Food Tour, Mid-Autumn Festival in Binondo, Chinatown (Latest Update)

Mid-Autumn Festival in Binondo, Chinatown - Latest Update

Saturday, September 26, 2015; 12 Noon to 4:00 pm

To:      All CHOP Members 

From:  Pia Lim-Castillo, President, CHOP

September 11, 2015

Subject:  CHOP Food Tour:  Mid-Autumn Festival in Binondo, Chinatown, 

               Saturday, September 26, 2015; 12 Noon to 4:00 pm

Hi everyone,

Last year, we went to Chinatown before Chinese New Year to see the preparations for the most important event in the Chinese calendar, also known as the Spring Festival.

Our next event, which is the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival lunch and dice game in Binondo on Saturday, September 26, has now been streamlined and, for those joining, there will be lots of very nice prizes, from gift certificates from our members to cookbooks and food.  We are now a total of 29 attending but we still have space for members and friends who may want to join.

One tradition of the Filipino Chinese is to play the dice game with prizes which are given away when the lucky dice thrower comes up with the correct dice combinations. It is usually played among family members and friends and the more the merrier.

Here are the details.

1.  Venue:  Sincerity Restaurant on Yuchengco St. As this is a one-way street, you will have to approach it from Dasmariñas St., or park anywhere and walk over to the restaurant. Coming from Ongpin, turn right on Yuchengco, where you see Cafe Mezzanine on the corner. If walking, you will pass by Holland Hopia House. It will be on the next block on your right. Go to the second floor which has been reserved for us.

Another special event that unites the family is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese calendar. This falls on our Gregorian calendar as the full moon on September 27. This is the time of year when friends and family exchange mooncakes and get together. This year, we will go to Binondo again and have lunch followed by the dice game in the same restaurant. Ivan Mandy, one of our members who conducts his tours of Chinatown, also has a tour that morning at 9, if any of you are interested or if you’ve missed last year’s event. If you decide to join the tour, Ivan will ensure that the tour will finish on time for you and him to make it to the lunch.

About Sincerity Restaurant:  This restaurant has been around since 1956 and their recipes have been passed on from generation to generation. They are well known for their fried chicken, which is to my mind nonpareil. What makes their fried chicken different? It is the flavor which has a subtle hint of 5-spice and so tender. One can’t compare it to Savory or even the new ones now like the Korean Bonchon. If you haven’t tasted it yet, you will this time and you can see for yourself what makes it different. This is just one of their specialties and we’ve included their other specials in the menu.

2.  Time:  Lunch will be served at 12 noon to 4 pm. Do try to come early if you want to do some shopping around the vicinity. Lunch will ONLY BE SERVED from 12 to 1:30 pm to make way for the clearing up of the tables in preparation for the dice game. We will start the dice game at 1:30 pm so we can be through by 4 pm.

3.  The food, the food, the most important:

                  * Sincerity Fried chicken

                  * Owa Chien (oyster omelet)

                  * Crab Polonchay

                  * Sate Beef Chami

                  * Kikiam or Ngo Yong (5 spice roll)

                  * Chicharo with shrimps

                  * Sincerity Fried Rice

                  * Plain rice

                  * Duck misua soup

Please be advised that depending on the availability of fresh ingredients, some of these foods may not be available, but we will pre-order this menu with Sincerity to ensure that most of them will be served.

Drinks will be on your own as everyone has their own preferences.  This can just be paid in cash to the waitresses.

4.  The Fee:  It is P1,500 per member and P1,700 for non-members. This payment includes the food and your share of the prizes for the whole group. Prizes include cookbooks, Chinese cooking tools, artisanal Pinoy foods, magazines and gift certificates from food establishments of our members. There will definitely be lots of prizes for the lucky ones, including cash prizes for the top winners.

Your family is welcome as this is a family event. As in the past, family members pay the same price as members. Even kids are welcome.

Payment should be deposited to our CHOP account at BDO # 535-800-8146. Please inform me once your deposit has been made so that I can mark you and your group as paid.

5.  YOU MAY WANT TO TAKE OUT SOME OF THE DISHES TO BRING HOME.

As in all of our food tours, food shopping is part and parcel of the whole event.  If you’d like to order some of their dishes, this is the list of items. This will be individually ordered and will be ready around 4 pm when our event finishes so most of them will be hot when you go home. For those who want to order the Kikiam or Ngo Yong, you may choose to order this frozen and deep-fry it yourself at home.

You will taste most of these foods during our event so you can also order then. We just want an idea as to how many take out fried chickens, kalabasa and radish cakes to ensure that there will be enough, most especially of the latter two items. A week before the event, we will inform the owner to ensure that they will be able to service everyone’s order.

6.  Shopping and street-walking around Binondo after the event. Once our event is done, in case you want to do some walking and shopping around and maybe even dinner there, you are just a stone’s throw from the main street of Ongpin and, from there, you can just walk and shop for mooncakes and other Chinese products. Ivan can give you pointers on where to go.

7.  Parking:  Pay street parking is available on Saturdays. You may park wherever you find a spot or Ivan has a secret parking place at the end of T. PINPIN Street where you see the cross and a supermarket.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. I suggest you email me directly rather than pressing the Reply All button to avoid clogging up the emails of the others.

We look forward to seeing you all,

PIA, IVAN, SUSIE, VICKY AND EMILY

P.S.

For those of you who joined the Bacolod tour last July and have finished all the goodies you brought home, you still have another chance to buy your favorites when the Negrenses come for the 30th Negros Trade Fair, from September 16-20, at Glorieta mall center area.