OUR BINONDO FOOD TRIP

What is a perfect date for you and your significant other?

Yeah I could understand the attraction of candlelit dinners, walks on the beach, watching a movie while holding hands and making out, but sometimes, you just have to go for something different. Yep! When the candles have been blown off, you've already dusted the sand from your toes, or when the Beast finally lost all of his fur, it's time to do a certain kind of tripping that will make both you and your special sweetie, happy, full, and dandy.

And for me and the Chinese Dimpol, that "time" was a food trip with our KAIN TULOG BUDDIES in BINONDO!!!!! 

When we scheduled our BINONDO FOOD TRIP, the Chinese D and I were still celebrating our 1 week Valentimes.

(Yeah... yeah we celebrate our Valentimes for 1 week so that we have more excuses to eat, may reklamo???)

We were supposed to have lunch on one of our favorite restaurants. But when the invite came up, we thought... Hmmmm... Why not? We have been meaning to have one in a LOOONG time.

Besides, it would be refreshing to go to Binondo when it's not the Chinese New Year (like what we would always do) that I found it sort of weird to see the roads all clear. 

So yay!!! The Yub and I have another kind of date today!!!!

(Ang sarap talaga ng may asawa. You could use him to cover part of your big noo sa pictures!!!)

The meeting place was in Binondo Church, and right on the dot, we were met by the organizer of our BINONDO TRIP that day, THE FOOD ALPHABET!!!

Would you believe that the Chinese D had a slight case of gout that Saturday? But game na game siya. Syempre basta Chinese food, walang gout, gout!!!!!

AND we're walking!!!!

It was not actually part of the itinerary but the boys got curious with CAFE AQUATICA!

The owner of the cafe was very friendly and talked about how they came up with these interesting aquariums.

Yep! Those all have water but they were able to do that "waterfall" effect.

Cool right??

They also have a hub in Promenade, Greenhills which we'll check out soon.

Yohooo!!!!

And now we're gonna walk again!!!

Not far from CAFE AQUATICO was our first official stop... TASTY DUMPLINGS!!!!

TASTY DUMPLINGS is almost an institution in BINONDO. You would be crazy not go here and not try out their GINORMOUS juicy pork chops!!!!

It was my first time to have it and saying YIHAAAA is an understatement.

Oh.

My.

Gawd.

We had a quick but already very happy meal in TASTY DUMPLINGS. What a wonderful preview of the FOOD TRIP to come!!!

Check out the blog post HERE!!!!

And now we're walking again.

Beep! Beep! Pogi Chinese guys coming through.

While going to our next destination, the Chinese Dimpol eyed some of these pickled snacks and went for it.

Champoy galore. My Chinese Adonis is kinikilig with happiness. Yun lang magaamoy champoy siya mamaya. Ha ha ha ha ha! But I don't mind. Pogi naman siya.

We also bought some pickled dilis for Andrei, my bunsoy's favorite.

There, we were joined by FOOD IN THE BAG!! 

Our next food stop...

SINCERITY RESTAURANT!!!

I know that they have a stall in Robinson's Magnolia. But you should go for the original. Pareng FOOD ALPHABET said that the food they serve here is more delicious, and yes it's true. SOBRA!!!

Don't miss having a plate of their piping hot Oyster Cake!!!!

The raves were all true. This was crazy good. I just had one concern with it but I'll tell you what it is on my blog post about SINCERITY RESTAURANT.

And now we are 4 hungry but happy individuals!!!

And let's start walking again....

Pareng THE FOOD ALPHABET led us to this long alley where they had stalls of fresh fruits and vegetables.

But there is no alley that our famished KTG chinito boys wouldn't go to. All the more that this one has a premise of delicious food.

Yup! Here is where you'll find QUIK-SNACK!!!

QUICK-SNACK has been a BINONDO secret favorite for several decades and I could see why. Their food is cheap, simple, but delicious!

I'm not really fond of empanadas but DAYM this Kuchayah was YUM!!!

And this Sate Beef Chami is delightfully different from what we would have in other Chinese restaurants.

And now we are a group of 5 KTG diners with the addition of Joko from ABS CBN and THE DAILY SPANKS!!!

Check out the blogpost HERE!!!!!!!!!!

After QUICK-SNACK, we walked over to the famous CHUAN KEE!!!

It was a full house but we could see mareng FOOD ALPHABET from afar!!

Hello mare!

Ooooh.... Morisquita fried rice!!! My husband would go gaga over this.

CHUAN KEE was so full that day that we went to MR. UBE, another restaurant but with the same owner.

FINALLY! Someplace cold to rest our tired feet and mouths. Ha ha ha ha ha!

In MR. UBE, they have loads of goodies that we could take out and munch in at home!

But when you're there, THOU SHALT NOT forget about their buns with salted egg cream filling.

ERMAYGAHHHDNESS!!! This is life changing. 

SOBRA.

So perfect with MR. UBE's Laksa Noodles!!!!

Of course, don't forget about CHUAN KEE's Lechon Macau too!!! This is DA BOWMB!

Check out the blogpost HERE!!!

Augh... We were so full but the walk goes on. That is, after we have our KTG picture by the Chinatown sign.

But when you're in KTG, nobody gets left behind. That's why when mareng THE FOOD ALPHABET was still inside the restaurant, we all called her out.

MAREEEEE!!! He he he he he he!!!!

And we're walking again!

We actually have more restaurants in our itinerary but we were already so full that the iconic SHANGHAI FRIED SIOPAO would be our last stop.

We got steaming hot pork buns for only P20 each!!! My Chinese Dimpol was so happy.

 This might be something he'll eat during our JOHN WICK movie date later. Ha ha ha ha!

Yup! Don't forget to buy A LOT of these when you're in Binondo!!!

Yihiii!!! We have a hot bag of pork buns!!!!

The face of FOOD IN THE BAG says it all. These pork buns were GOOO-OOD!!!!

The pork buns got everyone in a good mood that they had the energy to check out a charms hub in Ongpin. Somebody wanted to buy some "agimat" to hypnotize the ladies...

YUB TALAGA!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRR!

>:)

As much as we wanted to go on, the Chinese Dimpol and I had to go because we made plans that afternoon with the family. It's good too because we're so full that our undies were about to pop out. Ha ha ha ha ha ha (sorry so graphic).

But yes, we had an AWESOME time! We will count this as one of our Valentimes date because it is something that we both enjoyed with something we love... food!!!!!!

Adventure pa!! Kaya YAY!!!!

Thank you so much to MR. AND MRS. FOOD ALPHABET for planning this super fun BINONDO FOOD TRIP! This should be something that you'll do on a regular basis. Ang saya talaga!

Of course, that FOOD TRIPPING was made more fun with the craziest foodies we know, THE KTG!!! We should all go on diets now to get ready for our NEXT BINONDO FOOD TRIP!!!

Abangan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!