Pinsec Frito

Chinatown or Binondo has always been a sentimental culinary favorite for my family. Before the advent of malls, food goers would go to Chinatown to eat out. Before Gloria Maris, Hap Chang, Toh Yuan, North Park and etc there was the Chinatown pioneers like Smart Panciteria, Toho, San Jacinto and Lido restaurants. They specialized in Filipino Chinese Food or what they used to call as Comida China. They were opened by the first generation chinese immigrants. They were the pioneers who introduced now familiar Filipino favorites like "escabeche" or sweet and sour, "pancit or "mi" which are stir fried noodles, and "guisado" or wok fried foods.Thier culinary influence to Filipino cuisine is undeniable.

My mom and dad would bring us to these restaurants to eat out. They would order the same things that they used to order before when they would eat there with our grandparents. We usually had satay fish head soup, stir fried frog legs, tausi con tokwa and kang kong with lechon served with fried rice with chorizo macao. Our default appetizer would be the "halo" or the precursor of what we call our cold cuts. It usually had pugon asado, lechon macao, pata hamon and braised tongue and innards. You dipped it in a rich sweet, salty sour sauce. This was truly heaven.

One perennial favorite was the Pinsec Frito. or fried wanton wrappers with a meat filling. Its  a fried dumpling wrapper with a small ground meat filling served with a sweet and sour sauce. Every comida china had this dish. Being crispy and crunchy made it a family favorite.
Some of these old style comida china restaurants has survived until now. San Jacinto in C5, Toho and Panciteria Lido  in Sucat near BF Homes in Paranaque,  Toho still maintains its original location in T. Pinpin St. in Binondo, Sadly Smart Panciteria is gone. It tried to revive itself in C5 near Green Meadows but they unfortunately closed down. I hope the other restaurants wouldnt go the same way as Smart Panciteria.



True to my search for the "best of" foods. I came across the pinsec frito of Charlie's Wanton in Shaw Blvd Mandaluyong. It's an unassuming restaurant in a very peculiar place. It's not located in a commercial district, it's not in a mall.   It's in located in the winding confusing roads of San Juan. You really have to search for it. You'd be surprised though, they are always full during lunch. A testament to their good food, affordability and vale for money.

Their pinsec frito is my Top 1 of all the pinsec fritos. Their wanton wrapper is very thin. Very crispy. No "old oil" rancid taste. The small meat filling is also tasty. Their sweet and sour sauce is quite good. Perfect accompaniment for the pinsec frito.

Usually pinsec fritos from other restaurants are thicker and reeks of a rancid smell. the meat filling is microscopic and has no taste at all.

So for my best Pinsec Frito.....go to Charlie's Wanton in Mandaluyong. It's in the back roads near Pure Gold in Mandaluyong.

Homemade Lechon de Leche

That's me, my make shift lechon grill (manual) and my lechonero shirt!! That was a good lechon for a first time lechonero.

One of my truly favorite dishes in the world is lechon. Nothing beats a crispy roasted lechon skin!! Especially the part of the pigs "batok"!! Crispy salty pork skin with nicely toasted pork fat attached to it.

 There are decades old lechon restaurants like Lydia's, Mila's and Elar's. They have supplied our birthday parties, baptismals, weddings and a lot of important Filipino celebrations. A Filipino celebration should always be earmarked with a lechon.  When I was a sous chef at the Manila Polo Club I was able to see all the kinds of lechon that were served in parties and in banquets. My criteria for a good lechon is the skin color, the crispiness and flavor  of the skin and the flavor of the meat.

My consistent winner or best all around "Manila" lechon was of Elar's. They have consistently been better than the other lechon suppliers. The skin is really crispy and the meat inside is soft. The sauce is also very good. You can still taste the liver component of the sauce. Its not to sweet and also not runny.

I have been frequenting Cebu lately. It has become my new favorite food destination. I visit Cebu quarterly and my number 1 mission is to eat lechon. They have really great lechon. Much better than the ones served in Manila. The skin is cripier and also more flavorful. The meat inside is softer and they use fillings and aromatics that gives the lechon another dimension.  The cebu lechon does not need sauce. No need for the liver sauce. It's much more flavorful. If you try cebu lechon, Manila lechon is so much more inferior. So much more commercial.


I tried cooking lechon de leche (see photos above). I think I was quite successful. The skin was crispy and the meat was flavorful.  I got a lechon de leche about 6 to 7 kilos whole. I cleaned it thoroughly. I used leeks, ginger, sampaloc leaves, salt, pepper and msg (oops, that was a tip frm a litsonero) for the filling. I sealed it with an abaca rope. A technique I still have to perfect. The belly opened midway in the cooking process. Spilling the flavors into the fire. I rubbed the skin with patis and salt (overkill). Then let it dry. I used the Roast Duck method in which I placed a fan in front of it thus drying the skin. Removing moisture in the skin is supposed to make the skin crispier when fried. I cooked it over an improvised spit for about 3 hours.

It came out better than I expected. The skin was crispy and very flavorful. The patis makes all the difference. The meat inside was soft and falling off the bone. The tamarind lending its flavor to the meat was divine!! Perfect combination.

Realizations:
 Once you try fresh from the pit roasted lechon, every other lechon will taste like shit. We are used to eating lechon that was cooked hours before. It also had to endure the delivery trip. The usual waiting for the guests to arrive and finally the hours it had to endure in the chafing dish or the bilao. That in itself is lechon murder.

Eating freshly roasted lechon is unlike any other lechon experience. The skin is still hot and is at its full cripy glory. The fresh cooked meat is still packed with juices and the flavor.

To all lechon addicts out there, try at least once to have a fresh lechon made for you in your own backyard. There are still hundreds of lechoneros out there. All you need is a good sized whole pig, a lechonero and a backyard. There is nothing like eating freshly cooked lechon. It is truly beyond words. You will never ever look at lechon the same way again.

Capiz Oysters

Best "come home to mama" food! Fresh oysters from Capiz!

The island of Capiz in the Visayas is famous for their seafood. They sometimes refer to Capiz as the seafood capital of the Philippines.

My favorite seafood in the world is oysters. I have tried oysters from all the places in the world. I've tried oysters in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Hawaii and San Francisco. They're generally bigger and meatier than our local oysters. They all taste the same when they are fresh. It's just the size and the degree of saltiness that differs.

I loved oysters so much that I even  stole 5 pcs of fresh air flown oysters from France when I was an apprentice in Prince Albert at the Intercon. They were having a french seafood festival at the Prince Albert. My Sous Chef, Chef Stephane Chambon instructed me to go to the receiving area and personally take delivery of the air flown oysters that were picked up form the airport. I immediately proceeded to the receiving area.  I got it and brought it to him. We both opened the crate and VOILA! (naks, fumefrench na) There they were, covered in seaweed, oysters from Provence. There were about 3 dozen worth inside.  He opened one  to check the freshness. He chucked it open, smelled the oysters and slurped it! Then he told me to open them and place them on the ice carving on the buffet. And I did, but I had to make sure that they were fresh, so I tried and inspected 5 pieces or 1 for every 6 inspected oysters. Early on, the safety of our guests always come first so I had to make sure that the oysters were still ok!

Locally, I love the oysters from Capiz. The oysters from Cavite, Pangasinan or nearby waters close to Manila is a tad too salty. I can't explain why. They still taste good and retain the "seawater" taste but its just saltier.

The ones from Capiz taste more fresh and there's a great number of those big and plump ones. In Tagalog, "mas mataba" yung oysters from Capiz.

I love eating oysters raw but our driver who is from Aklan (City in Capiz) taught us how the Aklanians do it. They clean the oysters first. After they thoroughly clean the oysters they dunk the oysters in boiling water in just a matter of seconds. Then you just dip it in a calamansi vinaigrette. Simple but very good.

 Not bad. I also feel safer eating local oysters slightly cooked.

Food Tip for the Summer. When in the beach, grill oysters in the beach while drinking at night. Build a fire, put a simple grill top you can buy from the "palengke". Grill and wait for it to open. Dip in calamansi vinaigrette or simple tabasco sauce.  Serve with a cold white wine. So good and so sexy!!

Steamed Soupy Dumplings or Xiao Lung Bao

Years ago I used to go to this dumpling shop in Soler Sreet in Binondo. The restaurants name was Emperor and they specialized in southern chinese cuisine. They had the best "xiao lung pao" and "pork kutchay dumplings" I ever had in Manila. I'd go there during weekends and weeknights when the traffic was light. Every time I went to 168 or Divisoria I just had to pass by this place. Meatball noodle soup, onion pancakes and xiao lung pao was my regular fare.

I've tried Shanghai xiao lung pao, hong kong xiao lung pao and Beijing xiao lung pao.  The ones made in Emperor were the closest thing.  Fillings wise I won't be able to tell the difference. They had the same flavor. What they won't be able to really replicate is the wanton wrapper or the flour wrapper. The ones made in Emperor were thicker. The wrappers for the xiao lung bao in China were slightly thinner. It sealed the fillings very well and they didn't taste too doughy.

My opinion on this is that the ones made in China were ala minute orders. They made the xiao lung pao upon order. They formed the dough, rolled it and filled it with the fillings when the orders came. They made each one then placed it into the steamer carefully one by one.


 I've eaten there several times and saw them making the xiao lung pao in the service area. It made sense because dim sum is better prepared in a cold environment. You are using raw ground meat for the fillings. In order to retain the freshness, the room should be cold.

Xiao lung bao in Emperor were done in in bulk. they had to do bid batches ahead of time. They had to make bulk and store it in bulk.  The wrapper may have been made thicker to withstand the storage and also the preparation stage. If the wrapper were thinner, it might easily break open while storing. As we all know, good dumplings and soupy dumplings should be be intact when eaten in order to get all the flavor from the "soup" component.


Nevertheless, I still love their dumplings. Most authentic ones I've ever tasted here!!

Unfortunately, Emperor closed down. Through research I found out that the cook who made the dumplings was hired by Ms. Tessie Tan . She loved the Emperor's xiao lung bao and pork kutchay dumplings. She hired the cook and they now supply restaurants in Chinatown and elsewhere.

Fortunately, she is now selling the dumplings uncooked upon order. I always have a batch at home. For midnight snacks or quick meals for guests and friends!!

Cooked Gyoza style or my "dunk and fry method". Boil dumplings for about 6-7 minutes. Then pan fry in a non stick pan until it forms a crust at the bottom. Serve with chinese black vinegar with slivers of ginger.

If you want genuine Beijing style Xiao Lung pao and Pork Kutchay Dumplings, you can contact her through Tel No 8323299 and her cell phone at 09228982740.

Comments please!

I need to hear from you too!! If you have stumbled upon good food that needs to be recognized please feel free to tell me. It's nice to know how you guys feel about my blog. A good friend of mine commented that he ate in one of the restaurants that I blogged about in Beijing. I want to hear more about it. If you need directions or information about the restaurants I've shown. Tell me about it. I love hearing about it. Sharing the experience is always great!!  So please, comment or at least say anything!!   I still don't know shit about how this blog works but I see the words "comment" in the pages. Try it. Use it.  Or you can  email me or contact me:

hotchefnickyboo@gmail.com


I want to find all the really good eats out there!! I also will go out of my way to find these places. To all my friends from the North....north of Pasig River is already far north for me....tell me. I'm especially interested in street foods and small family run restaurants. I've heard so much about the "isaw places" and "tapsi" places in UP. Show me the way!!

Subic? Angeles? Pampanga? Baguio? Ilocos? Marikina? Antipolo?

Tell me where and especially what dish caught your eye. You can even join me. (KKB ha?) hehehehe.

Holler? Shout out? Email?