Savoring Binondo’s hidden gems
Binondo has become synonymous with food crawls, and rightfully so. It’s a thriving scene driven by multiple options, nostalgia, and tradition. Visitors crowd Ongpin because the stretch and its nearby streets are lined with restaurants and food stalls that have filled the timelines of countless content creators.
But Binondo is also about the people. It’s about the generations of families who run businesses inherited from their grandparents, the new blood who come into the fold bringing fresh ideas with them, and those who keep the traditions alive as individuals simply because they find joy in it.
Upon the invitation of Ford, I went on a mission to meet some of them and to experience some of the many reasons visitors continue to be drawn to Manila’s Chinatown.
The route from Bacoor, Cavite, to Manila is something I am very familiar with because, years ago, I drove this path every day to go to school at the University of Santo Tomas. However, I needed help with directions after Jones Bridge. I opened Waze and the Ford Territory’s built-in GPS for guidance. I found that the two were synced in terms of giving directions and monitoring live traffic. They even provided the same estimated time of arrival. It was a close fight, but for this round, the GPS won because of its stability. My wonky mobile data cost Waze the round.
The next challenge was finding a parking space at the Escolta car park. I expected a steep and narrow climb because that’s how it is in the area. Space is at a premium, so every square inch is utilized. The Territory navigated the climb easily as a compact crossover SUV. It was never in danger of snagging the walls, nor did it lose power. I found a spot on the rooftop. We were told the car park is usually full by around 10 a.m., earlier on a busy day.
First stop
It was a good location. The spot offered a picturesque view of Jones Bridge on one side and was a stone’s throw away from Polland Bakery on the other. The bakery was our first stop as Ivan Man Dy, founder of Old Manila Walks, brought me, other members of the press, and Ford representatives there.
Dy broke the ice with a game. We were just one week away from Chinese New Year, so he gave us phrases to learn to correctly greet Chinoys. Language matters, and people appreciate it when you make an effort to learn basic phrases. The most common greeting that we use is “Kung Hei Fat Choi,” which is Cantonese. Dy explained that Binondo mainly uses Fookien, so greeting them with this phrase is like greeting them in another language.
We learned four phrases: Sin Ni Kuai Lok (Happy New Year), Kiong Hee Huat Tsai (Wishing you happiness and prosperity), Ban Si Du Yi (May everything go as you wish), and Sin Theh Kian Long (Wishing you good health in the New Year).
Calligrapher Dewey Tan made us choose a phrase to manifest for the entire year. He sat beside me as he opened his black ink bottle, releasing a seaweed-like scent into the air. Tan wrote on a red banner called a couplet, which is meant to be displayed by the doorway or other parts of the house to invite good luck.
Making ‘hopia’
Our table was cleared right after so we could make our own hopia. The charming Abigail Diane Lee-Tin took over the session. Lee-Tin is the marketing manager, graphic designer, and self-proclaimed “mascot” of Polland Bakery. She is also the granddaughter-in-law of the bakery’s founder.
“Everything done by hand is therapeutic and relaxing,” Lee-Tin said. The relaxation included giving the dough a high five. The table would rumble every time someone had to slap the dough flat. It was a lot of fun. The lesson included painting the bread and boxing it. She made us prepare five hopia—four to take home and one to eat fresh from the oven.
“After this, you will know how to make your own hopia at home. And then you will realize that it’s better if you just buy it,” she said with a laugh. “But we want you to appreciate your hopia a little more because now you know how it’s made.”
Coffee cupping
We walked along Escolta Street, where we enjoyed the architecture of the area, from classical to brutalist. Some buildings were over a hundred years old. One such building is the Burke, where you can find the roasters of Escolta Brewing Company. Head roaster Gabriel Villegas and his associates converted a pawnshop into a space for their equipment. They host cupping sessions by request, while their coffee shop is in the next building.
The soft-spoken but eloquent Villegas did not grow up in Binondo, but he brings in something new.
Cupping
Cupping is the process of tasting and evaluating coffee quality, flavor, and aroma. Villegas rolled out several cups with beans for us to try from Benguet, Bukidnon, and Batangas. It seemed like a daunting task to rate coffee, but Villegas didn’t put any pressure on us.
“Memory of taste is based on your experience. There are no right or wrong observations,” he said. My palate clearly needed expanding because the only note I caught was the chocolatey taste of the Arabica from Brgy. San Roque, Bukidnon. But watching Villegas and his trainee perform cupping correctly was very enjoyable.
It was like viewing a synchronized dance. They timed everything, including the pouring of water, skimming the top of the beans from the cup, and finally mixing them together. They executed each step carefully, allowing us to go in between to smell and compare our observations. The final step was tasting, and we were encouraged to slurp to discern the flavors.
This stop was the one I least expected. I never knew that I could experience something like this in Binondo.
Denise Chua, proprietor of New Victory Trading, gave us a general forecast for the Year of the Snake based on our birth year. We also visited her shop, which her grandmother started. They sell charms to attract good fortune.
Our day ended with a meal at Ho-land Bakery, eating what Dy calls the legitimate kikiam (filled with meat and wrapped in beancurd skin), pancit, fish soup, oyster omelet, sticky rice, and black sago. The restaurant was filled with locals, the tables were narrow and barely accommodated our order, it was noisy, and the waiters were in a rush. It was absolutely perfect. We didn’t have to line up for anything to have a great meal because it was in an area slightly away from the crowd of Ongpin.
This is what hitting the road and traveling is all about—eating great food and experiencing something new.
