A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Binondo Food Tour my Plurk friend Spanky Enriquez organized. I’ve only been to Binondo a few times and has never eaten anywhere there but so many of my friends keep on raving about how Binondo is food heaven. I braved the traffic that Saturday and took my friend Jenny with me. Our only expectation was good food and lots of it. We weren’t expecting an introduction to Filipino-Chinese history from Ivan Man Dy, our tour guide. In fact, we weren’t expecting a guide at all.

I won’t spoil the tours by writing about Chinatown’s history. I’m writing this entry to rave about Dong Bei Dumplings.

freshly made dumplings

Dong Bei’s is among the best dumplings I’ve ever tasted. Ivan informed us that the owner came to the Philippines a few years ago to study English. She liked the Philippines so much, she decided to stay and open a little restaurant. Since she’s very particular about dumplings, she prefers to ground huge pork slabs instead of buying from the markets (ground pork in the markets usually comes with extenders). The wrappers are also handmade as you can see in the photo below.

I ate a lot of dumplings that day. The two varieties I tasted were chicken and veggie dumplings. The chicken was great but I prefer the latter. I even took home frozen veggie dumplings because I loved it so much. A bag of 30 frozen ones is P200. Cooking is a breeze too because you put them frozen in a boiling pot for only 5 minutes.

The restaurant has so much more to offer besides dumplings. Us tourists got to taste their noodles and pancake-type dish and both were great. The next time I go to Binondo, I will eat at Dong Bei for sure. I’m actually thinking of going to Binondo for the sole reason of eating veggie dumplings again.

Rating:

Dong Bei Dumplings
Orient corner Yuchengco streets
Binondo, Manila

A couple of my Plurk friends were talking about OMG Kawaii Bento. I thought it was a bento fan site so I didn’t pay much attention. When I finally went to the website, I said to myself that I should try it because of the super cuteness factor. Just look at these.

I’m thinking of trying these cuties early next year since my December is already filled with food. If you want to try them, the contact details are in their website!

I saw this while browsing Dessert Comes First

Well that looks interesting. I’m not that big a fan of ice cream but I have friends who are. I’ve never been to Ice Cream Bar but I’ve tasted FIC and I find them quite good. I might try this ice cream buffet if I can find a friend to come with me. If only there’s an all-you-can-eat Ben and Jerry’s buffet…

I’m seriously craving for lechon from Cebu because a certain someone sent me a text to gloat about the food there. Can you believe that I only discovered how great their version of lechon is 2 years ago? Before that time, I only thought Cebu is famous for danggit. If you haven’t tasted Cebu lechon, you are missing half of your life. Seriously!

What’s the big deal about this lechon, you ask. Well, the lechon mom brings home from her Cebu travels does not come with sauce. It doesn’t need a sauce because the flesh is already very tasty. She buys it an hour before her flight back to Manila so add the travel time plus Manila’s traffic, the skin isn’t crispy anymore when mom-bearing-yummy-lechon reaches our house. In spite of that, the skin is still edible. In fact, it tastes good and is not makunat unlike Manila lechon. Another thing, with Manila lechon I only like the skin. I have to drown the flesh in sauce before I eat it. With the Cebu version, the flesh is as good as the skin. Maybe even better and no, I’m not kidding.

I have no plans of going to Cebu any time in the near and not-so-near future. I do love food tours but I want to stick to drivable food tours mmmkay. Going to Cebu just to eat lechon is just insane and a waste of good money. The wonder that is the interwebs has revealed the next best thing – lechon cooked the Cebu way here in Manila! Huzzah!!!

Food Bloggers’ recommendations:

• Manila Man – Lechon Family and Gourmet Lechon (the latter is located really near my place!)
• Nimrodel – Jun Jun’s Lechon (very near S&R at the Fort, Taguig)
• Spanky Enriquez – the gloater recommends Sabroso Lechon

I’m planning to order for our family’s Christmas dinner because last year was a disaster (and deserves a separate post). I might go for Sabroso but if you have recommendations, tell me so!

Well, this is another food blog and I don’t care. I love eating and it’s evident in my size. I quote myself as found in my “about” page:

I love to eat. I do not cook and I don’t know how but I appreciate good food. Good food, however, is very subjective and depends on factors such as an individuals taste buds, culture, upbringing, food-related memories, so on and so forth. This foodie blog is my say on what is good food and what is bad food, where to eat and where not to eat…anything food-related will go here.

So there. Another food blog. MY FOOD BLOG. I love to eat. I want to blog about it. Deal with it.