Gastronomic Adventure: To Chinatown and beyond! :)

I've always had an appreciation for Chinese cuisine, they have the healthiest dishes with the most heavenly flavors. It is especially interesting how the spices/herbs, vegetables and ingredients (in general) are integrated uniquely into each dish.

The Chinatown in Binondo is the oldest Chinatown in the world so one could expect a strong presence of the Chinese culture and old traditions in the area. And lucky for us, when there's culture, it often involves food. I have always wanted to visit Binondo because I have been hearing that there are many hole in the wall restaurants there that offer great food at a cheap cost. So my friends and I went to Binondo to go on a food trip during Easter Sunday. I actually patterned our trip on several blogs that I have read. 

Our food adventure started here: 

Ongpin street

Welcome to Chinatown, rawr! :)

There are a lot of fruit vendors on the side streets

After walking for a couple of minutes we came across Shanghai fried siopao, I've heard and read about their fried siopao online so we really wanted to try it. And it was really really really good. Nearby was Shining Star Fastfood where we sat and ordered Cogon juice. 

Dianne's Cogon juice

Where cogon juice comes from (boiled in water)

We then continued to walk, I did have a map that I manually drew but it wasn't of much use, we let our feet take us where ever they wanted to go!

We came across Shin Tai-Shang Foods which I have read about online, we went inside and they had such a wide variety of products available. They have interesting pastries too; Cham bought a Strawberry Mochi cake and I got a Green Tea and Plum cake. They're both very very sweet, great for my sweet tooth :) 

                     

Cham's stawberry mochi cake.

In front of Wai Ying Fastfood where we ate Hakao

We were already quite full after the fried siopao, hakao and pastries but Dianne heard that Masuki has the best noodles in the area so we really had to try it. 

Beef Mami at Masuki

buying hopia and other pasalubong at Eng Bee Tin

The Masuki Beef Mami noodles was amazing. The taste was great and it was very filling, the three of us shared one order and we couldn't even finish it! We had a great chat while eating too, we caught up with what's been happening in each other's lives and what are plans are. It really is great to be able to converse with people who think exactly like you.

The problem was, there were too many restaurants but we're three small girls with limited stomach space. haha. After eating noodles, we could no longer eat any more. Since divisoria was as stone throw away, we decided to head in that direction instead. We went shopping to kill time until mass that afternoon.

The Easter Sunday afternoon mass in the Binondo Church was at 4pm. It is such a beautiful Church, it is just quite sad that it doesn't seem to be well taken care of.

Before meeting with Cham and Dianne, I actually heard mass at the Sta. Clara Church as well, it was my first time to go there and I couldn't help but take a photo of the beautiful painting in front.

After the mass, and maybe due to walking so much, I felt so hungry. Tasty Dumplings was right beside the Church so we decided to get a merienda/ early dinner there and ordered Porkchop noodles. 

Cham with our food

Going to Binondo was such great fun, especially since I was with two friends that I really enjoy spending time with. I went home around 6pm. It was an amazing trip.  I was extremely tired! But it was well worth it. That night, I slept with a happy tummy and a light heart. 

Pagmumuni-muni

Nagmimistulang napaka-makasarili ko naman. Kadalasan, ang iniisip ko lang ay ako. Ano ano ang ikasasaya ko, anong mga ambisyon ko. Siguro nga madalas, iniisip ko din ang pamilya ko. Ngunit napakadalang ng mga pagkakataong iniisip ko ang kapakanan ng iba.

Ngayong mayroon akong pinagdadaanan, pakiramdam ko binagsakan ako ng langit. Wala kung ikukumpera sa paghihirap ng iba ngunit napakabigat sa puso.

Nung nag-aaral pa ako, inaalay ko ang oras ko upang magturo at tumulong sa mga batang nag-aaral sa pangpublikong eskwelahan; Sa una, isang requirement lamang ito ngunit nang lumaon ay ginagawa ko nalang dahil nakasanayan ko na at para punan ang mga araw na wala akong planong gawin. Iniisip ko na ang pagkakawang gawa ay para matulungan ang mga nangangailangan dahil dapat magpasalamat ako na may ina ako na nagsasakripisyo para lang makapag-aral ako sa pinakatanyag na unibersidad sa bansa kaya ninais kong maituro ang mga alam at kaya ko. Tuwing pagkatapos ng sesyon sa pag-aaral kasama ang mga studyante, nagpapaalam sila sa akin at nagpapasalamat. Ngumingiti nalang ako at tumutungo.

Ngunit ngayon, iniisip ko, dapat pala ay ako ang nagpapasalamat sa kanila. Dahil sa kanila ko natututunan kung paano maging matatag, kung pano maging masaya sa kung ano ang meron at kung ano ang ngayon, at higit sa lahat kung paano magpursigi kahit na gaano kahirap ang pinagdadaanan at gaano pa man kabigat ang puso mo. Sa kanila ko natutunan kung paano gamitin ang inspirasyon at libog upang malampasan ang kahit ano pa mang pagsubok sa buhay.

Sa mga taong naging inspirasyon ko, maraming salamat.