CHOP Does Binondo: Eat, Walk, Learn Culinary History!

Raise the Red Lantern

Last Saturday,  Manila's colorful Chinatown, Binondo, was festooned with red lanterns, banners and couplets in anticipation of the coming Chinese New Year.  Even some of the vegetables on the street stalls and in the narrow alleys crowded with vendors were decorated with elaborate red ribbons.

To follow us on our Binondo Food Tour Walk, click on "Read more" below.

Humble taro in decorative ribbons

Regee and I were part of a group of CHOP members (Culinary Historians of the Philippines) which sponsored a Food Walking Tour around Binondo.   We were all interested in learning more about the role that Chinese (Tsinoy) settlers in Binondo had played in the culinary heritage of the Philippines.  This was CHOP's first major activity in 2014.

CHOP members in action

Here are our hardy CHOP members after their 4-hour tour of some of Binondo's amazing Chinese restaurants.  Front row (from left): Ige Ramos (Food Writer/Editor), Regee Tolentino Newport (Founding President), Pia Lim-Castillo (Vice President) and, lucky for us, CHOP member Ivan Man Dy, our wonderful guide from Old Manila Walks.  Middle row (from left): Min Knoll, Cristy Aguirre and Vicky Yu.  Back row (from left):  Alvin Reyes Lim (Asst. Vice President) of Serye, his wife, Gretchen Lim of Manila Bake, Yours Truly, Regee's sister, Ada Bernal, Hoven Reyes, Rose Montenegro, Cassandra Eschmann and Emily Yu.

We were joined by a large number of other individuals who had signed up through Ivan, bringing the total tour group to 36--a formidable number of people for some of the smaller restaurants we were to visit (invade).

Ivan gives us a history lesson

Ivan explained that his Hokkien ancestors from Fujian Province had been trading for many centuries with Manila before the Spanish arrived.  There were successive waves of Hokkien settlers and, to a lesser extent, Cantonese settlers from neighboring Guandong Province.   Many of these settlers intermarried with the native women (smart move!) and converted to Catholicism--with a little "persuasion" from the Spanish.  Binondo was founded in 1594 when the Spanish colonial authorities decided to gather Manila's burgeoning population of "converted" Chinese settlers into one area--just outside the city walls of Old Maynila (and within cannon range, just in case of trouble).  Binondo is said to be the oldest Chinatown in the world.

Boxes of Tikoy

Naturally, they brought their own culture, cuisine and favorite foods with them.  While Ivan admitted that Fujian Province was not noted for its cuisine, Chinese dishes (especially Cantonese), such as soups, noodles, dumplings, siopao, lumpia and various fruits and vegetables were slowly absorbed into everyday Filipino cuisine.

Foods and dishes which must have been considered as "exotic" in the old days are now an integral and inspiring part of Filipino cuisine.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

I  had the benefit of reading Regee's translation of Ige Ramos' excellent article on our Binondo tour in his Bandehado column in Bandera, PDI, 01/20/2014 at:

http://bandera.inquirer.net/byline/ige-ramos.

I am indebted to Ige for many of the formal names of the dishes we tasted and some ingredients that I had forgotten.  Like a true professional, he kept copious notes while I ate copiously.

Here are a few of the dishes that we tasted in five separate restaurants while dodging traffic in the narrow, hazardous streets and inhaling the heady aromas of Binondo--not all them emanating from restaurants!

Fried Tofu in Sweet Soy Sauce

We started our tour at a small, unassuming restaurant called Quick Snack.  It was founded by a pioneering Hokkien lady called Ama Pilar (at the tender age of 60) after living in Indonesia for many years.  The very first dish I tasted turned out to be my favorite.  It was fried tofu (Tauhu Goreng) with a thick "crust" floating in a sweet soy sauce and surmounted by hot chili sauce, cucumber, ground peanuts and cilantro.  Sarap--and bursting with so many complementary flavors.

Ang Ku Chay Ah (good ole meat pies)!

We also savored what I would call meat pies or empanada but which sound much better if called Ang Ku Chay Ah.  They are made from kuchay (cilantro) and stuffed with somewhat spicy meat (pork?).  The third dish was a pancit called See Mee Goreng but it had a definite Indonesian flavor to it, including, I think, some light curry.  Pancit is a dish found in multiple variations all over the Philippines but owes its presence in the Philippines culinary pantheon to some enterprising Tsinoy settler who came to these shores many moons ago.

If you want to follow us on CHOP's full Binondo Food Walking Tour, please click on "Read more" below.

Our next stop was another small Hokkien restaurant called A Wi's Cafe and Restauarant.  The speciality here is the humungous lumpia (lunpiah) that hails from Fujian Province and is only made on special occasions such as Chinese New Year and other primary festivals.  At A Wi's, an exception is made but the "Supersize Me" lumpia is still only made on Mondays.  I can understand why--it is very, very arduous work to chop, dice, slice, julienne, split, peel, pound and prepare the multiple ingredients.

Ivan demonstrates his lumpia-making skills

Ivan demonstrated how these large lumpias are made from a mind-bending number of ingredients, including: finely chopped snow peas, lettuce, shallots and carrots plus fishcake, ground pork, rice noodles and seaweed plus peanuts, hoisin sauce scrambled eggs and cilantro.  (You now know where the expression "everything but the kitchen sink" may have come from).

All these carefully prepared and diverse ingredients are then tightly and expertly wrapped in two (or even three) rice wrappers.  The result is quite startling in both terms of explosive taste and extraordinary size.  Move over Big Mac.

I was now beginning to feel a bit full after devouring everything I have described above.  Luckily, we had to do a lot of walking in between our "tastings".  This gave us a chance to prepare for the next gastronomic assault.  This came in the form of Dong Bei Dumplings, a tiny "hole in the wall" restaurant on Yuchengco Street that holds about 20 people but which we filled up with 36 hungry souls.

Standing room only!

You can see from the above photo that it was a bit of a tight squeeze in Dong Bei Dumplings.  In fact, I think we now know what it feels like to be wrapped up in a lumpia or dumpling.  Up front, four lovely ladies were hand rolling and making the dumplings while at the other end our chef (in a very clean white singlet) was steaming, boiling and frying away in the tiniest kitchen I have ever seen.

Many hands make light work

The results of all this intense rolling, cutting, stuffing, plumping, boiling and frying were extraordinary.  I mentioned at the beginning that the bulk of Tsinoy settlers came from Fujian Province and, to a lesser extent, from Guandong Province.  You now have to add to that mix some migrants who came from Northeast China which, if you look at the map, is a huge distance from Manila.  The owners of Dong Bei Dumplings (and their ancestors) hail from distant northeast cities like Beijing, Shenyang and Harbin. They brought with them the Jiaozi, a dumpling that is stuffed with meat and vegetables and shaped into a half-moon or horn (jiaozi).

Hand-made dumplings waiting to be cooked

During the Chinese New Year, they make special dumplings which are colored green (from green peppers), red (from red peppers), and white (some combination of meat and cabbage/celery).  I believe that the dumplings are actually boiled in water and not steamed because they come out looking translucent and mouthwatering.  We certainly came at the right time of the year for these delicacies.  I could sit there all day watching those ladies making the dumplings--it seemed so effortless--but only because they have made several million of them in their time.  I wonder if they get paid by the piece?

Spicy Fried Chicken Xinjiang

We also had a wonderful spicy fried chicken dish (Chicken Xinjiang) from the Northwest of China (Uighur territory) which was combined with carrots, cucumber, sesame seeds and cumin.  I suppose we should expect something spicy and not traditional "Chinese" flavors considering that Xinjiang has borders with Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.  If you closed your eyes, you were sitting in a wild mountain landscape with snowy peaks in the distance.  My second favorite dish because it was so dramatically different.

On to the Xiao Chun Restaurant.  Here we indulged in a scrumptious bowl of steaming Mustard Rice ( Kau Tsai Peng) which, as the name suggests, is cooked with mustard leaves (which I have only just discovered), peanuts and scallions.  It would be really good on a cold day in D.C.

This was accompanied by Bamboo Shells (Razor Clams) and an excellent Oyster Omelette. 
It  reminded me of an oyster omelette I had many years ago in Portland, Maine—but not in a Chinese restaurant.  The oysters in Maine were fatter and saltier--the oysters here were smaller but sweeter.

I have to say that by this time I was beginning to wilt and looked a bit like a mustard leaf myself.  When Ivan announced that we were heading off to the last restaurant for the day, I secretly breathed a sigh of relief.  It is tough work being a culinary historian and I felt that I had gained about 10 pounds olredi.

With Cassandra's Mom at Sa Lido

Our last stop was the very charming and interesting Sa Lido Restaurant on Ongpin Street.  Climbing up a steep staircase, you discover that Sa Lido is the hangout of a lot of Chinese old timers—businessmen, retirees, merchants etc.  They gather here not only to eat but to gossip about politics, business, who’s up and who’s down and the scandals of the day. Much like old timers all over the world.  

It is not exactly a “gentlemen’s only” place but it does have that reputation.  Despite its reputation, the old guys were very welcoming of our mixed group—and Ivan told me that they certainly don't see too many gweilo up there.

Sa Lido served us Pork Asado (excellent) and Pancit Cha Mee which consists of thick egg noodles in a rather glutinous sauce.  This was followed by a very welcome dessert—iced lychees with almond jelly—which tasted fresh, tangy and delicious.  A real palate cleanser.

Try saying Sin-Ni-Kuai-Lok-Kiong-Hee-Huat-Sai quickly!

The old timers were very amused when Ivan organized a game based upon memorizing a number of greetings in the Hokkien dialect.  Regee and several others had to line up and, in rapid succession, repeat the next word of salutations such as Xin Ni Kuai Lok (Happy New Year), Kiong Hee Huat Sai (congratulations and may your wealth prosper) etc., etc.  

If you could not remember the next word, you were out.  It was hilarious.  I was so impressed that the six brave contestants were able to last as long as they did.  At least some CHOP members are now well versed in Hokkien! The winner was the youngest--Chem (next to Regee)--the daughter of Ada's friend, Cristy.  They all received special gifts for being such good sports.  And the rest of us received wafer thin chocolates in bright red envelopes.  

It was a memorable tour and we all learned a lot.  Actually, this was the second tour I have done with Ivan but we visited different restaurants in 2012.  Have a look at my earlier blog at: 

http://newportnewz.blogspot.com/2012/01/short-wok-through-chinatown.html#more

Many thanks to Ivan for a fascinating tour and to CHOP for organizing the whole venture.  Maybe I'll go back to Sa Lido and sit down with the old timers for a few beers and some chismis!

May the Year of the Wooden Horse bring us all good fortune.

Xin Ni Kuai Lok!