Binondo: Not your usual Chinese take-out
In America, Chinese cuisine are famous for certain dishes almost everyone can eat. Dim sum of all kinds, noodles of every size and variety, and fried rice that’s a meal in itself. Of course there is the generic chicken-beef-shrimp dishes that somehow all taste a combination of sauces (soy, oyster, hoisin) easily found in most Chinese take-out restaurants for $2.50/lb after 5 p.m.
But if you were to visit the Philippines, there are really only two reputable places to get your Chinese food fix. One only looks Chinese so I shan’t bother about that here. The other is a tiny place in Manila where the real deal is.
BINONDO is a town outside of Intramuros that the Chinese immigrants call their own. Welcome to Chinatown.
And in Chinatown, any exotic food is game. This is the place to find and taste original Filipino-Chinese versions of food you didn’t even thought can should be eaten.
Simon McGill graciously allowed me to post his adventures in Binondo as he walked the streets looking for something to eat. What he found may increase your appetite…
.. or make you retch. Sorry…
Fried lumpia, similar to the Mexican burrito or fried egg rolls, except this one is way much better.
Live catfish, cooked before your eyes, and to your liking. All kinds of fresh fish are found at the wet market.
No, it’s not balut. It is an egg preserved in green tea. Why, don’t ask me.
These come fried too, but I may not sleep again.
Cooked tongue (with the jaw attached?!), gizzards and other UFOs.
Is that an intestine to the far right?
Yummy right? The taste will grow on you. Don’t worry, Chinatown Binondo also has lighter, more palatable fare for the rest of us who don’t care for chicken feet.
images used with permission from Simon McGll @ 2007
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