HIDALGO STREET

Visited the recently re-developed Hidalgo Street in Manila. Traditionally home to shops selling supplies to photographers, it has become decrepit until it was renovated recently. Now you can visit it again and not worry much about checking your belongings every so often. Be careful, however, on your way there. The surrounding environs is a mess.

SINCERITY, NUEVA STREET

It will surprise any first-time visitor of Binondo to find a low-keu restaurant in the middle of shops along Nueva Street. But make no mistake about it, Sincerity Restaurant turned 50 years old last September 2006! They moved to their present location from Carvajal 20 years ago. For this trip, prepare Php 400 - 600 for 2-3 persons.

A refreshing start would be Black Gulaman (somehow, by default, you'd always end up ordering it) and Ngohiong.

Sincerity is never empty so be prepared to wait for a table. If you are coming from Sta. Cruz and came here by calesa, the cochero may offer to wait until you're done and bring you back to Sta. Cruz. You may want to give him food, by the way.

The one and only... The star of the resto is Sincerity Chicken. What makes it different from the usual butter chicken?

Golden hue. Warm rice.

The side plate. Brocolli and beef.

ESTERO RESTAURANT, ONGPIN

You may have heard of Estero from some telly show. Otherwise, it could have reached you by word of mouth. Food is fresh, surprisingly good, and shockingly cheap. Think Php 1,000 for a company of 6 (with re-orders). Amazing!

Good food. The girls show their appreciation.

There are other restos in this strip aside from Estero.

But Estero, being the first resto, gets the most people.

Estero and a real estero (beside it). Now you know.

BASILICA MINORE DE SAN LORENZO

I will visit again. Promise.

MY MANILA BIRTHDAY

What better way to celebrate my birthday than spend it in Manila, the City of our Affections? I brought some friends from the office to an impromptu walking tour of Binondo (No, no plans whatsoever of taking over Ivan Dy and Carlos Celdran) and had dinner at Estero. Wonderful day!

Wish me luck. Lucsious persimmons for sale.

Along Ongpin. Patience is required when weaving your way in and out of dense vehicular and human traffic.

It's that time of the year. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

Pockets of altars can be found in some Binondo streets.

Yosi break at the Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz (formerly Calderon de la Barca). The brass statue of San Lorenzo (Is it a Castrillo?) can be seen here.

When was the last time you went past these streets?

Ang calesa ay pambayang sasakayan... A calesa ride is always a welcome (and surprise) treat. Support our cocheros, please. Ride a calesa today. And try not to overload like so (only 2 passengers per calesa allowed).

The girls posing in front of the ube firetruck of Eng Bee Tin

KUWARTA, KUWARTA, KUWARTA!

If you want to start a new collection like putting together a Philippine Monetary Bills album, look no further. All you have to do is drag your couch-potato body to Sta. Cruz and look for this Capampangan and former beauty queen to assist you. Of course, like many other street transactions in Manila, it pays to speak the vendor's own language. In this case, it's Capampangan.

Trust me, she'd warm up to you so fast you'd find yourself being served hot coffee and suman.

VINTAGE GOES MAINSTREAM

I was walking along Sta. Cruz Church on my way to my birthday dinner in Binondo when I espied this man selling these items. I just had to stop. Are those vintage Coca Cola bottles selling for Php 100 apiece?! The label says "1945". The Beatles Pomade were sent to him from a supplier in Cebu (when was the last time you actually saw this thing?!). And then there were old magazines like The Asia Magazine and boxing magazines. Amazing.

Now that you can buy vintage off of the streets, it really has become mainstream. Collectors, keep a sharp eye on them little stores!

This entry also appears in Nostalgia Manila.

RAZON'S HALO HALO

Was at Razon's lately with my Aunt and cousin who were visiting Manila. Since I wanted to impress them with something different, I brought them here at their Mall of Asia branch. My Aunt is Capampangan, and me and my cousin grew up there, but Pampanga is such as huge province that I doubt anybody could claim that they have gone to all its towns.

Razon's is known for its halo-halo. I already wrote about them before and I know a good one when i see - and taste - one. I refer only to food, of course.

The thing with Razon's is that it could be expensive. I was hoping they could cut back on the prices of their halo-halo, for example, since there are only 6 ingredients in there compared to the others. Look, there's only finely shaved ice, sweetened bananas, sweet coconut (macapuno), evaporada and two slivers of leche flan. Surely these things aren't expensive so Php 65/order isn't justifiable. Well, what do you expect from someone who grew up eating great halo-halo in San Fernando, Pampanga's public market?

And oh, before I forget. Do not bother ordering that pathetic pancit luglug of theirs. That much for Php 65/order isn't acceptable and it's not that amazing anyway. I bet many of you can do better versions of it in your own kitchens. In the Visayas, this is called tulis (go figure that one out). Many bloggers say Razon's branches outside their home base of Guagua do not serve the same delicious food served in Pampanga but what the heck (maybe it's true). Otherwise, the halo-halo is divine. Makes up for the sad pancit and their rowdy and noisy staff.




Good to the last drop. Look, no ice left!

TELL TALE SIGNS

Filipinos have this unbreakable habit of bringing favors or gifts from their trips to the provinces or from abroad.

Called pasalubong, about 30% of the travel budget goes to buying food items, those lousy "I've been to ___ and all I got was this lousy shirt!" shirts, and other kutingtings or small items like wallets, key chains, etc. It would be akin to mortal sin not to bring people back home something, anything at all because they would feel slighted or what we normally call as tampo, thinking that we didn't think of them while were away.

Me and my cousins have stopped doing this practice as it has become very expensive to buy for everyone who knew you were away. I only buy food items for the household. These days, we just take tons and tons of photos and tell our folks back home stories.

Lately, I was at the aging Manila Domestic Airport to fetch my cousin when it occured to me that you can tell where people came from by their pasalubongs. My cousin, who flew in from Cebu brought, predictably enough, Cebu's famed otap (long, flat flaky crusted pastry sprinkled with sugar), dried mangoes and danggit (flattened dried fish). I saw one or two passengers carry out boxed Lechon Cebu (suckling pig; will discuss soon why Lechon Cebu is special). Hopefully those came from Talisay, home to Cebu's lechon products.

From Bacolod or Iloilo, there would be boxes of biscocho or piayas (no English equivalent, sorry). From Mindanao, flowers (orchids) or fruits (durian?). What do people bring from Aklan or Legazpi? What do people bring from Zamboanga? Would you know?



What do you usually bring back to Manila from your provincial trips? Leave me ideas.

THE UNIVERSITY OF LIFE

Not many bloggers dare venture into the streets of Manila, much more in Recto. Many prefer to blog about malls, events, and their personal lives. Recto is always considered a bad place. It is spelled as p-a-n-d-e-m-o-n-i-u-m, and many think that it is the lair of thieves and other things better kept in the darkness of the night.

All the above-mentioned observations are correct. Well, almost.

Here however, one can be a witness to how the normal Manila resident spends his day. Recto never sleeps. Its businesses run 24 hours, 7 days a week. Both legal and illegal ventures at that. Motels are open all day long and do not lack patrons. Sleazy cinemas, too, have their own regular visitors. There are bars for all people of different persuasions. Young boys and girls from provinces try their luck on many lighted stages of Recto's many bars. DVDs, VCDs, pornography, plastic cockroaches, sex toys, street food, leather products, framing services (photo frames, not frame ups! hehe) - everything can be had for a price; heck, even education can be bought here!




You can buy identification cards (SSS, GSIS, BIR, PRC, LTO, name it, they have it) for 300 to 500 pesos apiece. You want to graduate from a prestigious university without even enrolling? A certificiate of graduation can be had for a fee (it is not cheap). If you simply want to show your parents how well you did in in school, you can also have a Transcript of Records made here. A La Salle education, did you say? Consider it done.

Recto is, and always have been, a good source of film material yet it doesn't get that much attention from writers. Do find time to get out of your comfort zones and experience how it's like to be here. Eavesdrop on conversations. Taste the goodness of street food. Feel the warmth of the weather on your skin. Watch the heavy traffic. Smell the aroma of abandoned buildings alongside that of lechon kawali, cheap buy 1-take 1 burgers and fish ball.

The streets of Recto has more than what real universities offer. It teaches you about living and survivial. Welcome to Recto. Welcome to Manila's University of Life.