How do you say “Bon Appetit” in Chinese? Two weekends ago, some of my Plurk friends and I went on a Binondo Food Trip. It was a much-anticipated weekend. Aside from the feast that awaited us, the popular Ivan Man Dy was our streetwalker a.k.a. tour guide.
Our afternoon was called The Big Binondo Food Wok. Aptly named indeed as we ate, we walked, we ate, we walked. Our tour group met at the Binondo Church lobby, then Ivan led us around Chinatown. We sampled dishes in popular restaurants, some hole-in-the-wall places that served AWESOME food. Throughout the tour, he gave us insights on local history while we nibbled on our Chinese treats.
I obviously am not giving many details away. 
It would be best for you to experience the food trip yourself.
Here’s what I liked about our tour:
1. Ivan Man Dy is a great tour guide. He’s very personable and insightful. He encourages you to learn about the history of the place without sounding preachy or boring. He knows his stuff! His history teacher must be proud. He’s quite the entertainer, too. He was wearing a traditional Chinese top and head gear, which immediately gave off a playful vibe.
2. Our three and a half hours of eating and walking was well-paced. There was always enough time to enjoy nibbling on the best of Chinatown, and enough time to burn off the calories. We were never in a hurry to be somewhere. Tour groups usually make me feel like I’m in the military, but this one was leisurely even if there was an afternoon agenda.
3. The weather was balmy. An afternoon of walking in the sun is no joke, so we were all very pleased when the clouds tempered the sun’s brightness, and the breeze made our walks more pleasurable.
4. The company was fun, fun, fun! I was with a couple of bloggers, most of whom I’ve already met and interact with regularly. In the picture are: Ivan, Ruy and Liv (seated), Spanky, myself, Ajay and Jovan. We all love food (and taking pictures of our food!) so we all got along mighty fine. Aside from the bloggers, there were six more in the tour group, two of whom I recognized as my college batchmates! Small world, ‘no?
5. There was time for shopping. I had to buy some of my Dad’s favorite Asado Rolls from Eng Bee Tin and Hopiang Ube.
If you’re interested in joining a Binondo Food Wok, check out details here. It’s a great way to spend an afternoon, especially with good friends. Check out the site for rates and schedules. Ivan Man Dy also has a blog: Street Walker Tales. He recently gave celebrity chefs Anthony Bourdain and Bobby Shin a taste of Binondo as well. Oh big time!
Sayang, nasira memory card ko. Going to Binondo again and again is something I’ll never get tired of. Ivan Man Dy is right..it’s a culinary wonderland!!!! Nice to be with you there, Toni.
wow, you sure have a nice group of plurker friends there… hehe, am sure you had a great time…
shengs last blog post..I Am This Crazy
toni,
may i borrow some of the pics for my blog?
thanks!!!
Manila Boys last blog post..50 Coolest Facts about President-Elect BARACK "O’ BOMBER"
interesting! sayang talaga hindi ako nakasama. binondo is very close to my heart. guess which of those signs bears my maiden name
that is one tour i’d love to experience when i visit manila
i’ll definitely check out the link. thanks!
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I miss the hopia from there! =)
The last time I visited binondo was twelve years ago pa. we ate at president’s resto…oh boy, the food was really really great and big serving ha (sulit)
Have a great week Toni.
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sounds like you really had a great time with your buddies.
oh! i miss hopia from eng bee tin. yummyyyyyyy…..
blue roses last blog post..thank you very much!
wow i’d love to go here too and do some food trip! ube hopia from EBT is the best!
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looked like it was so fun. i will list this as one of my to do things for 2009.
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I would sure love to go food wokking in Binondo. Thanks for this info. I also dropped by to give you an award for having such an interesting blog.
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that sounds really interesting.
i miss eng bee tin’s hopia.
When Mary and I were in the Philippines over the summer, we were lucky that her cousins were taking swimming lessons at the Binondo YMCA and we got to join them. I had two solid weeks of Eng Bee Tin, Holland, Salazar and the other little stores around, got some great dim sum and noodles, too. Fresh-made Hopia Ube, can’t remember the store name, but they were frying them right there in the store, hmmmmm, really yummy, a thousand times better than the frozen eng bee tin hopia ube warmed up in the microwave (what I have to settle for here in the us).
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At around 6:00PM of Dec. 23, 2009, We decided to eat at the President’s Tea House in Binondo. When the drink was served and taken a few sip, I noticed a COCKROACH in my drink!!! I immediately approach the head waiter and assistant manager to look into the incident. They did not deny instead admitted their fault. But admission was not enough, they should responsible for the cleanliness and proper sanitation of their establishment. Someone should be accountable for this incident. Since this is an issue of one’s health.
For this reason I’ll file a complaint at the Sanitation Division of Manila City Hall. This is a major violation since President’s Tea House is a Food Establishment.
This is good info. Not aware of Binondo Food Wok at all. I’ll check it out next time I go back to the Philippines. Besides the hopia, the other thing that I can remember from Binondo was the fastfood outlets along the “estero”. My brother buys a special chocolate “tablea” from there as well.
Eng Bee Tin Ube hopia has artificial food colors and is banned by US FDA under import alert 45-02 per web page :\
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cms_ia/importalert_118 .html