It has been a while since I last ate at Susie’s Cuisine—seven years ago, to be exact. The problem lies in its location, most branches being around the Pampanga area. There is, however, a quick and easy way to quench my cravings—apparently Susie’s Cuisine has a branch in Metro Manila. And they have not one, but two—one in Las Piñas and another much closer to our place, Quezon City.
But what’s the fuss about Susie’s? Well, it is one of the go-to restaurants in Pampanga, serving Filipino and Kapampangan delicacies and comfort food since the early seventies. It was at Susie’s Cuisine San Fernando branch where I first tried their dishes and haven’t forgotten about it since.
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| SUSIE’S CUISINE IN TOMAS MORATO |
With that, we immediately trooped to Susie’s Cuisine one Sunday. It is located along Tomas Morato Avenue, near the ABS-CBN compound, in front of Hotel Rembrandt Quezon City. And upon entry, I exclaimed how surprising it was that there’s actually a Susie’s in Manila—to which my wife quickly replied, “We’ve already eaten here before.” Duh. Senior moments.
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| SUSIE’S CUISINE MORATO DINING AREA |
The façade seemed to be undergoing renovations, with some ceiling panels removed and electrical wires hanging about. But inside, the renovation seemed complete—the place looked snazzier and more contemporary than the Susie’s Cuisine in San Fernando; clean white walls, natural wood highlights on the ceiling, full marble counter, and classy wooden chairs.
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| THE SIGNATURE PASALUBONG WALL |
The main counter—where native delicacies like empanadas, okoys, cakes, and popular Susie’s kakanins like tibok-tibok and mochi are displayed—greets guests front and center. Off the right side is their signature pasalubong wall, and on the left, accessed through a couple of steps down, is the main dining hall.
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| CAN’T WAIT FOR SUSIE’S CUISINE’S PALABOK |
I ordered my usual Susie’s favorite, pancit palabok, paired with their okoy paro. My companions asked for their baked macaroni, siomai ala carte and with rice, and pork steak with rice. We wanted to order their famous tibok-tibok kakanin, but it was out of stock.
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| WAITING FOR OUR ORDER AT SUSIE’S CUISINE MORATO |
Serving time was just right and our food arrived within a few minutes—except for the pork steak rice meal which took a while since they said they’d be cooking it from scratch.
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| DELICIOUS PALABOK AT SUSIE’S CUISINE |
The pancit palabok (₱120.00) was still how I remembered it to be—medium thick noodles lathered with a generous amount of palabok sauce, shrimp, sprinkled with chicharon bits, scallions, and topped with a hard-boiled egg. And the taste, still as delicious as ever. For its price, serving size is just about right. Plus, it’s kinda hard to find a good pancit palabok nowadays, as most restaurants in the metro serve pancit Malabon instead.
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| OKOY PAPAYA AT SUSIE’S CUISINE MORATO |
Susie’s Cuisine has two kinds of okoy, okoy papaya (₱50.00) and okoy paro (₱45.00). The former—which I ordered—has papaya mixed with regular-sized shrimp, while the latter uses smaller paro or shrimp without any papaya. I initially asked if the okoy can be refried—since it’s already on the display shelf and I want my okoys really crispy—but they said that for the okoy papaya, they can only reheat it using a microwave. Alright then, microwave it is.
As for the taste, it was okay. I mean, we have really good okoys in my hometown of Malabon, so it might just be me. To be fair, its outer crust is still relatively crispy, with a somewhat mushy insides—probably due to the papaya and its hefty plump size. Still, it was a good side dish to pair with the pancit palabok.
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| BAKED MACARONI AT SUSIE’S CUISINE MORATO |
BG originally wanted Susie’s baked lasagna, which was out of stock, so she settled with their baked macaroni (₱125.00). Which, according to her, was just okay. I also took a bite, and agreed with her very insightful critique.
Kid A’s siomai with rice (₱100.00), on the other hand, was really good. This, of course, is no Binondo-level siomai—I mean, it’s just regular siomai, but for some reason the whole table agreed that it was way above the average street siomai. Plus, their chili garlic was also superbly spicy, so it went really well with that.
The last one to arrive on our table was Susie’s Cuisine’s pork steak (₱180.00). It was quite dry with very hardy meat. It was so hard, my niece was unable to eat it and it ended up on my plate. Which wasn’t really a happy way to finish off our lunch. I’m not sure if their pork steak is all like this or if it’s just an isolated incident, but just to be on the safe side, we’re probably not gonna be ordering one again anytime soon.
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| BEST WAY TO CAP OFF A MEAL WTH SUSIE’S CUISINE’S HALO HALO |
The best way to finish off lunch at Susie’s is with a cold cold glass of their halo-halo special (₱110.00). But it’s been so long since we last ate at Susie’s that we forgot to order that. The photo was from our first visit to Susie’s Cuisine Morato a couple of years back. So, pft.
Susie’s Cuisine Morato MENU CAKES
Pet-Friendly: Yes
Address: Scout Bayoran cor. Tomas Morato, Quezon City, Metro Manila
Contact Number: (0951) 915-6051 | Facebook
Opening Hours: 8:00AM to 7:00PM
