Have you tried the Binondo Food Crawl?
When we travel with friends we usually love to see new places and try out amazing adventures. That being the case, we often miss out on tasting the local delicacies and must-try food.
This is mostly due to the fact that our time is usually limited and our itineraries are full-packed.
When we visited Manila, we had a couple of hours to spare and we’re given the opportunity to go on a Food Crawl at one of Manila’s most interesting places: Binondo.
Considered to be one of the world’s oldest Chinatown – the oldest to be exact – Binondo has a wide array of interesting and delectable foods that every foodie lover should try!
The Binondo Food Crawl is also gaining popularity among the locals, and who are we to not try it too!
Guided by one of our friends, who interestingly enough, is establishing her travel agency in the Philippines, we were up for an hour or two of food treats!
After our brief Intramuros Walking Tour, we were dropped off at the Binondo Church, our starting point for the Binondo Food Crawl.
Like most Catholic, we took a quick stop at the church. After saying a little prayer, we were ready for the delicious treats!
Our appetite? A little! Remember we had our late lunch just a few hours ago. LOL.
Nevertheless, we were ready to sample everything! Here’s a list of the restaurants and stalls that we visited.
Table of Contents
Where to Park
You can park your car/ vehicle at the Lucky Chinatown Mall. The mall is open from 10 AM to 10 AM. It’ll give you enough time to eat your way through Binondo.
Please do check the mall’s hourly rate for parking spaces before leaving your car.
If 10AM is a little late for you to start the Binondo Food Crawl, you can also park in the empty parking lot located on the right side of the street of Binondo Church (if you are coming from the Jones Bridge).
The van that took us was parked here.
What and Where to Eat During The Binondo Food Crawl
New Phou Heng Lumpia House
Address: 531 Quintin Paredes St, Bgy 289, Zone 027 Binondo, Manila Metro Manila, Quintin Paredes Rd, Binondo, Manila, Metro Manila
Opening days/hours: MTWThFS from 7 AM to 7 PM; Sundays at 8 AM to 5 PM
Contact Number: (02) 241 8789
Our first stop was at New Phou Heng Lumpia House which is famous for their yummy and equally affordable fresh lumpia. You may well take note that one serving can actually fill you up.
They also have a variety of other food that you can choose from including Maki and Misua.
As we were still a bit full, we shared a few of the lumpia between us.
The lumpia is filled with peanuts, cabbages, dried seaweed and carrots to name a few. They also have their very own sweet sauce that you can put in the lumpia for a more flavorful taste.
Eng Bee Tin Chinese Deli
Address: Address: 518 Quintin Paredes Rd, Binondo, Manila, 1006 Metro Manila
Opening days/hours: Daily at 7:30 Am to 8:30 PM
Contact Number: (02) 241 9999
Right across the Lumpia House is one store that we needed to visit.
Before heading out to our next food stop, we just had to purchase some of Binondo’s famed hopia at Eng Bee Tin Chinese Deli.
Actually the store sells a lot more than hopia. They have a variety of traditional Chinese delicacies including hopia, tikoy and peanut balls.
We had a plenty of options to choose from and spent a couple of minutes browsing through their selection.
I settled for some Hopia Ube and Mochipia (a kind of hopia with tokiy at the center) and Hopia Combi (hopia with 2 in 1 flavour). Delicious treats to be saved for later! 😉
After purchasing our goods, we headed to our (technically) 3rd stop for the Binondo Food Crawl.
Quik Snack
Address: Carvajal St, Binondo, Manila, Metro Manila
Opening days/hours: Daily at 9 AM to 6:30 PM
Contact Number: (02) 242 9572
Quik Snack is a local favorite because of their delicious Chinese food spiced up with other Asian flavors. The restaurant is air-conditioned with modern interior.
Here, we ordered two (2) different dishes that was highly recommended by our guide: Indonesian Tauhu and Beef Sate with Kangkong.
Both had distinct flavor that I found pretty unique, not the usual food I order at restaurants, but it did not disappoint.
I was a bit partial to the Beef Sate with Kangkong. The beef was juicy and tender and perfectly combined with noodles.
The Indonesian Tauhu was another dish that I found very unique to my tastebuds. I believe it was made of tofu, cucumber, crushed peanuts, parsley and some kind of sweet sauce.
We ordered a piece of the dish and had it for sharing between the group. Talk about cheap eats! 😉
Sincerity Restaurant
Address: 497 Yuchengco St, Binondo, Manila, 1006 Metro Manila
Opening days/hours: Daily from 10 AM to 10 PM
Contact Number: (02) 241 9991
I have tasted fried chicken so many times, but the Sincerity Fried Chicken in our Binondo Food Crawl is definitely one fried chicken that stands out from my memory (and taste buds. LOL).
We ordered one (1) serving of their Sincerity Fried Chicken for sharing. I must admit I was expecting the usual fried chicken that I usually taste, but it clearly did not meet my expectation. In fact it exceeded it!
It had a sweet flavor and was juicy that I liked very much.
The restaurant was a bit hidden. You’ll definitely need to watch out for it when walking in order for you not to miss it.
We were told that their Oyster Cake is a favorite too but we did not try it. We were pretty full at this time and we all agreed to just sample a bit of the food.
Lord Stow’s Bakery
Address: 707 Ongpin St, Binondo, Manila, 1006 Metro Manila
Opening Hours: Mon – Sun 7:30AM – 7:30PM
Contact Number: (02) 247-3305
On our 5th and final stop of the Binondo Food Crawl, we headed to this small bakery that bakes pretty delicious egg tart that can rival those that I’ve eaten in Macau!
Lord Stow’s Bakery in Binondo is also a favorite stop for those wanting small and sweet snacks and ‘pasalubong’ for the family and friends.
We ordered one box of their egg tart to go around the group. The egg tart had some yummy sweet filling on delicious pastry.
The bakery was a bit small. I think most people will just grab something from the store and head out.
Nevertheless, the egg tarts were delicious and pretty much quenched my body’s need for some sweets.
We left the bakery and headed to our 6th stop. The restaurant was closed by the time that we got there though.
Our guide had originally prepared several stops for the Binondo Food Crawl. It was getting a bit late, however (one of our friend needed to go home as she had work later that night), so we cut it short with the 5th stop.
We were pretty agreeable at this time since most of us wanted to rest. We had a rather adventurous activity the next day (stay tuned about it on the blog! 😉 ).
Aside from the time constraints, I guess one lesson that I’ve learned here is to go on a food tour on an empty stomach. LOL.
We were partially full when we started the Binondo Food Crawl since we just eaten our lunch. So we were pretty full by the time we were on our 3rd stop. LOL.
Tour Route Map
Need some help with the directions? We have our Binondo Food Crawl Route Map for you!
Check out our route here!
Have you tried the Binondo Food Crawl? What was your favorite food? Share it with us!
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My mouth is watering reading this post. So much variety to eat, keeping this post for suggestions on when I go to Manila 🙂
Cool! I’m sure you’ll love it!
Oooh I love a good food tour, but you must have been soooo full! That is an amaaaazing amount of things to try!
We were! Too bad though.. We would’ve loved to try some more! 🙂
Wow! This all looks delicious. Thanks for sharing it with us 🙂
You’re most welcome! 😀
Looks like an interesting place to discover and so many delicacies are tempting for sure
Yes it was and I even felt we barely scratched the surface! 🙂
I love the idea of a food tour! I want to plan one in my city – New York for the spring! I dont even know what half this stuff is and it looks amazing!
Awww.. Good luck on the food tour! I’m sure you’ll love it and come home really full! 🙂
So hungry now! 😋 I looooove lumpia!!!!! Going to have to visit the Philippines!
I love to try local food. Your food crawl looks amazing. I think it´s always great to do a little food tour no matter where you are.
Definitely.. It’s something we usually miss when we travel.
Food tours are always a great way to see a new city. The Beef Sate and fried chicken looked tasty. I was surprised to see custard tarts there. I became quite addicted to these when we travelled in Portugal. Did the Portuguese visit that area? I will definitely go with an empty stomach if I do the Binondo Food Crawl!
Sadly I haven’t checked the history.. 🙁 Funny how it was located in Binondo, right? 🙂 Nevertheless, it was a great add-on to our Food Crawl! 🙂
What an amazing article! And i love the photos, may I ask which camera and lense you use?!
Thank you, Brigitte! We use the Canon 60D and 24-70mm for the lens. 🙂
Darn, missed this when I was in Manila! Food tours are such a great way to get a better idea of what life is like for the locals- and enjoy some yummy treats at the same time!
The food is one of the reason why I love traveling 🙂 Thank you for sharing the post!
All of that food looks so good! Great guide!
Thank you, Andrea!
Everything looks delicious! I love trying the foods when I travel so this is right up my alley!
Sign me up for the Binondo Food Crawl!! I love all of the great food options you guys got to see and try! I think the Lumpia would be the highlight of my food tasting. That looks amazing! Darcee would probably love all of the pastries at the bakery too!
It is difficult to find great local places to eat. Since we are only in an area for a short amount of time and have a limited budget, we usually only get one chance to find a great place to eat. The Quik Snack food looks especially delicious.I like the idea of going on a food crawl to get to try lots of different places.
That Indonesian tofu actually looks amazing. And the fried chicken is like that Taiwanese fried chicken.
A very yummy blog post!
I’m really in the mood for some fried chicken now, thanks! I like these kind of food crawls, they’re definitely unique and good if you’re a foodie. A nice post with great photos!
Thank you, Lisa! 🙂
This all looks delicious!! Especially the egg tarts, they just remind me of Portugal! Yum yum yum. Those noodles, too!
We are going to have a 24 hour layover in Manila. After reading this I really want to squeeze this in. It looks amazing. I pinned it too!
Great to hear that.. You’ll definitely love it, I’m sure!
I have never heard of a food crawl before, what a lovely thing to do, but how on earth did you eat all that food?
I think that’s one advantage of being with friends, as you can always share! hahah..
The Binondo food crawl looks amazing, great to explore and find new places to try local dishes. the food at Quik Snack looked pretty yummy! Thanks for sharing!
It was.. 🙂 Thank you for dropping by, Vanessa!
Mouth watering while reading and now I am feeling hungry after reading this. Deliciously served post.
Thank you, Supriya!
Lumpia and Tauhu look so delicious and yummy. Hopefully I can find a place in Europe to try these until I get a chance to be at that side of the world. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome! Good luck in finding one! That’ll be interesting to read for sure!
One of my favourite things about visiting new countries is getting to try the local cuisine! Those pastries look good!
Ahhh.. I’d definitely be on the look out for tasty treats when I travel from now on.. 🙂
So many varieties, looks yummy . Sure i would try when i visit Manila, Great post and Nice pictures:)
Thank you, Priya!
I had no idea that Binondo is considered to be one of the world’s oldest Chinatown – that’s very cool! The food crawl sounds great! The Indonesian Tauhu and Beef Sate with Kangkong and Quik Snack looks especially yum, and I will definitely stop in at Lord Stow’s Bakery next time we’re in Manila for some egg tarts. Thanks for the tips on the restaurants you visited 🙂
Me too.. LOL.. It was interesting learning new things while on the road. 🙂
You’re welcome! Thanks for dropping by, Megan!
I totally hear you – I tend to pack my itineraries to the very minute. Glad you were able to have a few hours to relax and do the food crawl. The vegetarian lumpia sounds interesting, I’ve only had it with pork.
It was delicious, very flavorful! 🙂
Good to know I’m not the only one! 😀
This article was great and made me very hungry! I didn’t know the oldest Chinatown was actually in Binondo! I’d love to do a food crawl so will add this to my list of must-dos.
We’ve never done a food crawl before. Mainly because our kids are such picky eaters. You’ve inspired me to try a local food crawl to at least expose them to more international flavors!
Great to hear that.. I’d love to teach my daughter to eat a variety of foods too! 🙂
“we had our late lunch just a few hours ago” – oh come one! there is always a spare stomach for trying new things! I wonder how the tofu tasted like – been trying to cook something with tofu for ages and it’s never quite as tasty as I would like it to be. The sweet little tarts are portugese PASTEIS DO BELEM and they happen to be one of my fave desserts!
haha.. I really agree with you.. That’s why we did push through with the food crawl as it was a cool thing to experience! 🙂 They were locally called (and sold) a egg tarts.. Good to know about the Portuguese name 🙂 They were pretty yummy indeed!
I shouldn’t have read this when I was hungry! This is a great post! and I especially love the photos and the Map of the walking tour to follow along. The Indonesian Tauhu looks so interesting!
Thank you, Dorene! 🙂
My mouth was watering while I was reading your post 😀 When I am abroad, I always try out traditional dishes and booze and shop in local stores for souvenirs.
Marvi, thanks so much for the post.Really thank you! Great.
You’re welcome, Fuente
I’m not sure that I’d be able to participate in a food crawl here as I follow a vegan diet. But it looks like quite the adventure in food! Don’t eat before hand – you’d have to save your appetite for all of these treats! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you, Lauren!
Having seen Chinatowns in so many cities around the world, I was fascinated to read that Binondo is one of the oldest, if not the oldest one. Food experiences are always fun. I noticed that this food crawl had a vast range of Asian cuisine on offer, so much variety, and the stuff in the bakery too looks really appealing.
Agree! Such fun variety indeed! 🙂
Hi,
I loved the the phrase Food Crawl which is new for me.
I travel to eat and click. Food is integral to my travel which gives me reasons to understand people and place and it’s evolution. You must go for such food walks or food tours or food crawls more often.
Binondo looks fabulous with wide range of cuisines. Thanks for the map.
Lesson is well learnt for that reason I prefer food walks in early hours of day when appetite is at peak.
Thank you, Himanshu! It was indeed really fun.. I do agree. I’d love to do another food tour soon! 🙂
Yummy, yummy, yummy I want all this food in my tummy. Would love to check out this food tour in Binondo.
I love the concept of a food crawl! such a great idea. That tofu looks like it was serious stuff – almost a brick of tofu
Hi Marvi, love your food post!! You’ve listed so many wonderful dishes with pictures, makes me hungry to travel and taste 😋.
Indonesian Tauhu looks super delicious.
Thank you, Jyoti! 🙂
i have never been on a food tour, but recently considered this option. You have inspired me to try it!
They all look so enticing! I wonder why Lord Stow’s hasn’t opened a branch in Malaysia, I know locals would’ve gone crazy over them!
I love food tours, such an interesting way to discover a new city and the local food! Those egg tarts look amazing by the way, so similar to the Portuguese pastéis de nata, if not the same! Probably the Portuguese influence of that area brought them there.
Hey Marvi I Like All food post on this site.!!
Thank you!