Pinsec Noodle House

Location: Ground Floor Capitan Pepe Bldg, Recto Avenue (Near corner Rizal Ave or LRT Recto station). Just across a well known chinese fast food restaurant.
House specialty: Chicken and Beef mami

This is going to be funny. I went to high school and college for around 10 years in the so called university belt area (It includes Recto, Espana, and Morayta streets) and the only food joint that I frequent are the ones literally around University of Santo Tomas and Far Eastern University. I never ventured beyond the immediate vicinity. When I was in highschool I hardly ate outside because home was just several minutes ride away and I had this thing for fasting recreationally haha. In college I sort of stuck it out with a few food spots. There were Popsy's (not sure if I remember the name right) in front of FEU (best burger steak), my classmate's karenderia near Quiapo hehe, and Kendi Kendi in the old Cartimar (Haha again I'm not sure if I remembered the name right, they had awesome mami or noodle soup dishes). These local foodspots are now long gone to give way to big time fast food restaurants.

Daytime scenes in a cyber punk city

And yes, you read it right. The building the restaurant is located is called Capitan Pepe. It is a very old building. I heard that during World War 2, the japanese occupying forces converted it into a police station. It comes complete with a coat of arms insignia on the facade. Too bad my PS vita can't take a clear shot of it.

Capitan Pepe bldg right across the street along a busy Recto Avenue near corner Rizal Ave. Find the Pinsec House signage! 

Wandering aimlessly

Fast forward to the present. I've been visiting this quaint old mami (Filipino term for chinese noodle soup) shop named Pinsec House (I put the word noodles in the title just for description) which I discovered several years ago while walking aimlessly along Recto avenue haha.They have this full glass window in front of the shop. Inside it is where they assemble bowls of mami. Bowls are filled with half cooked noodles and their simmering soup stock is kept in a huge stainless vessel. When there is an order, the cook then adds chicken, wanton, or beef chunks in the bowl along with some garnish. They then fill it up with their soup stock. Your bowl of mami will be served to you piping hot along with a plate of hot siopao (steamed buns) if you ordered it hehe. Food will be impossible to eat so you will take the time to have chit chat with your companion or just watch the busy street outside the shop while you wait for the hot bowl of mami to cool down a bit.

The first time I stepped inside this restaurant I know food is good because of the smell. Their old style display menu will greet you at the entrance along with the aromatic puffs of steam coming from the front kitchen. It is wonderfully humid in there. I say it in a good way because you know you are getting real food. Everything is cooked in-house and prepared daily. They are not processed and reheated edible items like in most fastfood places.

There used to be a lot of mami joints in Manila in the past but a lot of them have already closed shop. Perhaps no one in their family was not interested in continuing the business? Pinsec is one of those who is still running fine after several decades of operation. You can tell by the old interior and taste of the food they serve. These are the kind of food people from old Manila used to enjoy.

Now they won't give out chopsticks. That is how localized this chinese restaurant has become. Just a pair of stainless steel spoon and fork wrapped in thin table napkin. Condiments are present via plastic bottles of soy sauce and chinese hot sauce (somewhat like sriracha) and a plastic pepper shaker in each old style diner table.

They mainly have three types of mami. Chicken, beef and wonton. Asado and bola bola siopao are also available.

Chicken mami

Beef mami

The taste of old Manila. Soup taste clean. If they are using buillion cubes, they are using it correctly  as buillion cubes should not overpower the soup stock. Noodles are fresh. They are thin round types. Thinner than lomi noodles.

The classic mami and siopao combination

Asado siopao

Pinsec use little chunks of braised beef which are tender and tempting to eat with fried rice hahaha. They garnish it with slivers of vegetables. The siopao (29 pesos) has this awesome dough that taste sweet (but not too much) and fluffy. The filling are typical pork asado and meatball for bola bola. They are a pleasure to eat while still warm.

After you fnish your meal, you will find yourself paying in front of the cashier which still use a very old bulky cash register which from the looks of it was manufactured in the 50's.

I also like how they price their items. As of this writing, their regular bowl costs 65 pesos. But their large bowl cost only 70 pesos. So naturally you will be more inclined to upgrade your order unless you are not that hungry. It's like they are forcing you but not in an aggressive way unlike what fast foods do where they bunch in items into value meals so you are forced to purchase food products (like ice from their half filled softdrink glass) that you really do not want to eat. Or you can just order ala carte burger and ask for water. Nothing is stoppping you haha.

Siopao steamer. Always piping hot!

Meals in Pinsec House are very satisfying and affordable. A meal of large mami and soiopao will set you back just over a hundred pesos. General environment is relaxed and not pretentious. You can go in in your pambahay (house attire) wear or even in pajamas and no one will judge you haha. This is place is still doing great. They have this very consistent steady stream of hungry customers although I haven't seen it full to capacity. Probably because I drop there usually during odd hours after lunch time. I have not got the opportunity to do some chit chat with the lady servers to find out more about the history of this old restaurant. I never do any interviews because I want their story to be told casually like they are passing around some rumor or secret information haha. I do not want to hear any prepared answer. I want real stories straight from the horse's mouth. I'll update this post for some additional stories once I get the info.

It was a really hot day and I need sugar

Service: This place, the building that they are located in, and the neighborhood is really old school Manila. Staff are polite. Some people who are used  eating in airconditioned restaurants will find this a bit difficult but not impossible. I always sweat after I finish a bowl of mami. It is a very minor inconvenience considering the food that you will be having.

Menu: They also have siomai soup for 30 pesos for those who are really in a tight budget. Menu is really simple. A few variations of mami and their steamed siopao plus the obligatory bottled softdrinks.

Value:They regularly update their pricing to reflect their production cost.That's amazing! Food is so affordable you can walk away with your stomach full of noodles for less than 200 pesos.

What Food Spots say about Pinsec House:

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We urge everyone to try it out!