Can I just say? I love Chinatown!

In one of my SMS conversations with Boyfriend, I had to tell him, “You know what, I was probably a Chinese princess in my past life.”

I don’t know why, but I have this perplexing, almost odd fascination about the Chinese culture.

I love the smell of Chinese incense, the waft of Chinese herbal medicine --- and dig this, I even like how a Chinese bodega smells like. The combination of the heady scent of incense and brown balikbayan boxes stacked over one another – yes, I like how it smells. Weird, no?

Today, Globe friends (Cathy, Yoj, Jay, Kelvin and Angie) and I headed to Binondo. The plan was to have a food expedition: have a taste of great food in Ongpin.

And guess what? We went to six different restaurants/food stalls to eat! Talk about gluttony!

Anyway, here’s a chronicle of our food trip:

1. Dimsum at Royal Garden – I cannot even count how many heaps of those brown, wooden dimsum crates we downed. The group savored ha kao, chicken feet, pork siomai, spare ribs, pork and mushroom and radish cake. Each of us only paid forty bucks for everything!

2. Siopao and mami at Ling Nam – famous for their siopao and home-made egg noodles, each of us shared half a siopao and a bowl of mami. Wala lang – we just really wanted to have bits and pieces of everything. And since close naman kaming lahat, talo-talo na sa isang bowl ng mami!

3. Fried siopao and sugarcane juice stall – on our way out of Ling Nam, Angie and Kelvin saw a stall of fried siopao and sugarcane juice. Jay bought himself fresh lumpia. Fried siopao tastes differently from the usual fare of asado and bola-bola. Well, it’s different in a good way.

4. Frog legs sa Estero – I love this! It’s crazy – Boyfriend, who happens to be full-blooded Chinese, doesn’t eat frog legs and I, on the other hand, aylavet! I love it deep fried and spicy. Yoj was cringy about it at first. I told her it just tastes like fried chicken. She kept on telling us that her mind still tells her – palaka pa rin ‘yan! Yoj and Cathy were chided by everyone to eat the last pairs of legs – wahahaha!

5. Kiam pong, tofu and shakes at Eng Bee Tin Fire Volunteers’ Brigade Café – Jay wanted to try the kiam pong (literal translation: salty rice). So off we went to the Eng Bee Tin Café and ordered a set menu of kiam pong and tofu in soy sauce. Since we were all exhausted at this time, traversing Ongpin in the scorching heat, some of us ordered shakes. I got myself the peach shake, Yoj had her watermelon while Angie and Cathy bought themselves mango shake.

6. Sincerity fried chicken and oyster cake – the much-awaited finale of the trip is Sincerity Restaurant’s fried chicken and oyster cake. They did not disappoint! The fried chicken’s batter was uber yummy. No need for catsup! By this time, I was already bursting at the seams so I opted to defer rice.

In between our “taste test” of Chinese delicacies, we also went to several Chinese grocery stores. I bought cranberry tea and milk tea at the Eng Bee Tin grocery. Yoj and the rest bought hopia at Eng Bee Tin. Lo and behold, they have sugar-free hopia already! Saan ka pa? They have new flavors too, including moccachino and combination of cheese and ube. Jay and I bought asado rolls from Salazar bakery and some fruits from the sidewalk. Two kilos of longgan only cost me 200 bucks, so not bad. Yoj bought tableas in the famous tablea store. Hot chocolate is definitely a good partner for all the hopia that she bought.

Of course, mawawala ba ang picturan? Hala – picture sa tabi ng kabayo at ng Ongpin street sign. Kailangan may remembrance?

Since everyone was tired, we ended the day with an hour and a half’s worth of Thai foot and back massage. How soothing. Heaven.

All in all, it was a great day. I can’t complain.

Great food, wonderful company.

Thank God, it’s a happy Saturday.

I have posts about Bangkok, but it had to give way for this Chinatown raving.

I can’t wait to go back!

Next time, I will buy more tea, table and incense.

Sana Chinatown trip ulit.

Binondo, I love!