The One Who Cooked Chinese Fare

A couple of months ago, I wrote about attending a Chinese dimsum and dumpling class at 25 Mushrooms Kitchen (see blog post here).  It may have taken a while but this summer vacation has witnessed me finally buckling down to sourcing authentic Chinese ingredients and preparing some of the dishes I have learned to make from that class.

And I couldn’t be happier with the results...

 Radish cake

Steamed spareribs (didn't add black beans because Hon-some's not a fan)

 Hefty bundles of pork and shrimp siomai

My tummy can attest to the pleasant results of my Chinese cooking attempts!  And while they are not part of the cooking class repertoire, I went further and made...

Salt and pepper squid

Hong Kong-style fried noodles

I have yet to try out the other recipes (the hakaw, in particular, overwhelms me) but at this stage, I feel pretty strongly that the P1,100 I spent for that cooking class was the best P1,100 I ever let go of!

The One About The Binondo Food Trip (Part 1)

Last Sunday, my friends and former co-teachers at The Learning Connection preschool went on a gastronomic adventure in Binondo, Manila's Chinatown. Its busy streets are lined with tummy-filling, hole-in-the-wall chow spots. It was also the perfect opportunity to test drive the Binondo food map that I purchased some months ago.

And so, armed with an empty stomach (none of us ate breakfast that day), off we went to Binondo with our map and our salivating taste buds.

Teacher Pia

Teacher Ginger and I

Our first stop was Wai Ying in Benavidez Street. Teddy Bird introduced me to this little eating haunt some years ago and it has been a favorite of mine ever since. Since then, I have brought my family - and now, my friends - to this gem of a tea house.

We had their pork siomai. It was REAL siomai in the sense that the pork was chopped, not ground, making it really tasty.

We also tried their hakaw which was bursting with shrimps!

For me, Wai Ying has the tastiest congee. It doesn't need any condiments to enhance its flavor although I did put some chili on mine because I wanted mine to be spicy.

Their radish cake was crispy on the outside and soft, creamy, and melts-in-your-mouth on the inside.

Walking around Binondo...

Hmm...where to eat next?

The tarpaulins came to life... Hahaha!

Anyway, because the food in Wai Ying was super good, here are our ratings (0-lowest, 5-highest):

Our first stop left us feeling full already but we were raring to go and try out more eating places. But I'll tell you more about the Binondo feast in my next post (Suspense effect. Hahaha!) as well as a crafty project that went along with it! :)