Wai Ying, Benavidez St., Binondo
Posted by: Ayana on: 24 October 2008
I really miss Ongpin. I lived in Binondo for almost 25 years before my family moved to another Chinese-populated community up north, aka Greenhills. There are some decent Chinese restaurants in the area, but nothing beats good old Ongpin Chinese food!!
There are three branches of Wai Ying in Manila – the original one (near President’s Tea House), the take out branch (a few establishments down from the original), and the bigger branch near Hope Christian High School and Metropolitan Hospital (from the Ongpin side of Benavidez, go straight, cross Recto).
Wai Ying can be considered a hole in the wall kind of a restaurant. If you’re looking for a clean Chinese restaurant in Ongpin (but still cheap), go to President’s Tea House (Salazar St.), Wan Chai (Benavidez St.) or Golden Fortune (2 branches – Soler and TM Kalaw; go there past 9pm to get discounted prices). But if you want badass Chinese dimsum and rice toppings, go to Wai Ying. The place looks dirty – and actually IS dirty… 
Wipe your plates and utensils first!! If you can, use the chopsticks as much as possible.
*Watch out for the cockroach legs in the Chili Sauce container!!! Once, a small cockroach actually crawled out of the chili sauce container (the aluminum thing mixed in with the condiments, 3rd picture from this sentence) as my sister was about to spoon out some of the mixture. Another instance, there was a dead fly inside the container!!!
… But the food will actually take away your qualms. Think of those flies and cockroaches as booby traps that you’ve to conquer to reach glory.
This is my favorite – Shrimp Cheong Fan or Shrimp Rice Rolls. It’s called a rice roll because the wrapper is made from rice. The sauce is … I don’t know how to describe it. Like soy sauce, I guess. Haha! 
Lo Mai Kai – reminds me of Ma Tsang (beef, pork, chinese chorizo, chestnuts and vegetables mixed in with brown sticky rice and wrapped in banana leaf). The Lo Mai Kai is a simpler version of the Ma Tsang. A pork mixture was sandwiched in between layers of the sticky rice. It tasted okay, but I prefer the special Ma Tsang. Try Diao Eng Chay or Eng Bee Tin if you wanna buy the Ma Tsang. If you know Ongpin well, try the one sold at a store near Sincerity restaurant on Nueva Street. On Ongpin, turn right at the street which has the Eng Bee Tin restaurant on the corner. Walk past some jewelry stores. Then look for a Chinese deli on your right before a corner where lots of vendors sell vegetables and little pineapple ornaments.
White Chicken and Ginger Sauce – It’s like steamed chicken. I don’t know what this tastes like because I don’t want to try the ginger sauce. But my friend wiped her plate clean!! So this must be good. 
Fried Dumplings – the name says it all. Haha! This has a curry version – fried dumplings bathed in curry sauce. Yummmy!! We were only four but we finished 2 orders of Curry Dumplings (3 pieces each) and 1 order of Fried Dumplings (7 pieces in one order!!).
Of course, I’ve to help my stomach digest!! The Iced HK Milk Tea in Wai Ying is the bomb!
Now I’m craving for dimsum again!!!! Ugh!
7 Responses to "Wai Ying, Benavidez St., Binondo"
15 January 2010 at 11:37 pm
Yum! I’ve been searching for Wai Ying pictures.. and finally.. Will it be okay to use some of your pics? I’ll give all the credits to you. I’ll wait for your response..
26 January 2010 at 2:11 pm
sure mards! i appreciate your thoughtfulness for giving credit to this site for the pics. thanks for dropping by
[...] Photo Credits: Kalamnan [...]
4 September 2011 at 6:56 pm
Na shock din ako the first time I went to eat at this place. Mukhang madumi nga pero panalo ang food. Mas masarap lalo pag take out kasi sariling Plato at kubiertos ang gamy mo so you’ll feel “safe”. Hehe.
17 February 2012 at 6:23 pm
Kakakain lang namin dito kanina. Masarap sana ang sarap na ng kain namin tapos biglang may malalaking daga na tumakbo. The worst pa is may daga din sa may kitchen nila makikita mo sa glass window tumatakbo. Pero mukhang sanay na yung staff nila kasi balewala lang. Dapat ireport ito sa proper agency, they should keep their place clean lalo na food yan
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23 December 2008 at 7:24 am
comfort food