We were at Lucky Chinatown Mall last Saturday as well as three weeks before that. The mall had a Weekend Asian Street Food Market in the Lucky Chinatown Walk during the weekends of August and this fun little event has been extended until the end of September.
Last Saturday, we noticed that the layout of the food stalls was changed. In our first visit, the middle part was clear and the stalls were in the perimeter of the area and they had their individual tents. In our second visit, the stalls were situated in the center of Lucky Chinatown Walk and the whole area was covered by huge tents. The first setup had a more open air feel but the second one was more convenient and made the food stalls more prominent. The big tents also provided security in case of sudden rain.
Layout in August 10:
Layout in August 31:
What kinds of food can you expect?
Near one wall are posters showing some of the food being sold by the different vendors.
The food we tried
We got some dumplings and potato balls from Fu Dao Shui Jiao. A 12-pc order of dumplings costs either P98 or P118 depending on the variety and there are several options available: pork, vegetable, pork with vegetable, and seafood. The dumplings do not look very pretty in the picture below but they are tasty and freshly made. The potato nuggets are also good; just wait for them to cool down a bit so as not to scald your tongue/palate.
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| dumplings - P98 |
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| fried potato nuggets - P48 |
We also tried Oliver Pinoy Street Food. We got chicken isaw (chicken intestines), pork isaw (pig intestines), and betamax (coagulated pig's blood). Oliver sells these Pinoy street food at a higher price than ordinary street vendors but Oliver's food items look cleaner and are covered to prevent (or at least minimize) contamination.
Next is Takoyummy's takoyaki. These octopus balls seem very popular with the diners. In both our visits, there were long lines for Takoyummy. A 3-pc order costs P25. Buyers can choose from hot and spicy sauce, sweet and sour sauce or a mix of these two sauces. It is also up to the buyer if he wants them with or without mayonnaise and whether he prefers chicken or pork topping. The takoyaki balls are very soft and flavorful -- a far cry from takoyaki being sold by other food stalls at around the same price.
Another interesting purchase were the taho (sweetened soft tofu) cups from Singapore Taho. We tried the ube and strawberry flavors. The first and last time I had eaten taho not being sold by Manong Magtataho was still in the late 90s, back when food items were bigger and cheaper, so I was surprised that the taho cups were smaller than I expected. In terms of taste, though, both flavors exceeded my expectations, especially the ube one. Next time we'll try the other flavors. The prices and available flavors of Singapore Taho are as follows: original, milo, and ube (100ml P18, 200ml P32); strawberry, wintermelon, caramel, almond, and Thai tea (100ml P20, 200ml P36).
For takeout, we bought two orders of Yang Chow fried rice from Big Bowl Noodles -- one with sweet and sour fish fillet (mine) and the other with porkchop (bf's). We were actually done eating but seeing the staff cooking the yang chow fried rice in his big wok proved too tempting to resist. I was too full to try the yang chow myself but the one with the fish fillet was good according to my relative who is usually very critical when it comes to food. I regret not even taking a bite so next time I'm definitely going to try it. The fried rice (including the viand on top) sells for P80/order and the serving is quite big.
Other food stalls in the Weekend Asian Street Food Market were/are Sugbo's Best, Tasty Xiamen, Kopi Roti, and Lam Dynasty.
Weekend Asian Street Food Market
Weekends of August and September 2013Lucky Chinatown Walk
Lucky Chinatown Mall
Binondo, Manila
Metro Manila, Philippines
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