The Foodie Chinatown Walk: Hot Under the Sun

- November 11, 2011 (11-11-11,) Friday.

- My friend Tiffa asked me the other day if I wanted to meet her and her friend Peppy for a walk around Binondo. Seeing that I finished my week's to-do list a day earlier, I decided to give myself a break today, and meet Tiffa and Peppy.

- After my weekly piano lesson, I walked from my school to Binondo, braving the "summer" heat - a weird thing for "autumn" - and met the two of them at the door of Binondo Church. My whole body was heating up, especially since I wore my neck-covering Chinese shirt over a white t-shirt.

- I told Tiffa and Peppy that we'd try out Dong Bei Dumplings at E.T. Yuchengco Street, just behind the big Binondo Church, so I/we could cool off, and at the same time, try the restaurant's dumplings. Dong Bei Dumplings has been regarded by many as one of the best dumpling places around Binondo. It's a shame that both Tiffa and I haven't tried out the place, since we were both Chinese; in my case, Dong Bei Dumplings is located right across my grandmother's place.

- We ordered two sets of Dong Bei's basic kuchay dumplings, and an order of their xiaolongbao. I was thankful to find out that Dong Bei had xiaolongbao, since the only xiaolongbao place I knew of was Jade Garden all the way in Greenhills.

- Dong Bei's noodles and dumplings are all handmade. People are sure that they are, since the people there make the dumplings right in front of the customers. Aside from their fresh dumplings to be eaten inside the restaurant, Dong Bei also sells frozen dumplings that they also made themselves. Dong Bei's dumplings are inexpensive and indeed delicious. Their dumplings are quite small, but each medium-sized dumpling was loaded with greens, and hints of salty meat. The dumplings' fillings were not overly-seasoned, and can be eaten alone, but their garlic soy sauce, especially mixed with their chili sauce, brought out the dumplings' flavors more.

- After cooling off in Dong Bei, the three of us walked Sta.-Cruz bound from Ongpin, seeing the lesser-known parts of Ongpin. We passed by this certain small food-place near Sta. Cruz that my friend Marc introduced to me two years ago; the place sold sugarcane juice - by cup or by bottle. Peppy hadn't tasted sugarcane juice before, so we bought a cup each. Each cup was worth 15php.

- We continued out walk to Sta. Cruz, and walked through Escolta. We went to Calvo Building to check out the small Escolta museum, but the caretaker wasn't around, so we weren't able to check out the small museum. We went ahead, and visited Sin Jian Bookstore to show Peppy the store's Chinese books and other Chinese school supplies (takai, xiaokai, Chinese paint brush, etc.)

- In a few minutes and several blocks later, we were back in Ongpin, and walked to Soler's Golden Fortune to have a "real-deal" dimsum afternoon.

- We spent the remaining afternoon in the restaurant, and waiting for Tiffa's driver to pick us up at around 6pm. Just before Tiffa dropped my home, we headed back to Dong Bei, because Tiffa wanted to buy a frozen pack of dumplings for her family. I guess she was that impressed with the dumplings. As for me, it was great to reward myself with dimsum after a busy week. There's nothing better than having dimsum to add a "dimsum" (little heart) to a stressful week.