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.
