President Tea House

Of dimsums and chopstick gestures

Food

Service

Atmosphere

After a morning of zigzagging across Manila's Chinatown, President's Tea House may not exactly be the heartwarming little restaurant one might want to cozy into. With the typical unimaginative Chinese decor of menu item pictures plastered all over the walls, and the slightly greasy red-colored chairs, President's has the look and the feel of an old Chinese restaurant of by-gone eras. But by just listening to the loud ruckus of conversations with matching chopstick gestures, you'll know that this is already home to a lot of regular patrons. 

To get there is quite easy, just take a left at the bottom of the walking bridge along the famous Ongpin St. and one will see why President's doors are still open after several decades in existence. On a typical day, this particularly tea house is bustling with Filipinos and Chinese alike, savoring affordable yet delectable dimsum delights. One just walks up to a dimsum cart and point at whatever strikes one's fancy. Always order the 'tao-phe' roll and spinach with shrimp dimsum, they always seem to be running out of those. Also don't forget the staples of hakaw, chicken feet and shrimp ho-fan. There is also the traditional seafood birthday noodles, which are too good just to have on that occasion. 

And like any Chinese fare, you just wash it all down with several gulps of hot tea to help with the digestion.