Today was my last day in Manila and I ended my time in the Philippines with a food tour of Chinatown aka Binondo. Now Manila’s Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in the world established in 1594 by the Spanish near the walled city of Intramuros, but across the Pasig River. The site was constructed so that the Spanish could keep an eye on the Chinese, but it became the center of Chinese Filipino trade and commerce. And of course, wherever there is a Chinatown, fabulous Chinese cuisine will follow.
Nel, my tour guide for my Filipino food tour on Sunday, was my tour guide today and I was thrilled to see her again. Anyway, we started out the food tour at the Binondo Church. From here, we walked across the street and down an alley filled with Chinese shops and produce stands. We stopped at Puo Hing Lumpia to try, what else, the lumpia. The lumpia was sort of like a tortilla wrap filled with cabbage, carrots, tofu, minced meat and drizzled with brown sugar and seaweed (yes you read that right). It was in a word, awful. I told Nel I gave it a 5 out of 10, but I was being kind. It was more like a 1 out of 10. Yuck. At this point, I was hoping the food would get better and fortunately it did.
We then walked to the end of the alley and around a corner and down the street to Dong Bei Dumpling where a long line told me this was the place to be. Nel picked up some pork and Chinese parsley dumplings (one order in spicy sauce and one without) and the dumplings turned out to be absolutely outstanding. Just the right amount of spice and a wonderful combination of the parsley and pork. Perfection. I gave the dumplings and 11 out of 10 (and they turned out to be my favourite of the day).
Now next door was a shop named Ho-Land (love the name) where they specialize in Chinese empanadas. Nel picked up a pork and Chinese parsley empanada. I took one bite and quickly ate the whole thing. A bit spicy but really great flavour and no sweet dough like the empanada I had yesterday in Taal Heritage Town.
So from here, we walked down the street passing a number of religious shrines, including a Buddhist shrine and a couple Catholic shrines complete with Buddhist overtones, before we reaching the official gates to Chinatown.
Once we passed through the gates, Nel stopped at Wai Ying, where she made a reservation for us to eat some dim sum in about a half hour.
From here, we walked down the street, took a left past more Chinese produce stands and shops and crowds of people now filling the streets before turning onto another street to reach MaSuki, a restaurant specializing in chicken mami, a chicken broth soup filled with thick noodles, which the founder of the restaurant began selling out of a cart in 1918.
When the soup was served, I immediately knew this was going to be near the bottom of the foods I tried today. The broth was actually quite delicious, but the noodles were made of wheat flour and had a distinctive funky taste. I wouldn’t call it ick, but definitely nothing better than a 5 out of 10 since the taste of the noodles really hindered my ability to eat much of the soup. (I will say, however, that the oolong tea was spectacular.)
Nel and I then reversed course and headed back to Wai Ying, a two story restaurant with a line of people waiting to enter stretching down the block. Fortunately, with the reservation Nel made, we walked right in, up the stairs and sat down. After a short wait, I was brought har gow (shrimp dumplings) and shrimp and pork wrapped in bean curd. Now the har gow was terrific, but the shrimp and pork wrapped in bean curd was lights out. Not at all spicy, but there was a really distinct flavour to the mixture making the bean curd wrap incredibly tasty. I ate all three of the bean curd wraps and three of the four har gow. Yikes. (The bean curd wrap was a 10 out of 10 and the har gown was 9 out of 10.)
And for good measure, Nel produced butter flavoured Chinese fortune cookies. These cookies tasted a bit like shortbread only crunchy … they were YUM!
For our final stop of the day, we Eng Bee Tin, a Chinese chain cake and cookie shop where Nel bought me an ube flavoured cake to take with me. Now I did not have the heart to tell Nel I was not fond of ube (purple yam) so I accepted the lovely gift. And ironically right outside the shop we spotted a purple fire engine, which Nel said had been painted that colour to honour the Eng Bee Tin shop in the neighborhood and its popular ube cake. So … I guess I remain in the minority in my dislike of ube.
Anyway, I said goodbye to the lovely Nel, ordered a Grab and headed back to my hotel. The trip took a little longer than expected because it was a holiday today (Flag Day) in the Philippines and a number of the streets near Intramuros (near Chinatown) were closed. The poor Grab driver ended up going in circles before he figured out a route we could take.
So with that, my trip to Manila was over and tonight I leave for Fiji via Sydney, Australia. I reach Nadi, Fiji tomorrow afternoon and will be there a week before taking the looooong flight home.
