April 30, 2015

D.I.Y. Binondo Walking Food Tour

My work schedule is not normal, anyone who works for a BPO company would attest to that. Although I have weekends off, my Sarurdays are usually spent sleeping and waking up on Saturday nights and ending up doing nothing. So it seems my real days off from work are Sundays and Mondays. So one Monday morning me and some of the doctors from work and other colleagues decided to take a trip to China Town in Binondo Manila. 




It was pre-planned and most of us wanted to avail of the "Binondo Walking Food Tour" by Ivan Dy but find the price kinda steep and the tour schedule wont work for us either. So we decided to do it ourselves minus the "story behind each place". We only went to 3 well known restaurants in Binondo and I am not sure if you can call that a food trip but to reason out, we had limited time (we still have work that night) and limited stomach space. 



Our first stop was Wai Ying in their original branch in Benavidez St. Wai Ying serves authentic Chinese food; popular and frequented by people who are craving for old school Chinese food. They have lots of menu entries but most of us ordered our "defaults". As for me I am a fan of Asado and White Soy Chicken. I didn't have breakfast that morning so I emptied my plate in a jiffy! 
 


I also ordered my Wai Ying favorite: hot salad. One of the doctors ordered raddish cake and it was my first time to try it and I liked it! I also ordered HK milk tea and found it really yummy! Now I have new defaults the next time I'm going to visit Wai Ying.




Our next stop was Dong Bei Dumplings. I've been meaning to try this hole in the wall resto since reading about it in blogs. No one in my group knows where exactly it was so we sought the help of google maps and pedicab drivers until we found it in Yuchengco St. Upon entering you will see staff making the little dumplings from scratch. I wanted to try it but I was too shy to ask because I might disrupt their work.
 


We ordered 2 plates: 1 plate of kuchay dumplings and 1 plate of pork dumplings. Each plate contains 14 pieces, a total of 28 pieces for 5 people might look it wasn't enough but since we were already full from our early lunch at Wai Ying we had a hard time finishing the 2 plates. 
 


I love the kuchay dumplings, the wrapper felt like soft clouds on my mouth, that's the only thing I can think of to describe it. The next time I find myself in Binondo, I will definitely go back to Dong Bei.


 


Our third and last stop, because we can't eat no more and we were already cringe with time, was New Po Heng Lumpia House. This place has been in my food bucket list but never had the chance to visit it until that day. Most of the time I am in Binondo or around that area during weekends and New Po Heng is only open from Mondays to Fridays.
 

The real reason why I wanted to check out New Po Heng is because where it is located. It is on the ground floor of the Uy Su Bin Building in General Luna St which is one of the art deco buildings in Binondo. I'm fond of these type of architectures and unfortunately I was only able to see the ground floor. But it is very evident that the structure is truly an art noveau. 
 


Since it was lunch time the place was packed. No table was available for us to take so we decided to just order take outs. Our orders were prepared by a Fil-Chinese woman who probably is the daughter of the owner, another Fil-Chinese woman, who sits behind the cash register. When I got home I hurriedly opened my take out and ate it even if I am not that hungry. I loved it! It is one of the best fresh lumpia I've tasted in my life which might be because of the authenticity of New Po Heng lumpia's taste that didn't change over the years.
It was a great half-day quick trip to Binondo with my office colleagues and we plan to go back and/or do something like this regularly. There are still many other places to eat in and around Binondo that we were not able to check out but our tummies can only take so much. Well, next time we will come prepared!
Wai Ying Fastfood
810 Benavidez St, Binondo, Manila, Metro Manila
(02) 242 0310
Dong Bei Dumplings
642 Yuchengco St, Binondo, Manila, Metro Manila
(02) 241 8912
New Po Heng Lumpia House
Uy Su Bin Bldg, 531 Quintin Paredes Street, Binondo Manila 
(02) 241 8789
For more information and restaurant reviews, check out their Zomato profile:
 Dong Bei Dumpling Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato 


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