Binondo is known as the oldest and largest Chinatown in the world and is praised for its amazing food. From fresh lumpia to dessert in an old firehouse, we were able to try a variety of Binondo’s best cuisine thanks to our tour guides. There were a total of four food stops.
Thankfully, it was a walking tour, so in between all of the eating we were also able to go sightseeing!
- Toho Food Center. Known as the oldest restaurant in Manila, the Toho Food Center serves amazing Chinese food. The food was very familiar to me, as I’ve eaten Chinese food all my life. Everything was prepared very well and it was easy to see (and taste) why this restaurant has been successful for over a century!
- Fresh Lumpia. Fresh Lumpia, as opposed to the lumpia we usually see at parties and restaurants, isn’t fried. The ingredients are basically the same and is usually a variety of vegetables and meat rolled up in a wrapper. The fresh lumpia I had in Binondo, however, was a bit sweeter than what I’ve tasted before. We got our taste of Binondo's fresh lumpia from small window shop.
- Dong Bei Dumplings. The restaurant we went to for dumplings was smaller than Toho Food Center but extremely busy. It was packed with customers that were eating or waiting for the frozen versions to take home. While we were there, we tried the pork and chive dumplings. Honestly, it was some of the best dumplings I’ve ever had!
- Café Mezzanine. Known as the Fireman’s Coffee Shop, this café donates all of its revenue to the Binondo Paco Fire Search and Rescue Brigade. This stop was also our dessert and final round. It was easily my favorite of the four! There were a lot of desserts that I never tried or heard before, but I loved all of it!
Thankfully, it was a walking tour, so in between all of the eating we were also able to go sightseeing!
However beautiful the sights and delicious the food was, something that really shocked me was the high amount of poverty in Binondo’s streets. Just outside the town’s highly acclaimed restaurants and establishments, there were people sleeping or asking for money on every street. For example, you could see businessmen in suits walking on the same sidewalks that people, sometimes young children, are sleeping on. The differing levels of income and living conditions were drastic not only between Quezon City (where ADMU is) and Binondo, but even within the Binondo community.
This experience showed me how often cities, especially those regarded as popular tourist destinations, are poverty stricken. Personally, it made me think about how my personal spending can affect the world around me. (What are my dollars really going towards? Am I doing my part? What can I do to make a more positive impact?) It reminded me how important it is to think critically about how we spend or invest our money even in our day to day spending. (Who are we really helping when we participating in tourism? Do these benefits really trickle down through the community?) Moreover, it reminded me how often we forget and maybe even sometimes ignore these issue just because it's easier or we think that it isn't our problem to solve. Sometimes, we all just need a reality check to remind us that although the world is a beautiful and wondrous place, we still have a long way to go until it is beautiful for everyone.
This experience showed me how often cities, especially those regarded as popular tourist destinations, are poverty stricken. Personally, it made me think about how my personal spending can affect the world around me. (What are my dollars really going towards? Am I doing my part? What can I do to make a more positive impact?) It reminded me how important it is to think critically about how we spend or invest our money even in our day to day spending. (Who are we really helping when we participating in tourism? Do these benefits really trickle down through the community?) Moreover, it reminded me how often we forget and maybe even sometimes ignore these issue just because it's easier or we think that it isn't our problem to solve. Sometimes, we all just need a reality check to remind us that although the world is a beautiful and wondrous place, we still have a long way to go until it is beautiful for everyone.