What not to expect:
- Anything deeper or more meaningful that 'I liked it' or 'It was OK' haha nope, no debating on the merits of meat to wrapper ratio or whatever. XD
- Tasteful and carefully taken photographs
- Coherence or any kind of structure to my writing
- Suave knowledge of filters
Yes. It was an eat and go mission. *fistpump*
We all chipped in Php 400.00, which already included transportation fees. M handled the money, as well as our food itinerary. At each place, M was the one who ordered, so I don't know the exact names of the dishes.
First stop: Dong Bei Dumpling
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| Dong Bei Dumpling |
They make their dumplings right there in the eating area so that's what I first saw through the window. There were only about six (maybe seven or eight?) tables with just enough space to pass between. There were stairs leading up, not sure if they lead to more tables.
We ordered kuchay dumplings and kuchay pancakes (I THINK). Obviously, I'm not the most observant person in the world. They were good.
Little did we know that we would be in for a day of kuchay permeating everything we ordered. XD
They do not serve service/house water. Food arrived within a reasonable amount of time. They have frozen dumplings for sale, which I was very tempted to buy, since they're quite affordable; frozen kuchay dumplings were 27 pcs for Php 200, if memory serves me right (Baba would say my memory is quite terrible, but let's not listen to him).
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| Kuchay Dumplings. 14 pcs for Php 150 |
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| Kuchay Panckaes. 4 pcs for Php 150 |
Second stop: Quik-Snack
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| Quik-Snack |
As it was lunch time, the place was filling up quickly; we were lucky to get adjacent tables at all. Orders were served quickly, considering the time (oooh, Quik-Snack lives up to its name!). They also serve service water (lemon water with ice) which is a plus.
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| Kuchay ah |
First to be served was this empanada thing. I don't really eat empanada since there's something about fried bread that makes me nauseous, but I liked these! It contained kuchay. I think. Maybe that's why it's called kuchay ah. I'm not sure since the glimpse I had (because feeding my tummy trumps close inspection of things I don't like) was all brown and bits of orange. Anyway. I'm not even certain it's called kuchay ah. Haha.
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| Fresh lumpia |
This was just OK for me. Perfectly edible, but not something I'd order again. Well, Ar did not like it that much, since there was some green vegetable that almost made her gag. And it contained kuchay, too. Sauce is in a bottle, so you can put as much or as little as you want. Good for sharing with somebody, especially if you have other food ordered. It was served sliced in three portions, not really seen in the picture above.
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| Fried lumpia |
This is just the same as the fresh lumpia, only it's been fried. As the name suggests. Haha. M asked us which one we preferred, and yep, as you guessed, we were all, whatever you think is good so we ended up with one of each.
Since this was just the fried version, I gave Ar the part with none of the green stuff. Funny thing is they served the accompanying vinegar in this tiny saucer. Yes, miniscule amount of vinegar for a big lumpia. I don't get it either. We could have requested for more, but why not serve more than one saucerful in the first place? Inquiring minds want to know.
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| Pancit |
Are those kuchay pieces? Haha. I didn't get the name of this dish, too. I only got enough of it, but I didn't like it since it was spicy for me. They said it tasted like curry; I wouldn't know, since as Baba can attest, I eat without analyzing what I'm eating. :P Can only be sharing if you have other stuff to eat, otherwise, just a biggish serving for one.
Third stop: Sincerity
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| Sincerity Restaurant |
As it was the hour most precious to us (eating time!), it meant that we had to wait for quite some time to get in, as all tables were occupied.
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| They have a chandelier. Not expected, but not unexpected, either. |
By this time, most of the group was beginning to feel full, but mostly thirsty, haha. We ordered chicken and kikiam, and with two small plates of not-plain rice thrown in. They serve iced water, yay. I ordered black gulaman drink (paid out of pocket). For Php 40, it was totally not worth it - not that it wasn't delicious, but that it was expensive for a regular glass of the stuff.
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| Chicken |
Chicken is Baba's field of expertise, so I couldn't even say if it was exceptional, only that it was passable for me, as I prefer roast chicken, if I'm to have chicken at all, haha. The part I stabbed had bones bones bones, and stripping chicken meat from chicken bones is not one of my skills.
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| Kikiam |
We also ordered kikiam. It had kuchay, naturally.
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| Not-plain rice |
And the rice. Yes, yes, blurry and all. I was lucky I even found I had a pic of it at all.
Fourth stop: Lord Stow's Bakery
Welp, no picture of their signage as we were in a hurry to get back. Space is cramped inside. We got egg tarts for dessert. I wanted to try their Japanese cheesecake, but as they had no display of it at the time, I wasn't willing to fork out money for it.
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| Egg tart. Php 42 per piece, Php 460 for a box of 12 |
Fifth stop: Shanghai Siopao
Apparently, there were hounds of hell after us as we had to walk really fast to get there. I have a poor sense of direction so I don't know where the store is located. We had this to-go since we did not want to get caught up in traffic on the way back. No siopao sauce was provided.
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| Fried siopao. Php 20 per piece |
So, that was that. I think that was well worth the trip. Even the prodigious amount of kuchay I ingested, haha. Quota na ko sa gulay for the next three months, ahahaha.
Side trip: Eng Bee Tin
Oh, we also made a side-trip to Eng Bee Tin, a Chinese deli store (this is where our company buys the tikoy they give away on Chinese New Year).
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| My haul from Eng Bee Tin |
- 2 packs of sesame tikoy rolls, so sad, I meant to get just the regular flavor :(
- 1 tube of jumbo
- 2 packs of mochi, chocolate and orange chocolate flavors
- 1 custard hopia, quite delicious, so they tell me
Expense Report
All dishes were x2 since there were
| BINONDO TRIP | EXPENSE | CASH |
| 11 PAX - 400/PAX | 4400 | |
| GRAB - PW-BINONDO | 530 | 3870 |
| DONGBEI | 600 | 3270 |
| QUIK SNACKS | 920 | 2350 |
| SINCERITY | 1100 | 1250 |
| LORD'S STOW | 460 | 790 |
| SHANGHAI SIOPAO | 220 | 570 |
| GRAB - BINONDO-PW | 528 | 42 |
| TOTAL CHANGE | 42 | |
| 42/11 | ||
| INDIVIDUAL CHANGE | 3.81 |
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