Thursday, March 27, 2014

Binondo Photowalk Adventures

Looking for an exciting different kind of cuisine in the Metro? Look no further as I'm gonna tell you my adventures with at the WD My Cloud Chinatown Photowalk! Find out what unusual Chinese delicacies we had for lunch after the jump!

Western Digital PR contact, Miko Lagman invited us to share an afternoon with them at Binondo for their small bloggers event called WD My Cloud Chinatown Photowalk facilitated by Photographer, Mr. Rolly Magpayo and Travel Blogger, Mr. Enrico Dee. Here we got to discover and experience Chinese cuisine through Photography and a different kind of food tour.

Did you know that Binondo is the oldest Chinatown in the world? That's probably the one of the reasons why I've seen a lot of tourists when I'm visiting this place. A lot of people already knew I like going to Binondo because I am in love with this place. Some of my friends have been asking me for quite a while "How do I get to Binondo?". It's simple, just take a LRT ride to Recto then from there, ride a jeep to Divisoria. Go down then walk to Lucky Chinatown and ride an optional tricycle ride to Plaza Lorenzo.You know you're there if you could see the Binondo Church at Ongpin Street.

So all of us first met up at the Cafe Mezzanine where you could drink for a cause! Yup, all the revenue will be donated to Binondo and Paco Volunteer Fire Search and Rescue Brigade Inc. Here, we chilled for a short Basic Photography session with Mr. Rolly Magpayo. He usually charges for these things but we're all lucky to be taught a thing or two for free.

I've learned that there are key elements that would help in a good story telling especially in Travel Photography such as the Establishing Shot, Medium Shot, Details, Portraits, Moments and Closer.


Estero Fast Food
Walking straight along Ongpin Street is the Estero Fast Food where it's called such because it is situated along a waterway which was pretty common here at Binondo.

 
Estero Fast Food serves at wide variety of Chinese and Chinese-Filipino dishes that they could conveniently cook in right front of you (hence the name Fast Food). What excited me the most is their menu! They have a lot of seafood meals there like Clam Soup, Scallops with Broccoli, Clams with Tausi and many many more. I've been here a couple of times but I must admit, it never gets old! 

Since we didn't have the whole day with us, we only got to try their Oyster Cake and Crispy Frog Legs. The Oyster Cake is soft and chewy, tastes great with the sauce. It's also pretty cheap for P100 for a small order and P200 for a large order.

As for the Crispy Frog Legs, some people like Joan may not like the idea of having frogs for lunch. But once you get past that idea, you'll come to experience that it's not bad at all. It's similar to a meat of a chicken, but a lot softer and a little more bony. This one is also available in different flavors not costing more than P300. A total must try especially for the adventurous!

On our way to Serry Restaurant, I saw a restaurant offering lobsters, sharks and other sea crustaceans. 
They really have a lot of exotic dishes here in Chinatown. I'm not sure if this is legal though..


Serry Restaurant
Serry Restaurant is easily located at #801-803 Gandara St. This is one of the oldest Chinese restaurants that offers very unique dishes like Pig's Heart with Red Ginseng, Soup #5, Eel with Ginseng, Sibut Healthy Pigeon, Turtle Healthy Soup and many more.

Sharing a table with bloggers Joan, Hana, Sumi, Willa, Mike and Earl.

Bamboo Shells which are believed to be called such is because of its bamboo-like appearance.
I love how these guys cook their shellfish, it's so soft and fresh. Such a delight.

One of their Chinese Medicine Soup on the menu is their famous Sibut Black Chicken. I've heard at Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho that these native black chicken are very expensive and not readily accessible so it was a pleasure to get my hands on these! The herbs are very aromatic and it is said that this dish is also an aphrodisiac and not advised for menstruating women because it would help increase blood flow. Don't ask me why. Lol


The Goat Kaldereta is really amazing. Normally, I'm not into goat's meat because I believe they are so tough! Especially the ones I've tried on the street! But this one is so tender you won't even believe it's goat's meat.

Have you ever imagined a more sinfully good chicharon? These Fried Intestines are so good that the whole table cleared a plate of these. I find these quite pricey for P200 though.

Call me weird, but I really love this Sauteed Pork Kidney! Then again, I love liver, gizzard, ox tripe and other "patapon" organs so it's not really a surprise.

A refreshing Herbal Tea to wash it down. I think it tastes a little bit like grass jelly drinks.



While walking to our next destination, we've came across a long street market. 
I wish I took a picture of that weird yellow Dragonfruits sold there. Lots of cool things, I'm telling you!

It's cool to see Sea Cucumbers for sale here. However, I hope these are not the endangered ones.

Ying Ying Tea House
 Our last stop for this photowalk was at Ying Ying Tea House
It is located at the corner of two streets, Dasmarinas and Yuchengco.


The place was packed and we're glad Ms. Miko got us a table reserved beforehand. 

I haven't tried this Machang. Which according to them was a complete rice meal wrapped in Banana Leaves.

 Apologies on the not-so-presentable food presentation.. It was no surprise why the tea house was packed with customers because the Fish Cakes and Crispy Dumplings are deep-fried goodness! They were kidding around that the Fish Cakes were flatter versions of the Fishballs. Lol

Their Xiao Long Bao was kinda different though, I was expecting it had a long of soup inside like the ones at Suzhou's. Anyway, other than great dumplings; they also have Pigeon, Pig Feet and Chicken Feet. I must try these sometime!

During our meals, we got to personally try out their newest product which is the My Cloud EX4. Where we got to store, organize and backup our data with ease since it was compatible with basically every device. Imagine Dropbox but with more space and accessibility and no premium membership fees. This was really handy because you don't have to worry about your data being lost forever when your precious gadgets gets stolen.

Bloggers Mike, Joan and Ken uploading their files on the WD My Cloud for the photo contest.

The winner of the photo contest got to take home a WD My Cloud! And it's 3 TB! So jealous!!

At the end of the day, I'm just thankful I got to experience a different side of Binondo with these people. Thank you WD team for making this all possible! With these said, I think I'm going back again to Binondo soon! Who wants to join me?

10 comments:

  1. We haven't got the chance of eating at Estero Fast Food when we did our food trip in Binondo 'coz we didn't know about the place. It seems a pretty good place to eat. I'm wondering if I'll like the taste of Sauteed Pork Kidney as much as I like adobong atay ng manok at balumbalunan.

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    2. What places have you visited when you did your foodtrip there? Have you tried fried siopaos there? It's a little less chewy than balumbalunan. Btw, Adobong atay is one of my favorites too!

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    3. We went to Maki Place and tried Machang, Lamien that serves noodles and dumplings and Tasty Dumplings where we saw many customers ordered oyster cake. I think oyster cake is a best selling dish but we haven't tried that 'coz we ordered other dish. We didn't know we can find fried siopaos there, actually, we didn't know where to eat exactly and what dish to try. We just stopped at random restaurants and picked from there menu. :)

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    4. I've been to Tasty Dumplings. I like it too but I haven't tried their oyster cake there. The fried siopaos I have to share to you some other time since I couldn't find my pictures there. Huhu. Anyway, thanks for the restaurant suggestions, I'm gonna drop by Maki Place soon! :D

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  2. I follow you now , can you follow back , I love your blog!!! From Spain.

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  3. This sound like so much fun.
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  4. This looks like so much fun! I've followed you back on Bloglovin now :)

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  5. I love reading food trips posts ! What a great set of pics and I love reading your experience, anyway I don't know if I'd try frog legs, lol :) Kisses

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  6. Great pics :)

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