was told that was stuffed chicken with shrimp filling. I'm not a fan of chicken skin so I happily gave my share to my tablemates.

I also skipped the Homemade Bean Curd with Crabmeat Sauce as I've been staying away from bean curds and soy for years now. Such a picky eater, I'm starting to be eh? (*ahem* Pickiest Eater in the World! *ahem*)

Lastly, we had some E-Fu Noodles with Seafood. I really love Chinese noodles more so when it's loaded with the freshest seafood too. This one was really good and I wish to be able to enjoy this on my birthday for a longer, yummier life!

Of course, we ended our meal with some dessert. We had a plate of Sesame Balls (Buchi) and some Chilled Coconut Pudding which was surprisingly very good. Sadly, I failed to take a photo as I excitedly inhaled my bowl of Coconut Pudding. Oops! Please take my word for it. It was really refreshing and delicious.

What a fun dinner catching up with my fellow bloggers. I'm really touched and honored to be part of this get-together. Thank you so much Jane for your generosity. My holiday vacation was definitely made even more memorable with these fun two days stay at The Bellevue Hotel and our delicious dinner at Phoenix Court. ♥

To borrow the words of Gen Douglas MacArthur...Phoenix Court, I shall return.

Phoenix Court is located at the 2nd level, Tower Wing of The Bellevue Hotel. The hotel is located at North Bridgeway, Filinvest City, Alabang in Muntinlupa.