Binondo redux

SINGKIT

- DOREEN G. YU

When our office was still in Port Area, we made regular visits to Binondo—for a lunch of maki-mi and xiao long bao at Mezzanine café followed by shopping at Carvajal and Ongpin streets, with a side trip for me to the tea shop (which also sold bearings) on Nueva street.

But since we moved to our spanking new office in Sucat, Parañaque in November 2023, these outings stopped, Binondo being quite literally at the other end of the world. I’ve had to do my shopping in the Chinese groceries in my neighborhood (there are several), which generally have a pretty good inventory, but it’s somehow a different experience shopping for red dates and goji berries and tao si (fermented black beans) and whatnot in my favorite store on Ongpin street, searching for what I need among shelves crammed with bottles and cans and plastic packs (often dusty) then having a quick chat with the owner—always ready with a smile who sits in an elevated section by the window—while waiting to pay for my purchases.