Yonghe Congee Is a 24-Hour Eatery By a Spa in Makati

Yonghe Congee
804 Arnaiz Avenue, Makati City
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087467731302
Open 24 hours, Monday to Sunday

(SPOT.ph) Metro Manila, in spite of being a 24-hour city, doesn't actually have a lot of 24-hour spaces. There are convenience stores and fast food places, but if you're looking for something more substantial in the wee hours of the morning, perhaps to help stave off a hangover after a night of drinking, you're mostly out of luck.

We need more spaces like Yonghe Congee, a congee bar on Arnaiz Avenue that's connected to a 24-hour spa. Presumably, the congee bar is meant for patrons of the spa after getting their foot massages. But it is open to the public, and it offers up hot bowls of congee and a wide selection of side dishes to load up the bowls with.

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Yonghe Congee in Makati

Walk in and you're greeted by an indoor koi pond. To the left is the spa, and to the right is the restaurant proper, with its lengthy food display case and glass door refrigerators. A bowl of plain congee is sixty pesos, and by itself it is a comforting bowl of food. But it's hard to imagine customers not wanting to load up on side dishes.

One may go as simple as getting a plate of fermented vegetables (P100). Kiam Chai is made up of pickled mustard greens and sometimes cabbage. It is salty, mildly tart, and often made spicy with the addition of chilis. Yonghe's version is bright and savory, with enough heat to make things a little more interesting. This alone would make for a fine bowl, but there are also meatier options for people looking for more substantial fare.

A plate of boneless soy sauce chicken thighs (P150) fits the bill pretty well. The chicken is tender, and it tastes like it was stewed in the slightly sweet sauce. Or one might go for the tofu stuffed with pork (P150), a block of tofu with a whole meatball embedded in it, covered in a sticky brown sauce.

Or, you might just end up with a plate of fried pork belly (P150), with its crisp exterior and fatty interior, sure to ward off the worst effects of your night out at the nearby bars. If one is looking something more exotic, try the Mala duck blood: cakes of coagulated blood swimming in a spicy oil with Szechuan peppercorns, chili, and wood ear mushrooms.

Inside the refrigerators, there are cans of soda, small plates of pickles, a pile of salted eggs, and whole coconuts ready for a straw to be inserted. Yonghe probably wasn't designed to cater to drunken revelers looking for a recovery meal, but given what they're serving, it fits the bill anyway. And if the food isn't enough to sober you up before the trip back home, there just happens to be a spa right next to it. Maybe avail of their services, get a sweat on in the sauna, and travel home feeling more rested and satisfied than one might expect after a night of bar hopping.

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