It was actually cool talking to Taketoshi about things other than governance issues and JVAS policies. I learned a lot of things about him and from him. After waiting for what seemed like half an hour (since we were very early), we noticed a bunch of people gathering in the lobby of the church. There the tour guide stood with several people who will be joining the tour. I was really excited about this because what better way to spend the day than exploring new territories and getting to try out everything it has to offer along the way?
From the church entrance, our group crossed the street to stop at Plaza Calderon dela Barca where the tour guide (not Ivan Dy) gave a very brief et interesting history as to how Binondo came to be. The next stop was this store where tablea was being sold, LA RESURRECCION CHOCOLATE. We were asked to sniff on packs of tablea and it was realy so good, moreso for a chocoholic like me;) I am quite familiar with tablea because my family used to receive supply from our dear Lola Madre. I learned though that there are two ways of drinking tsokolate tablea. One is tsokolate-E (espresso?) and the other is tsokolate-A (watered down). I was not able to take a picture of the establishment since my batteries started conking out on me.
Our next stop was the Eng Bee Tin Mezzanine Fire Fighters Cafe. It is under renovation but the ambiance would definitely tell you that this is a firefighter's cafe, which was established by one of the owners of Eng Bee Tin. This was located on the 2nd floor of one of the buildings. They served us Kiampong rice, fishball soup, and their signature iced coffee. According to the tour guide, this cafe serves traditional hokkien fare and not the usual chinese fare that we are familiar with. I really loved the fried rice garnished with peanuts and garlic and the fishball soup. Gastronomically heavenly I am telling you!!! Taketoshi liked it as well. I was almost done with the fried rice when I remembered I should have taken a picture of it. But heck I was too hungry to even care. I am sure there are pictures out there taken by some other tourist who had the presence of mind to take a picture before devouring the fried rice. If this is how peasant food tastes like, deng!!!
After that hearty meal (I was supposed to ask for a second serving of rice since it is an eat-all-you-can tour, pero nadyahe ako bigla haha!!!), we stopped by a chinese drugstore. The owner was kind enough to give us free candies. Yay! Then the tour guide emerges from the store with two dried lizards on a stick. It is supposed to be a medication for asthma. There are two lizards because of the yin and yang roots of Chinese traditional medicine. The dried lizards on a stick will serve as the "tea" bag as you dip them in hot water. Very interesting yet scary at the same time. There is no way I am drinking the essence of geckos!!!
After the drug store, we made our way to Dong Bei Dumpling. It was your typcal hole-in-the wall food stop. It probably could seat around 20 people max. However, the dumplings they serve are so good, you would want to keep coming back for more. We were served with the fried stuffed pancakes and two types of dumplings. one was plain pork dumpling and the other one was pork with chives dumpling. The pancakes and dumplings (the pork with chives) were hands-down winners! They were served with a special dipping sauce and every bite is worth savoring. I noticed that the wrap of the dumpling was so thin and fine that you actually see through the stuffing. However, it is strong enough to hold everything together and the dumplings here are boiled in water. The beauty of cooking dumplings this way is that you can let the dumplings stand for so long and the dumplings will not dry up, unlike when you steam it. At Dong Bei, they actually make the dumplings in front of you so you can be assured of its freshness.
After a very satisfying dumpling-session, we were led to the Santo Cristo de Longos Shrine. This, according to the guide, exemplifies the Chinese peple's adaptability since it demonstrates how Christianity meets Chinese culture. There was a cross adorned with flowers, and there were incense signifying how distinctly Chinese the shrine is.
We then went to the fruit street, which is Salazar Street. This is where I used more of the action sampler my dear sister EA gave me. I managed to kill time taking pictres here since some of our companions had to get something from one of the establishments. We chatted, took pictures, chatted some more and then off we went to the next food stop. We had fried siopao (which did not look fried at all) and Binondo's answer to Krispy Kreme, bichu-bichu. I liked the fried siopao's bun, as it was oh so soft. The filling was all right, maybe beacuse I was used to Asado or Bola-Bola kind. The bicho-bicho is a different story though. It was deep fried, crispy on the outside, yet inside the bread was soft, the kind that melts in your mouth and it was surprisingly light. After deep frying it, the manong drizzled it with sugar. Y-U-M-M-Y!!! I just had a piece since I had to make room for the remaining food stops. Bicho-bicho reminded me of something like Spain's churros. Taketoshi, being the light-eater that he is, was surprisingly adventurous and tried out all the fare made available to him.
The next food stop was the fear factor segment of the tour. The tour guide asked for volunteers to try out the next offering. Turns out, the star of the fear factor segment was the Tea Egg. Apparently, eggs were marinated in tea for three days and cooked in it as well. The star-anis injects a very different flavor to the egg. I asked Taketoshi how it tasted like and the way he described it was(please do not quote me on this)...It's good. Something like the roast pork, only there is no pork but just the egg. It's sweet and salty at the same time. In short, parang inasadong itlog siguro:) I managed to take a photo of Taketoshi and his egg. I was just too glad he enjoyed it.
After the Tea Eggs, we made our way to the last stop. We traversed Ongpin Street with its traditional chinatown shops and restaturants. There is also the Carvajal Alley Market, one of the more famous sidestreets (esquinita) in Binondo. At last, the final stop!!! We went inside Uy Su Bin Building (an art deco building) to get to New Po-Heng Lumpia House. We were served with half a spring roll each but it was so filling (and refreshing) that it was more than enough to cap off a great food tripping experience. The lumpia was different because it has a seaweed flavor to it. It was sweet, salty, slightly bitter and all the flavors you an imagine come to play in this dish that is usually dismissed as very ordinary. We ate the lumpia with peanut sauce and hot sauce and it was really good. After some picture taking, we said our goodbyes and headed back to the car which I parked near the church.
Taketoshi said that it was good that he did not need to grab dinner anymore since he still had to pack. He needed to hit the bed early since he had to catch a 7 am flight the next day. I drove him back to his hotel, said our goodbyes and I headed home. I was tired but all too happy having shown someone around and I finally got to do one of the things I really wanted to do in a long while. Exploring the places I usually take for granted is one of my life-long goals and the Binondo Wok Tour is a fitting start.
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