| 3:41p |
Binondo Food Trip 1: Dong Bei Dumplings
I've been hearing a lot about the Dong Bei Dumplings restaurant in Yuchengco St. (formerly Nieva) thanks to the bloggers who joined the Binondo food tour. Since I don't have 1,000 pesos to spare to join the food tour, I just made a list of the places they visited with the intention of looking for these places myself. Easier said than done.
So last Sunday, I boarded the LRT and got off Carriedo. I walked over to Sta. Clara church and began the "easy" walk to Ongpin. Unfortunately, the summer heat made the walk almost unbearable and after a few minutes, I was also sweating buckets and feeling light-headed from dehydration.
Unfortunately for me, I was born without an inner compass and soon I was hopelessly lost. Too stubborn to take a pedicab (because I keep thinking it must be just a few meters away), I ended up asking for directions every five minutes. After a long walk. I stumbled onto Yuchengco St. and to my dismay, after I've walked the entire length of the street, Dong Bei Dumplings was nowhere to be found.
I was about to give up and I was prepared to go to that cafe on top of the Eng Bee Tin bakery instead (which is also a stop in the food tour, I hear) when I noticed that Yuchengco St. extends a little bit. I thought, "What the fuck, I am already here might as well see if it's there" and to my delight, there it was. This little hole-in-the-wall that promises some of the best dumplings in town.
So I went in, sat down and immediately ordered a set of 10 dumplings with chives and as an afterthough, some xia long pao. I also saw a can of Chinese herbal tea and I went for that too. The set of 10 cost 80 pesos. The xia long pao set cost 60 pesos for 4 pieces. The Chinese tea cost 35 pesos. Not bad at all.
After a short wait, the dumplings arrived. The first bite immediately brought back images of that dumpling stand that was located right below the China apartment I lived in. An old woman used to make those dumplings and they were good and filling. Not to mention that they were steaming hot--something always good when the temperature is below zero. I would definitely brave the long walk for these dumplings again.
The xia long pao wasn't the best I've tasted in Manila (Suzhou still wins for me) but it was definitely better than the scores of other xia long pao wannabes I've had (the worse so far was the one I bought at the Salcedo Market--but hey, the pork siomai there is pretty good). The xia long pao at Dong Bei was good and it tasted authentic...except, I'm definitely going for more of the dumplings next time. Especially since they have different varieties. **Mental note...I am getting the shrimp on my next visit.
I made a mental note of the other specialties they had that I needed to try the next time around. The stuffed pancakes are definitely next on my list (after the shrimp dumplings). In the meantime, I contented myself with buying frozen packs of chive dumplings and pork dumplings (100 pesos each for a pack of 14) to bring home.
Can't wait for my next Binondo food trip. |