It is funny how I remember the name Shin Ton Yon…They used to have a store at the ultra-80’s Virramall, where the stairs and escalators crisscross in the middle of the building. I used to get their dried beef there, they used to have it in sealed plastic packs, it was a nice alternative to the 80’s snack “Happy Cow” which actually USED to have respectable sized-pieces of beef in each foil pack…That was then…this is now.
Shin Ton Yon is now located the the side of the NEW virramall, behind the store DEC, which cannot be accessed in Virramall itself. It now has 3 main food stations…The heater, the soup & lumpia station and the roast station.
Mig and I have been eating here for snacks-before-mass for about a year now. I seem to find comfort in their filipino-asian prepared food which seems to be prepared in your granny’s house. Nothing fancy in this place, but the food is comfort food. I like the way they make their adobos and asados, I look at their heater and zero-in on the brown stuff, which is usually adobo or asado, OR pata tim! Today I had adobo. Then you order a nice-piping hot cup of rice. Yum!
Aside from the brown stuff, they have a selection of vegetables, steamed fish, tofu, chicken barbeque with java rice, sticky maki soup, fish soup , fried rice, sometimes even guinataan. They also have cold drinkables and desserts like mais con yelo, gulaman, sago and saba con hielo.
One of the things that i like most about Shin Ton Yon is their homemade pickles. Today there was a selection of Spicy Pickled Baby Cucumbers, Atchara, and Pickled Seaweed. I went for the pickled seaweed, but I also really like their cucumbers and atchara (but it has a hefty price of P75 per single serving – – but i assure you, it’s good).
They also have a wonderful chili-garlic sauce, which is really spicy. I mix this in my rice or soup. It has the perfect combination of garlic and chili, with the garlic being minced so it’s elegant and you don’t bite into huge pieces of garlic.
I’ve tried their mami and it is perfect for a rainy or cold day. It is simple — mami, meat, some veggies, and maybe an egg swimming in a light and tasty broth. I haven’t really tried their lumpia since my benchmark is still the Little Store on the Hill in Wilson Street.
Their roasts are pretty famous. I’ve tried the roasted pork knuckle, a pata hamon which is tender and gelatinous. They have other sausages and innards like intestine which are packed in take-out containers for people who want to bring them home.
It’s seldom that you find a canteen like-place that serves comfort food. But if you’re in the mood for nothing fancy, but good & fortifying, shin ton yon might be the place for you.
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