Session 7.2: The Big Binondo Food Wok

Written by Gwyneth Liew

Pictures by Sarah Chong, Gwyneth Liew and vivafilipans.tumblr.com

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      The Big Binondo Food Wok is one of many tours offered by the Old Manila Walks tour company that provides tourists with an experience of the rich histories of Manila which include areas like Intramuros, Binondo, San Miguel, Quiapo, the Chinese Cemetery and more. Although our pathfinder, Dr. Yeoh Seng Guan had originally planned for us to go on a different tour; it was switched to the Binondo Food Wok by popular vote when the original tour became unavailable. Our tour guide for the day was Mr. Ivan, a local who is of Chinese and Filipino descent. He is also a friend of Mr. Eugene Jamerlan, our previous tour guide who brought us to the magnificent and historic mansions in Mandurriao, Iloilo City.

Mr Ivan explaining some historical facts at our first stop

     Our day started with a short walkabout in the vicinity of the Quiapo Church before meeting Ivan at the Binondo Church. He started by introducing himself and two other tourists who had decided to join the walk as well. He also elaborated a bit on the origins of Binondo, which is said to be the first Chinatown in the world. It all started in the 16th Century when the civilization of Ancient China was starting to undergo a revolutionary change from the Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty. As scholars were deemed to be more valuable than the common business owners, the business owners decided to leave the country for greener pastures. Majority of the Chinese population in Manila are descendants from Amoy, also known as the City of Xiamen of the Fujian Province. Their dialect is known as Hokkien and they speak Mandarin as well.

The Entrance to Binondo, the Chinatown in Manila

     As years went by, the Chinese population started to swell uncontrollably. The Spanish Conquistadors governing the Philippines at the time were uneasy and alarmed by the influx of Chinese- at one point, the ratio of Chinese to Spaniards  were 20:1.  In an attempt to solve this problem, the Conquistadors created Binondo away from the city centre (known as Intramuros, or 'within the walls') as a means of segregating the Chinese immigrants. They also attempted to convert the Chinese from Taoism to Roman Catholicism by building Roman Catholic churches in the area. The Chinese population has since intermarried with the Filipino natives and their descendants are called Tsinoys. It is interesting to note that despite their Taoist origins, Binondo is the birthplace of San Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint, born to a Chinese father and a Filipino mother.

     Moving on, Ivan explained that we were to be eating our way through Binondo with a mixture of heavy meals and light snacks. Our first stop was at a restaurant with a firefighting theme. The restaurant was a donation by the firefighting society of Binondo as most of the firefighters in early Filipino history were of Chinese descent. The first dish that was served was kiampong, which means salted rice in English. Although the name proclaims the dish to be salty, it is a simply a rice dish that is served with spring onions and chicken slices that is not overly salty. The second dish was fishball soup which was followed closely by loh taufu, which is steamed tofu with hot sauce. Many of us had multiple servings as we were informed earlier that the servings were unlimited. 

Kiampong

Fishball soup

Loh Taufu

     Our second stop was Dong Bei Dumplings, a small diner which is owned by Chinese immigrants from Northeast China. The owner moved to the Philippines as his child was studying in the country. Although they offer a wide range of food choices, they are famous for their dumplings, or else known as jiao zi in Mandarin. These dumplings are handmade every step of the way, from the grinding of the different types of meat and vegetable fillings to the chili oil that go best with the dumplings. Aside from the dumplings, we were also served scrumptious and crispy Chinese pancakes and mu er, a dish that is cooked with a type of mushroom that the Hokkiens call "Rat’s Ears" in English. Our tastebuds were rich with the spice of the chili oil and the sour taste of the mu er. The meal ended with a fragrant cup of Oolong tea.

Entrance to the store

The restaurant's logo

Workers inserting the filling into the skin

Dumplings ready for cooking

Pancakes & Dumplings

Their handmade special Chili oil

Mu Er

     After a fragrant cup of tea, we walked for ten minutes to the next stop which was a small snack place at the side of the road. We then had a taste of fried siopaos which had pork fillings and yaw char guay. The fried siopao is different from traditional siopaos as the fillings are smaller and the bottom is slightly fried to give it a crispy base. On the other hand, the yaw char guay is a deep fried snack made of out flour that looks like two people intertwined together. Tsinoys believe it to represent an evil couple from Ancient China who were tied together and drowned in a river after their plans to overthrow a local general was found out by the other civilians. We also had a taste of Indian mango which was crunchy and not as sweet as the yellow mangoes of the Philippines.

From Left to Right: Siopao front view & Siopao back view

The Indian mango

     A ten minute walk later, we found ourselves in a snack shop that sold packaged Chinese snacks. We then watched as Ivan produced packets of hopia, which is known as tau sar piah in Penang, Malaysia. It has a soft and crispy skin dusted with flour and contains an assortment of fillings like mung beans, yam and more. The hopia is shaped like a Malaysian 50 cent coin and fits perfectly in the middle of one’s palm. Its fragrance also depends on the type of filling in the pastry.

The Fragrant hopia. Image from vivafilipans.tumblr.com

     Our final stop was at an indoor restaurant which was very serene and spacious. The item on the menu was the lumpia, a dish that is similar to the popiah that is found in Malaysia. The lumpia contains a cut vegetable and meat mixture arranged in a neat and compact manner that is wrapped in a thin but chewy outer skin. It is eaten with hot sauce, soy sauce, ground peanuts and a mixture made of rice and dried seaweed bits. By this time, our stomachs were thoroughly filled with all the good food that we tried. We bid Ivan goodbye after expressing our heartfelt gratitude for his hospitality. 

Ivan explaining the way he prefers to eat the lumpia

The lumpia

The top fillings: seaweed with rice on the left, ground peanuts on the right

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Gwyn is currently a second year university student who has embarked on a journey of selling insurance to achieve her financial freedom by her graduation in the year 2014. Her ultimate goal is to be an influential writer and to share her knowledge on self awareness for the enlightenment of all.