Kung Hei Fat Choi to our Chinese readers and foodies! For the next feature, the crew went to Binondo. Established in 1594, the Binondo Chinatown is known as the oldest Chinatown in the world.

Binondo was created by Spanish Governor Luis Pérez Dasmariñas as a permanent settlement for Chinese immigrants, called the sangleys, who converted to Catholicism. It is located across historical Intramuros, where most of the Spanish resided.

The Spanish Dominican fathers made Binondo their parish and succeeded in converting many of the residents to Catholicism. Binondo soon became the place where Chinese immigrants converted to Catholicism, intermarried with indigenous Filipino women and had children, who became the Chinese mestizo community. 

For our Binondo food feature, we had a taste of The Original Savory Restaurant, which was established way back 1950 by the four Ting Brothers.

The four Ting brothers started a small panciteria in Quiapo. The panciteria served only the lomi at first. After the World War II, they decided to expand their menu to serve more Filipino and Chinese dishes to their loyal customers.

The Ting brothers developed a special recipe for the fried chicken and gravy that became popular not only with the Chinese community, but to the Filipino families as well. 

After 60 years, theOriginal Savory’s first branch located at the foot of Jones Bridge still continues to serve the old recipes passed on by the forefathers, maintaining the flavor that elevated its fried chicken to an emulated status.

We had the tasty Savory Chicken served with their signature gravy. The meatiness and the juiciness of the chicken keep you coming back for more, and the gravy certainly compliments its great taste.

We had chicken with the traditional Chinese fried rice, called the Yang Chow Fried Rice. It goes well with anything on the menu.

If you love Iced Tea, you better try Savory’s signature Lemon Iced Tea. It is certainly sweet and sour at the same time, giving a taste of both worlds.

The Original Savory currently has 9 branches across the Metro. You can check their Facebook page here.