KOON LIN SEAFOOD RESTAURANT (LUCENA CITY)

My husband and I have been married for 10 years now (eew I know) and though we may appear to be complete opposites, we are very similar/connected in MANY ways:

1. Many times we would simultaneously receive texts from each other with almost the same content. This really gives me a thrill because it means that without any prodding or imposing anything, we both thought of each other AT THE SAME TIME and sent a text (enter schoolgirl giggle... hi hi hi hi).
   
2. We oftentimes dress alike and I DON'T mean wearing the same blouse or gown (D-U-H). If you would browse through some of our pictures, usually have the same pattern or color of what the other person is wearing. Often times after I get dressed and see him enter the room, I would always remark "Ginaya mo ako!!!" (You copied me) when he has not seen me yet before changing. Great minds think alike as they always say! :)
   
3. When we are going to Lucena for the weekend, both of us in secret would already be mentally planning where to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, then next day's breakfast and lunch. Then when we get there, it's a relief that both of us were thinking of the same restaurants to pig out in for the weekend.

However for the third weekend of May, 2013, even though both of us were thinking of the "usuals" for our Lucena food trip sessions, we were in a for surprise that his former "boss" aka his mother, was thinking of some other place for us to eat in for our family dinner.

Though we were initially disappointed that we will not be eating at our favorites, our minds changed after we wiped out all the greasy plates of food that my Mama ordered.

And once again we were thinking of the same thing just by looking at each other:

KOON LIN will DEFINITELY be in our foodie mental list every time we're in Lucena!

KOON LIN SEAFOOD RESTAURANT!

The meynuh at KOON LIN!

KOON LIN is located at the 2nd floor of the new Mei Yuk building. I'd like to give you tips on how to properly find this restaurant but you just have to ask around since I have forgotten already (ha ha ha! Epidural effect I guess! :P)

KOON LIN, being a newly opened restaurant, was very cool (literally) and well lit. I am not sure if they have special events here but from the looks of it, you could have an enjoyable birthday celebration here or a cozy reception for your wedding or baptisms!

We appreciated all the extra space in KOON LIN so that the little rugrats could play all they want and not hit a table, chair or diner!

KOON LIN has an open kitchen which thankfully has a working exhaust system so that we did not smell like Chinese food afterwards.

However, I did smell like somebody who was hugged by a Chinese afterwards...

Kidding! Sorry can't help it! Ha ha ha ha!

ROLL CALL!!!!

From l-r, Syoti (Yub's younger brother Enrico, hence the name "Syoti"), Mama (Yub's mother, hence the name "mama"), and... my Chinese stalker!

The newlyweds pretty Ivy, and Yub's other younger brother Allan.

(Jaz - If "Syoti" means second boy in the family, what do they call the third boy then?)

Looking like newlyweds, lovely Hennie and Syoti... 

Yub and our long lost daughter... Kidding! That's Syoti and Hennie's adorable Shobe (younger girl) Hiley!

My husband really has a way with babies and children. That's why I fell in love with him in the first place!

I think i'm coming down with a fever...

The whole crazy gang l-f (Hiley, Yubskers, Masters Mati and Andrei, and little Isha (Hiley's older sis).

I bet you could tell that this little lady is my inaanak!!

You go Isha! You rock that Mr. Pogi pose like Ninang! :)

KOON LIN gave complimentary salty peanuts for us to nibble on while waiting for the food.

Andrei and Isha are the best of "friends" and as birds of the same feather flock together, they immediately owned the peanuts leaving us all "peanut-free". He he he he!

First on the table was KOON LIN's Mixed Seafood Crab Soup (Medium P378.00). Sorry if I was not able to take a picture of this big bowl fit for our party of eleven but that was just how hungry we were. 

To make up for that disappointing pic up there, here is my full bowl of KOON LIN's soup here. He he he! This may not look much because it gives you the impression of just plain nido soup and not "seafood crab" but it still tasted very good. This is also very kid friendly as the little rugrats drained their bowls to the last drop!

Of course, what's ERICJAZ FOODIES without carbs? With that we present to you KOON LIN's Yang Chow Fried Rice (large P398.00). We loved the mild flavors of the meats and shrimps mixed into the rice as it complemented the rich dishes we ordered with it. I noticed that everybody kept refilling their plates with spoonfuls of this Chinese restaurant staple!

KOON LIN'S Steamed Prawn with Garlic (P384.00 for 300g) was a winner for me. The prawns were just plump and perfectly steamed then wonderfully infused with the chopped greens, garlic, then sesame oil.

I was especially grateful that it had some bits of sotanghon because I can't imagine eating at a Chinese restaurant and NOT order noodles ("pansit"). Mama realized this as well and was about to order a platter of their chow mien then I told her that I should diet anyway. Tee hee!

After everybody got their serving of the KOON LIN prawns I spooned over the oils and garlic to my yang chow fried rice for a whole level of delicious!! YUM!

My little greasy heaven!!!

KOON LIN salt and pepper squid (large P438.00) was crunchy and tender to the bite!

I think Mati got about 4 pieces of this KOON LIN dish and ate it happily with his Yang Chow rice.

The kindly servers of KOON LIN noticed that Andrei and Isha kept the first serving of peanuts to themselves that they gave us another small saucer of it. Yohoo!

I was happy until Andrei swiped this one again with a matching "zoink!".

KOON LIN'S Steamed Lapu Lapu with Soy Sauce and Sontanghon (P640.00 500grams)! I found this dish priced reasonably considering how good it was and how it was enough for the whole group. The fish was still all juicy even after steaming while the sauce was not salty or overpowering. 

The "oldies" finished this dish off (and by oldies I meant Mama, Yub, and ME!) and I was just all too happy to suck the bones dry out of this fish... Tee hee!!!

Come to think of it, we kept this KOON LIN fish to ourselves since youngsters don't need to be healthy. Ha ha ha ha!

Of all the dishes in KOON LIN, their Prawn Ball in a hot salad sauce (large P508.00) was the one I was least happy about. I thought it would be like the other prawn balls with hot salad filling which I had in Gloria Maris or Mongkok but this was more like a vegetable spring roll with cream. 

The flavors were good but not what I expected. 

Still, I piled 1 whole piece onto my plate and ate with mucho gusto!

My plate! My wonderful plate at KOON LIN!!!

Let's EAT!!!

Let's eat with flash! Check out Mati who did not want to have his picture taken while eating, while little Andrei just wanted to be naughty and did not want to appear in the picture at all. He wanted to be INVISIBLE.

Nice try Andrei. Attempting to hide behind your whale of a mom!

We loved KOON LIN's mugs... Here's mine with my Mango shake. They had another groovy one for the cucumber shake but I was just not able to take a picture of it. You could see it at the picture of the family above in front of Mama.

Kudos to our KOON LIN servers namely Raven and Lea! They were very attentive, friendly, and served our every whim! I hope we get them again the next time we eat at KOON LIN!!

Overall Mama paid around P3,000 for our meal at KOON LIN. Not bad right since we were a group of eleven! I was not able to take a picture of the receipt because if I asked for it, they might expect me to pay for the dinner. HA HA HA HA! Kidding!

... or am I?

The reason why we were in Lucena was because it was their yearly fiesta. And when we got downstairs, there was a street concert. The cousins danced and pretended they were playing instrments : Andrei "air-drummed" while Isha "air-guitared".

Okay so this is the side to look for in Mei Yuk building in order to get into KOON LIN. I will look at this picture right now so as to have a mental picture of it to help me the next time were there. 

Hopefully that will be soon because I'm not sure how my brain cells could hold another load in it's mother ship. Tee hee!

LET'S EAT!

KOON LIN SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

Mei Yuk Building, M.L. Tagarao

4301 Lucena City, Philippines

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER FOOD TRIPS IN QUEZON PROVINCE!

CAFE ANTIGUA !!! 

GROUND ZERO  !!!

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By the way, here's proof that we tend to wear matching clothes. I swear that this is all by chance and not something we planned!!!! This is just a few of them. We have MORE... much MORE actually!

Black and black for a Sunday TEAM YAP dinner!

Red and white plus red for my birthday in KIMPURA. Although the reason why he's wearing red is because it's tradition in Chinese to celebrate birthdays wearing that color.

Red and light red in Gansu Shabu shabu!

This is my favorite! Matching black, yellow, and a bit of white for our anniversary in Chili's. Based on my fingers this was our 9th year anniversary.

HA HA HA HA!!!