Dumplings and Noodles at Dong Bei Restaurant

My apologies for the previous posting of this entry. This was originally scheduled to be published last Monday, but for some reason, WordPress didn’t publish it. Then when it was published, I find out that the rest of the entry has disappeared. Here’s the complete entry.

I wouldn’t have discovered Dong Bei if I hadn’t joined Ivan Man Dy’s Big Binondo Food Wok. Tucked in one of Binondo’s not-so-busy streets, you wouldn’t really think to venture into this area, thinking the restaurant serving the best dumplings in Chinatown can be found here.

Dong Bei Pork and Kutchay Dumplings
Dong Bei Pork and Kutchay Dumplings

Dong Bei restaurant, unlike most Chinese restaurants who mainly serve Cantonese dishes, specialize in Northern Chinese cuisine. Customers come in for their specialty: fresh handmade dumplings. The dumplings are made right then and their by their crew. Though they also freeze dumplings for storage, the dumplings served are cooked fresh.

Eric, my travel buddy for this mini Manila re-discovery trip, and I shared a mixed plate of pork and kutchay (chives) dumplings. The dumplings are served with a sauce made with soy sauce (?), vinegar and chopped garlic, with chilli on the side. Not the typical soysauce + kalamansi sauce we’re used to, but their sauce was good and matched their dumpling very well.

Dong Bei Kutchay Dumplings
You can actually see the ingredients of their dumplings!

Halfways through our plate, we realize that Dong Bei also make their own fresh “handiwork” noodles. Intrigued, we decided to try the noodles. Calling a server, we asked for their bestseller. She recommends Soy Bean Sauce, which she said is “like spaghetti.” We took her word and placed our order.

Dong Bei Soy Bean Sauce Handiwork Noodles
Soy Bean Sauce Handiwork Noodles

As the server said, the sauce is served on the side along with long strips of cucumbers. What an odd combination, I thought. But it has been a pretty hot day; the cool cucumbers would be great to eat. After a round of photos, we quickly mixed the noodles with the sauce and cucumbers and took out first taste. It was great! Somehow, the combination of the noodles, the cucumber and the pork cooked with soy bean worked really well together. I’m definitely ordering this again when I come back to Dong Bei.

A plate of 14 pieces of dumplings and the bowl of handiwork noodles costs Php 100. Ice cold cans of cola costs Php 25 each. Our bill amounted to Php 250. At Php 125, this has been a pretty great meal.

Dong Bei Restaurant
642 Yuchengco St (formerly Nueva)
Binondo, Manila

From the Binondo Church, walk along Ongpin street (where the big purple fire trucks are). Turn left at the first corner and cross the intersection. Dong Bei is at your right.

KFC Original Recipe: My favorite guilty pleasure

I’ve been feeling under the weather the past weeks. While waiting for the Delusional Chef to show up, I decided to have brunch at the Landmark’s foodcourt. I wandered around, not really craving for anything. But I was hungry and I’m pressed for time, so I needed to decide right away. I came upon an old favorite, and I instantly know what I wanted: fried chicken.

KFC Original Recipe
Original Recipe fried chicken is love

Growing up, fried chicken has always been a treat of sorts. I can’t recall my mother cooking fried chicken for everyday meals, so the only times I was able to eat fried chicken was during children parties or trips to the fast food. Fried chicken, though fairly straightforward, have different variations. There’s the fried chicken that’s been marinated in soy sauce and kalamansi and fried sans breading. Another variant is the fried chicken that’s been dipped in store bought breading mix (hence only the skin has flavor). There’s also Jollibee’s Chicken Joy, Max’s Fried Chicken and of course, Kentucky Fried Chicken.

KFC Original Recipe
More gravy, please

KFC’s fried chicken has a distinct flavor that leaves you wondering what Colonel Sanders put in his batter. Unlike other fried chicken, the skin on this Original Recipe chicken is soft and tender, and absolutely bursting with flavor (and oil). The meat underneath is equally succulent. Though your mental calorie meter is going through the roof as you bite into your chicken leg, the way your eyes roll to the heavens betray the pleasure you get from the taste of this delectable treat. Paired of with an equally flavorful gravy, Kentucy Fried Chicken is the perfect comfort food to bring some light into an otherwise dreary week.

Cupping at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

Let’s start off with a little trivia I learned at the event: Tea is the 2nd most consumed beverage, next to water, world wide. And here I thought it was beer!

Moving on.

Cupping is the term used for what a tea taster does as he evaluates the tea. And at the Tea Appreciation Seminar, we got to sample some of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s house blends.

Tea! I think this is the African Sunrise
Trying out Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf’s bestsellers

The first tea that was served was the Genmaicha Tea, which is a blend of high-quality Sencha tea and partially toasted rice. I got a whiff of the aroma before I took a sip, and it did smell faintly of toasted rice. As I sipped the tea, I noticed how light the tea tasted, and how the flavor of the toasted rice gave it a wonderful finish.

Next to be served was the Fancy Formosa Dragon Oolong which is a medium bodied tea, with a subtle floral aroma and a flavored with a hint of peach. Now this is an instant favorite of mine, simply because it is peach-flavored. I love anything peach-flavored!

A light-bodied tea, the Apricot Ceylon was the third to be served. I liked this one as well because of its fruity flavor and aroma, which is think is a bit stronger than the Fancy Formosa Dragon Oolong. (Even though it is lighter.)

CBTL Tea Bag
CBTL Pyramid Tea Bag

If you want spice, then the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s Chai is the tea for you. This full-bodied tea is a special blend of Black Tea, cinnamon, cloves and other spices. These give an exotic aroma and spicy taste to this flavorful tea.

Saving the best for last, our host introduced us to the latest addition to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s roster of house blends– the African Sunrise. This definitely takes the cake–or should i say “tea”?-! A Coffee Bean original blend, it has a very smooth body, complimented with a wonderful flavor and aroma. This is definitely the best tasting tea I had ever had! It has never been released anywhere in the world, and will be first sampled here in the Philippines this June.

Appreciating tea with David DeCandia

The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf invited bloggers for a night with tea connoisseur and Master Tea Blender David DeCandia for a session on tea appreciation.

The Coffee Bean and Tea Lead

Unless you count iced tea, tea drinking hasn’t caught on the same way coffee did with the influx of coffee shops all over the Philippines. Tea, however, is starting to get its following. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Marketing Director Paolo del Rosario seized this opportunity to introduce Filipinos to the different range of flavors that tea has to offer.

Teaching bloggers how to properly slurp the tea, Mr. DeCandia proceeded to introduce five different teas for tasting: the Genmaicha Green, a toasty brew with a sweetness provided by rice; the Fancy Formosa Dragon Oolong with a subtle floral aroma and a hint of peach; the Apricot Ceylon, a light tea with the fruity flavor of apricot; the Chai, the full bodied spicy tea, which has long been the favorite of many tea drinkers, and; the African Sunrise, a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf exclusive, which will be available in the Philippine starting June 2008.

Some photos from the Tea Appreciation Seminar:

Spot the bloggers
Can you spot and identify the bloggers?

David DeCandia teaching bloggers how to slurp
David DeCandia teaching the finer points of slurping tea

Tea!
Lining up the get the first taste of the Genmaicha Green

Hiking buddies AJ and Phoebe
AJ and Phoebe

Noemi and Ajay
Noemi and Ajay

Eric, Arpee and Khursten
Eric, Arpee and Khusten

With Fritz
Nina and Fritz

Khursten, Kaoko and their Pinkies
Khursten and Kaoko with their Pinkies

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf invites you to Share and Inspire others with your Passion. Upload photos, videos, audio and essay of your most memorable experiences at The Bean and join My Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Story. If your story is their cup of tea, you might just become the winner of a trip to Hollywood, Los Angeles for 4 days and 3 nights with accommodations and pocket money. Log on to whatsyourcoffeebeanandtealeafstory.com for details.

Eli's Cheesecake Tira Mi Su Sampler

My mom went to the supermarket the other day after a visit to the dentist’s clinic. She brought this treat home:

Eli's Cheesecake Tira Mi Su Sampler
Eli’s Cheesecake Tira Mi Su Sampler

 
Tira mi su is a popular Italian dessert that means “pick me up” in English. It is made up of sponge biscuits or stale cake dipped in a mixture of coffee and rum, topped with a mixture of mascarpone’ cheese, egg yolks, cream and sugar, and then crowned with a dusting of cocoa.

The sampler has four variants– the original tira mi su, chocolate, white chocolate, and caramel. With three slices of each variant, there’s plenty to go around!

Eli's Cheesecake Tira Mi Su Sampler
Original Tiramisu, White Chocolate and Caramel

 
I’ve tried all four, and I liked all of them. It’s safe to say that I wasn’t disappointed. Well except for the size of the portion. It was a bit to small for me, but then again I do like my cake slices big! Other than that, it was pure heaven! The mascarpone’ layer was not too sweet, very smooth and very creamy!

Eli's Cheesecake Tira Mi Su Sampler
Chocolate Tiramisu

 
Eli’s Tira mi su Sampler and Cheesecakes are available at Robinson’s Supermarket and Makro outlets. You can also order online at www.elicheesecake.com.

Creamline Ice Cream

I’ve been wondering what to write for my first food post for kainpinoy when I found out that Creamline Ice Cream was being sold in a nearby sari-sari store.

Upskirt ufooooo~~~~
Creamline Choco Mud Pie and Emi’s panties

 
What’s so special about Creamline Ice Cream, you ask? I have to admit that it started out as a joke, our fascination with this ice cream. We tried it, and we found out that it wasn’t so bad. As their website proudly proclaims, their ice cream is creamier than the other local brands. They also have a variety of flavors that other local brands don’t. So far, the two Creamline Premium Cream Cups that I’ve tried are Tiramisu and Choco Mud Pie.

Success! Creamline Ice Cream!
Pardon the crappy shots. It was too hot and the ice cream was melting -_-

 

The big question now is, where to buy Creamline Ice Cream? We first tried Creamline in Batangas, and we’ve been wondering since then where to buy them in Metro Manila. Luckily enough, while I was asking my sister to be on the lookout for the Creamline logo in Quiapo, my niece interrupted to say that the sari-sari store sells Creamline. Hallelujah! Their website isn’t really helpful as to where to buy their products. However, their website announced that there’s a Creamline kiosk inside Virramall in Greenhills.

Success! Creamline Ice Cream!
Mmmm, cookie bits!

 
Creamline Premium Cream Cups are sold between Php 18 – 25 each.

Hello world!

kainpinoy.com

Welcome to kainpinoy.com!

Pardon the empty site, but hopefully, it won’t be empty for long 😉 What can you expect from kainpinoy?

  • Restaurant reviews in and around the Philippines
  • Restaurant guides: where to eat, what to order and how much to bring
  • Philippine street food guide
  • Cooking and baking how-to’s
  • Food and beverage events
  • …and other things that escape me at this moment

We’re looking forward to sharing our love for cuisine with you in our little corner of the web. Because we love to eat 😉