Binondo Food Trip: Where to Eat in the World’s Oldest Chinatown

Fried siopao, eaten standing on Ongpin Street while it is still too hot to hold. A fresh lumpia that costs less than a cup of coffee in Makati. A dumpling counter that stopped serving dine-in altogether and kept its regulars anyway. Binondo has been feeding Manila for more than four centuries, and the best way to understand it is one small plate at a time. This Binondo food trip guide gives you a walking route through Manila’s Chinatown, what to order at each stop, the latest prices we could find in pesos, and how much to budget for the day. It is written for first-timers flying in from abroad, balikbayans home for the holidays, and Manila locals who have only ever passed through on the way to Divisoria. We also cover getting there, where to stay if you want an early start, and what changes when Chinese New Year lands on Saturday 6 February 2027. A quick note: some links in this guide are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, and it helps keep Two Monkeys running. Binondo at a glance What it is: Manila’s Chinatown, founded in 1594 by Spanish Governor Luis Perez Dasmarinas as a permanent settlement for Chinese immigrants, a...