sincerity cafe & restaurant

upon entry to sincerity cafe and restaurant, you'll know that you're in one of binondo's finest. framed magazine and newspaper articles featuring the restaurant tell you that this is truly a must-try for foodies like me.

we tried their signature dishes: sincerity fried chicken, oystercakeand kikiam that goes well with their sincerity fried rice. we also had polonchay, frog legs and pancit.

their fried chicken is almost the same as your typical "baon". a little variation is the perfectly blended batter, not so salty and not too much on the flour. the tender, juicy chicken make it worth a second, or even a third serving! gravy was also served, though there's nothing really special about it. you can eat the chicken by itself and enjoy the same goodness. the oyster cake, as other foodies describe, has a very thick consistency because of the cornstarch, nevertheless, it is rich in flavor, using good quality and tasty oysters. the fried rice has a generous amount of chorizo and bits of ham, it makes you say, "kanin pa lang, ulam na!". again, it is neither too salty nor oily.

according to my chinese aunt( in-law), their kikiam is close to the authentic homemade kikiams their chinese parents prepared for them. it is not the usual street food kikiam that we all know. itis stuffed generously with what seemed like pork used in asado and there wasn't a hint of any extender in the filling. the sauce that came with it is a perfect match.

the polonchay cooked in garlic and oyster sauce is the same as our crispy kangkong, though these chinese leaves are a bit more flavorful, bitter even to many. good thing, the sauce made the taste even, you won't notice you already had a big serving of what was bitter initially. the crunchy stems make it even more appetizing!

i didn't try the frog legs, though the family said it also deserves a thumbs up! it tasted like chicken adobo, but the thought that i'll be eating frog legs made me chicken out (though i used to eat this when i was younger). the pancit was nothing so special. but we ordered it for my husband who was also having his belated birthday celebration, chinese tradition, of course.

the servings are small for our family of 10. when the menu says small, we have to order 3 small servings of the same viand, or 1 big serving and 2 small ones. the price though, was competitive enough in that area, and you also have to consider that the restaurant already have a name in their line.

in a nutshell, i would recommend this to foodies who want a taste of home-cooked chinese goodness. if in binondo or ongpin, this small but homey cafe and restaurant should be a stopover in your itinerary.

food: got to taste their talk-of-the-town chicken. it's crispy and has this distinct taste. also tried their oystercakebut was not able to take a picture of it. i like it but there's this "umay" factor.

place: during mecq. 50% dine in capacity. we opted for takeout.

price: reasonable.

their fried chicken is really tasty and good. very flavorful and crunchy. you really know that they just cook it when you order. the oystercakelooked appetizing but did not enjoy it very much as it was very gooey. the servers were very attentive and helpful too. really worth trying and visiting this chinese restaurant.

the chicken was great but the oystercakecould’ve used a little more oysters. the crab rice was nice too. would love to try the other dishes next time.

what i love is their lumpiang shanghai and kikiam then everything seems ordinary in my taste. for me, their oystercakewas good (it taste like eggplant in omelette to me) but my family didn't enjoy it.

the food was good especially the fried oystercakeand the patatim... price was reasonable considering there were around 10 us who ate... everyone left the place filled and satisfied... the only problem we encountered was that we had to wait for more than 30 minutes to get a table....

oh my goodness.

i travel most of the time to binondo and when i actually got to eat here, the first thought that came into my mind is that "why did i not know anything about this good restaurant existing here"? well, i think it is because of its small signage and references of it being actually located there. i mean, not everyone is like me who found it while walking, but to some, it may be pretty difficult to find this place. but finding this resto is worth it. the price is reasonable to it's serving. and the food, as the millennials say, "it's quality and legit af". the chicken served is very satisfying with it being served in small cuts making it very easy to chow down. the pancit... legit! i have yet to try their oystercakebecause damn it looked so fine!

i'm satisfied and i'm sure you will be too!

i don’t know if i’m just expecting too much from sincerity fried chicken because of all the reviews i read, but i am frankly quite disappointed when i finally tasted it. my mother actually warned me about it but i dismissed her saying all bloggers were raving about it. indeed, mothers know best. it was tender and a little bit crunchy on the outside but i would even dare say there’s nothing special about it. let’s just put it this way: it was ok but not that i’d miss the world if i don’t try it. love their oystercaketho.

[sorry for the low quality photos, i had the food for takeout so they had no plating 😞]

my mom told me she won't be cooking tonight, and since i was in the binondo area for a meetup with a former colleague, i volunteered to buy dinner for us. i suddenly craved for fried oyster cake, so i looked for a restaurant in lucky chinatown mall that carries this yummy dish.

i remembered that they have this in sincerity, so i dropped by before heading home. my mom told me to buy 2 dishes, so i had the liberty to choose another dish. these were my orders:

✔ fried oystercake(small - php 200) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
they have two sizes for this, and the bigger sized one is at php 250. the waiter told me that the small one is already good for 2-3 people, so i chose that even if it's just a 50-peso difference if i choose the large size. the chewiness of the oystercakewas evident, and the freshness and "sweetness" of the plentiful oysters all over the dish did not disappoint. the beansprouts gave the dish a nice crunch, too. the dish can get a bit cloying when you eat a lot, so make sure to order this for sharing! 😄

✔ bbq spareribs (php 150) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
the waiter told me that their version is more of the asado (thinly sliced pork) type, and not the usual spareribs with the bone still in it. this is also one of their best sellers (according to the menu), and indeed, it tasted so good! a more flavorful and smokey take on your usual asado, sincerity's bbq spareribs' meat is so tender and succulent, you love each bite of it. the sauce was also a nice addition. 👌 ahhh! so yummy! one thing they have to improve on is the serving size, as the 150-buck dish only has 6-7 pieces of meat!!! 😭 super bitin!

the dishes were great, but it would've been better if we ate them while they were hot. i got home at around 3pm, and we did not reheat the dishes anymore when we had dinner.

the restaurant area was quite limited, and was jampacked even at around 2:30 pm. the waiter who assisted me was attentive and courteous. i remember looking into the store a couple of times while waiting (i sat outside), and when he caught me looking, he'd mouth, "wait lang po ma'am, __ minutes na lang po." 🙈 haha. i wasn't try to rush them, i was just worried they would not be able to see where i'm at.

overall, this is a great place to get your chinese casual dining experience, for an affordable price. 👍

#eatdrinksplurge

decided to go to their lcm branch for lunch. because of the lack of parking in their binondo branch it was cny. the sincerity chicken was so juicy and tasty inside while the outside was crispy and flavorful. we also ordered oystercakeit was good like torta but it had an "umay" factor. but all in all the food experience was great. will definitely come back and try the kikiam.

i was quite intrigued about their fried chicken and fried oystercakeso i gave it a try. the place is quite packed as expected on a weekend (went there for 1-2 pm). we wait for about 20 minutes to be seated. we ordered sincerity fried chicken, fried oyster cake, sincerity chami and sincerity chami. it took about 10-15 minutes for our orders to be served.

verdict:

sincerity fried chicken- it is crispy and tender but a bit too sweet for my liking. i have tasted better.

fried oyster cake- it is sticky!. it's like tikoy and gelatin. i don't like the texture at all.

sincerity chami- it's alright, nothing special about it.

sincerity fried rice- i like it but the serving (big) is not enough for 5 persons or is it only for us? :d

this is the more accessible branch of sincerity cafe which is one of the classics in binondo area. it is located in lucky chinatown mall and it is a big hit among shoppers in divisoria.

we ordered oystercakeand sincerity fried cake, two of their bestsellers. these dishes did not disappoint. with the appropriate serving size and combination of ingredients, i was most satisfied with the oyster cake. their friend chicken was also good, too. it was not salty and the coating was not thick. i hope that they add more sauce/dip options for the fried chicken.

we went there during lunch time and there were many guests. service was done in a brisk manner so you should make sure that they are getting the right order. our waiter made a mistake of giving us two glasses of gulaman instead of one. 😁

i agree with the "best chicken in manila" tagging. p150 of this will get you a long way. the oystercakeis also good here but not everybody likes it. i often order the kikiam as well. i rather go to the original place in yuchengco at rather than the one in the mall

first timer here! it was late afternoon and it wasn't crowded. got to taste their sincerity fried chicken and oystercakeand both were delicious. we ordered the medium sincerity fried rice which was good for 2. the chicken was very chinese. oystercakewas superb but since it was just me and my sister to finish what we ordered, there was an umay factor.

just looking at the people dining at sincerity, you would know that most of them are loyal patrons/customers of the restaurant. i know i would be one of them especially now that i've tasted it. it's very friendly on the budget as well! we only paid 380 pesos no service charge!

we dined at their lucky chinatown branch. i finally got to taste the famous fried chicken i heard so much about. it was good fried chicken. what it reminded me of is the fried chicken that i would've loved as a kid if it was available to me during my younger years. like comfort fried chicken. i also liked the oystercakeand the pansit. the price was reasonable and the menu had a lot of yummy sounding food in there. the service was fast and friendly. it is also nice that they have strong wifi signal within their restaurant.