Dimsum at Royal Garden

Had Sunday brunch with my family to celebrate my mother’s birthday at the Royal Garden, a Chinese restaurant in a corner intersecting Ongpin and Padilla Streets in Binondo, Manila. It’s simple and straightforward, and has an appearance that will prove antithetical to the restaurant’s name. Appearances aside, I enjoy this place a lot, and would come here more often if only I had the time. It has long been a family place, where we would go most of the time for after-midnight food, especially for those late airport arrivals that needed a good feast.


While the Royal Garden serves a lot of good noodles and predominantly Cantonese-style stir-fry dishes, we always run after the dumplings they peddle in a cart refilled every thirty minutes or so. The dumplings here are some of the best in the city, they are steamed fresh and served in really old bamboo steamers that lends some serious moisture helping seal the dumplings’ flavor. If you come at peak hours, you could run out of dumplings fast so it’s best to horde a dozen or so bamboo steamers onto your table.


My favorite here is the Steamed Squid with curry and chili. They're quite unusual for dumplings but they're really good.

Some of the dumplings you can try at Royal Garden:

Lumpia Siomai

Mixed Seafood with Vermicelli and Corn

Scallop Dumpling, another must-eat.

Siomai, typical but good nonetheless.

Meatball Dumplings

Sharksfin Dumplings

Fish Head Dumplings. I didn't think I would like this, but it's delightful.

Goto (Intestines)

Hakaw (Shrimp Dumplings), another favorite. Some of the best Hakaw I have eaten in my life came from Royal Garden.

Taro and Pork Dumplings.

Other things to try: Noodles, Congee, Spinach Dumplings, Kuchay Dumplings, Chicken Feet. Royal Garden is found at 851 Ongpin St. cor. Padilla St., Binondo, Manila. You can reach them at (63 2) 7331181.