Mien San Noodle House

Mien San Noodle House has always been a favorite we rarely have the luxury of enjoying. Slightly near Greenhills, this hole-in-the-wall is not very conveniently located for us. Being the lazy driver that I am, I also find it very tedious to park here, since parking is perpendicular for this tight, busy street. Is it worth the hassle? Yes.

Parking here is stressful for me.

We were in the area one Saturday afternoon and decided to take the chance to drop in for a snack. The place is nice and cozy, setting a nice ambiance for a good meal.

Inside Mien San.

Something to look forward to as you sit down is munching on their complimentary fried wanton wrappers. These fried little tidbits of wanton wrapper, sprinkled with sugar are addictive! We wiped it out before our orders came and even asked for more.

Sweet Fried Wanton Wrappers, Free!

It wasn't difficult for us to start ordering, because we have two favorites from this restaurant that we never pass up on having. I spotted Seaweeds in the Cold Cuts part of the menu and hey, I love those! Just 58 pesos for it too, so I went ahead and ordered it. Seaweeds is what some restaurants use to refer to that delectable Chinese appetizer, jellyfish, pictured below.

Jellyfish, what I didn't get. Image from here.

Turns out, Mien San is a restaurant that knows their Chinese food terms. Disappointingly, I got exactly what I ordered. My fault for underestimating Mien San's intelligence.

Seaweeds, P58.00

Faintly reminiscent of Spinach Fettuccine, this tasted like, well, seaweed. I found it interesting enough to eat up (Alvie did not like it at all) but I probably wouldn't order it a second time. On to our favorites!

Beef with Tendon Noodle, P228.00

The soup is great, the meat is tender.. and will you look at the tendon on that! If you are a fan of this particular cut of meat, this bowl is for you! If I were to improve anything about this dish, I'd prefer egg noodles for this soup, though, as I am not a fan of these shanghai-type noodles, texture-wise. Nevertheless, this is still a dish we always order. There is a version of this that has goto, too. I have yet to try it, though. It's quite big, so you can share this by asking for an extra bowl and leave space for our other favorite item (they won't split it for you upon request, so this is the most they will do).

Spicy Wanton, P128.00

This is the star of the show! I am usually a critical person when it comes to food (much to my mom's ire at home), but I can find no fault in this dish. We even had a second order of this when we could have had something else, sacrificing variety for another scrumptious bite. The wantons are good, yes, but what makes this magical is the sauce. It is subtly salty, tantalizingly sweet and mouth-wateringly spicy. It envelopes the dumplings in so much flavor. It makes me want to drink up every drop and lick the bowl clean, but I don't for health reasons. This may seem quite pricey at 128 pesos for six pieces, but deem it to be worth every penny. If I were on a tighter budget, I'd be happy with an order of this and just rice!

Soy Milk, P60.00

We saw the waiter carrying around a tray of these bad boys and ordered one. It was quite good and enough for two. You can customize the sweetness to your taste with the syrup they serve with it.

Verdict:

Seaweeds: This is okay if you are adventurous.

Beef with Tendon Noodle: Definitely worth a try.

Spicy Wanton: Definitely must be ordered. Twice. Every time.

Soy Milk: Good (Joaquin), Great (Alvie)

If you're ever in the area, try and drop by! The next time we do, we're probably going to order the same stuff again. We don't feel like gambling with something new since our visits are few and far between. Let us know if there's anything you suggest!

Love Mien San? Hate it? Let me know what you think about anything by commenting below, and you can always tweet me!

- Joaquin

MIEN SAN NOODLE HOUSE
36 Granada St.
Valencia, Quezon City
(02) 721-5794
Operating Hours: 
Mon-Sat: 10:30 am - 11:30 pm
Sun: 10:00 am - 10:00 pm


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