downtown manila: wai ying

before i learned about ivan dy's binondo walk and those famous binondo hole in the wall establishments, wai ying has been on top of my mind. my friend who lives in binondo keeps raving about this place. the selling point - good chinese food at reasonable prices.

i finally got the chance to eat at wai ying which has several branches along benavidez street (intersects with cm recto) in manila. so here's what we got.

roasted duck noodle - it looks unappetizing. we actually had to dig into the bowl and put the duck pieces on top so that you can see them on the pic. presentation is the least of their concerns ;). but this is a good bowl of noodles. it has a flavorful broth. fine hongkong noodles which is bordering sogginess..would have wanted it to be more firm. ample amount of duck and at PHP 110, what more could you ask for?

pork asado with rice - might not look like a huge serving but it was really a huge serving. it's probably double the size or even more of your typical roast pork from other famous chinese restos and it's only PHP 100.

for dimsum we got, raddish cake, kuchai dumplings and chicken feet.

this is the best raddish cake i've ever had. well this is just the second time i've raddish cake and this one is way better. 3 huge squares for only PHP 50. no need to dip into the sauce because it's already flavorful.

chicken feet is my favorite dimsum. this one is good. tastes and smells fresh unlike in other restos who still serve them even if they are about to go bad. the meat is falling off the bones at PHP 50 a pop, you can't go wrong with it.

kuchai dumplings (PHP 50) - there are actually 3 pieces but i got excited and took one before taking this pic hehe. this is basically made of garlic chives and ground pork. this one takes longer because the dumplings are freshly made. unfortunately, it wasn't what i expected. there wasn't enough kuchai so the meat wasn't able to have that garlicky essence. and also, i had a hard time cutting into the dumpling because it appears that the meat is not well grounded so the pieces are huge and difficult to cut through. but kudos for having it really fresh and the huge pork pieces simply proves it's pure meat.

paired with hongkong milk tea (PHP 50), this is one of those great meals you'll have in downtown manila, easy on the pocket and yet satiable.

here's their menu to give you an idea on how affordable their food items are. they also sell frozen dimsum which i have yet to try.

wai ying fastfood
benavidez street, binondo