A Trip To Binondo : Dong Bei Dumplings
After those fun activities we had in Lucky China Town, we headed back to Ongpin to find the famous Dong Bei Dumplings. It is part of the Binondo Food Wok by Mr Ivan Dy and I have read a lot of reviews about this famous restaurant so I said to myself that I should really give this a try to find out what really makes Dong Bei Dumplings so special and why everybody is buzzing about it.
Well, we were able to locate the small restaurant in Yuchengco St but the problem is we were welcomed by a long queue of people waiting outside. The problem here is that Dong Bei Dumpling has a very small space which is not enough to accommodate their overwhelming amount of customers. If it wasn’t because of the long queue outside, they will not even let others in and use the upper floor (which is probably for their private or exclusive for special customers). Anyway, since we’re already there, we decided to wait for more or less 45 minutes.
While waiting for our turn, we were still entertained by so many things. A group of kids and their improvised Lion costume mocks the lion dance in front of us! They were really a crowd pleaser! Another interesting sight are the Dong Bei Dumpling workers! Their glass door allows you to see them working with the dumplings. Yes, you can see how dumplings are being done so you’ll know that they will serve it fresh!
That bowl filled with green and brown mixture is their filling for Kuchay Dumplings. It is really impressive how quick their hands are and i think they can produce a dozen of these dumpling in less than a minute or two.
Kuchay dumplings, one of Dong Bei’s best sellers
Despite of the fame, this small restaurant is surprisingly not pretentious compare to other resto in Binondo. They offer a very simple atmosphere. I think the first floor only has 6 tables and can accomodate at least 20 to 25 customers at a time.
The second floor on the other hand has six tables and the aircon was much felt here haha. 
The Dong Bei Dumpling menu posted on tarpaulin on their wall. Some of their best sellers includes the Pork Siomai, Kuchay Dumplings, Pancakes, Dumpling soups and more.
We had one order of their Kuchay Dumplings and we’re surprised that at a price of Php120, you already have a meal that is ideal for a group of 4. I think there’s around 12-14 Kuchay dumplings were served in our plate. 
I’ve heard that their Xiao Long Bao were great too but we really had enough of it in Cafe Mezzanine. We ordered Wong Lo Kat Chinese herbal tea just for the sake of trying it LOL. Well, it tasted like Sago and Gulaman but mildly sweet. 
This is what we called “Art”… the art of waiting haha. We ordered their so-called Pancake but waited another 20 minutes. We understand the place is really crowded and almost all the dishes were freshly cooked so we do not expect our orders to arrive in seconds. It’s not a fast food after all. 
The Pancake! It’s not your typical American-inspired pancake. It is chewy, oily and it can be filled with meat. The one we ordered though is plain and do not have fillings inside. 
It tastes like a rice cake and to be more specific, it tastes like Buchi (a pinoy deli) but with no sesame seeds. 
Dong Bei is very generous with their servings. For the price of Php120, you’ll get 8 pieces of their pancakes.
Next Stop: Shanghai Fried Siopao
Check Out The Rest of My Binondo Trip Here
Binondo Church │Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz│Nuestra Señora Dela Soledad De Manila Parish │Cafe Mezzanine │Seng Guan Temple│Lion and Dragon Dances │Lucky China Town │Cosplayers In Binondo│Sto Cristo De Longos De Binondo│Dong Bei Dumplings │Shanghai Fried Siopao│Kuang Kong Temple│Sta Cruz Parish Church │Sincerity Restaurant │Ho-Land & Eng Bee Tin
oooh, now all these food you are showing today are for sure familiar to me, hahaha.. Dongbei Dumplings, it means dumplings from the north-eastern of china, and yes, they are indeed famous for dumplings.. the northern Chinese has noodles, dumplings and bread as staple food while the southern Chinese has rice as the staple food.. Kuchay Dumplings huh?? if not mistaken, it means Chinese Chives Dumplings.. so it’s a very famous shop in BInondo?? i can see lots of people in that restaurant!! you also tried the fried pancakes and also the Wong Lo Kat herbal tea, hahahaha, indeed a very Chinese lunch that is~~ 🙂
I’m craving for some dumplings now! Yummmmm ??? Great post, I’ll have to check this place out. Is it hard to find or is it easily accessible?
I’ve never been to Binondo and as I can see in your list it is a smorgasbord of great Filipino and Chinese cuisine that will surely satisfy our palates. Those fried pancakes though seems to be intolerable because of the oiliness inside. What I am interested in trying to is their famous dumplings. So far, the best dumplings I tasted are in Hap Chan, and I want to try this soon 🙂
I’ve never tried Dong Bei’s dumplings, does it taste really better than others? We have eaten at Cafe Mezzanine In Yuchengco. I like their wanton mami.
If the queue is that long and the photos you posted look yummy then it’s probably worth the wait. I do hope there’s no line during regular days. I wanna try their food.
That looks like such a fun place to sight see! I would love to taste some of the food Binobdo has!
I just met Ivan Dy last Saturday for the WSFC! He took us to a Binondo Food Wok and I was quite stuffed by the time we left the place. Indeed, he took us to Dong Bei Dumpling. I liked their pork siomai a lot! Definitely one of the best dumplings I’ve ever had in my life. We went there at night so we didn’t have to deal with that many people, which is good because we were a big group. I’d love to go back there with my friends.
I love to eat dumplings and I’m looking forward to taste those dumplings from Dong Bei. We will be visiting Binondo soon to get some supplies to sell so we’d be visiting that place surely.
I love dumplings! They look yummy.. will try this one whenever i’ ll visit Binondo one of this days.. I need to buy some home fixtures around Soler St. I’ll find this.. 🙂
Oh my gosh, your trip just keeps getting better! Those dumplings look so delish, and the pancakes too! This Binondo trip seems so fun! More! Hehe.
authentic Chinese food without leaving the country. Those dumplings looks so good to eat.
Wow! It;s super cheap naman, Chinese food is one of my favorite specially dimsum. will look forward to try that soon, thank you for sharing!
Binondo has always been one of my favorite places because of the food! My fave is Lang Zhou La Mien’s hand pulled noodles 🙂
I’ve never their dumplings but if people are swarming over the place and willing to wait for 45 minutes then it must be good. Plus with that price and serving, you do get your money’s worth. Thank you for sharing!
I love to eat kuchay dumplings. I call it jiao zi here. The ones you ate look really delicious!