{"id":11197,"date":"2026-05-29T16:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T08:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=11197"},"modified":"2026-05-29T16:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T08:18:11","slug":"checking-the-historic-charlie-wanton-resto-in-mandaluyong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/checking-the-historic-charlie-wanton-resto-in-mandaluyong\/","title":{"rendered":"Checking the historic Charlie wanton resto in Mandaluyong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>For those craving noodle soups, <em>tambak ang<\/em> options <em>natin<\/em>, truth be told. From David\u2019s to Noodle Park to Wann Mann to Tim Ho Wan\u2026 the options are now endless. But \u2013 let this be said \u2013 the olden ones continue to charm. And among these is Charlie Wanton Special in Mandaluyong City.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When driving from Sta. Ana in the City of Manila to Greenhills in San Juan City, we always pass by this resto in Mandaluyong City that was established in 1958, though the original location was in Florentino Torres Street in Santa Cruz, Manila. That it is widely known is an understatement \u2013 e.g. good luck getting a table if you go there during rush hour (usually during lunch, or early dinner).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyway, we headed there when an opportunity presented itself. And\u2026 how was Charlie for us?<\/p>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" cite=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@outragemag\/video\/7645223926821408007\" data-video-id=\"7645223926821408007\" style=\"max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;\" >\n<section> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"@outragemag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@outragemag?refer=embed\">@outragemag<\/a> <a title=\"wanton\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/wanton?refer=embed\">#Wanton<\/a> with nostalgia at <a title=\"charliewantonspecial\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/charliewantonspecial?refer=embed\">#charliewantonspecial<\/a> in <a title=\"mandaluyong\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/mandaluyong?refer=embed\">#Mandaluyong<\/a> during this <a title=\"lgbt\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/lgbt?refer=embed\">#LGBT<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"\u266c original sound  - Outrage Magazine\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/music\/original-sound-Outrage-Magazine-7645223965685828370?refer=embed\">\u266c original sound  &#8211; Outrage Magazine<\/a> <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Una<\/em>, the place is in the middle of nowhere\u2026 in a manner of speaking. It is one of an extremely small number of restos in a long road that\u2019s mostly residential, and there\u2019s no public transportation there. But \u2013 exactly because the resto is known \u2013 it isn\u2019t hard to find, as it\u2019s very Google-able and Waze-able.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Ikalawa<\/em>, the place is \u2013 in a word \u2013 unpretentious. Don\u2019t expect fancy when there. The place is \u201cdivided\u201d into sections \u2013 i.e. the glass-enclosed kitchen where the noodles are being made (you can watch the making, by the way); the dining area (which can accommodate over 70 pax); and the small events place. You get old wooden furniture, old cutlery, aged plates, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Ikatlo<\/em>, the workers looked haggard when we were there\u2026 though this may be because they\u2019re overwhelmed with the number of customers. I\u2019d say don\u2019t expect to be given special attention; this place is an order-eat-pay-go venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Ika-apat<\/em>, how\u2019s the food?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As served, the Chicken Mami (\u20b1235) and the Beef Wanton Mami (\u20b1305) looked abundant. We received extra bowls of <em>sabaw<\/em>, which were necessary because the noodles per bowl were a lot. Oh\u2026 the chicken <em>sabaw<\/em> was thicker, while the beef <em>sabaw<\/em> tasted like <em>humba<\/em>, complete with that star anise taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We had concerns taste-wise:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the beef strips were soft, yes, but the <em>mami<\/em> with the beef didn\u2019t taste beefy at all;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the wanton in the same <em>mami<\/em> was okay-tasting, but didn\u2019t taste fresh; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the chicken strips weren\u2019t <em>malansa<\/em>, but the <em>mami<\/em> with the chicken was tasteless.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bola-bola Siopao (\u20b1130 for special) was aesthetically nice to look at, mainly because of its size. Sadly, that\u2019s that. Taste-wise, it was weird. The dough was dry, and the meat was, aside from also being dry, had a <em>malansa<\/em> taste. It was hard to finish, sorry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the Siomai (\u20b1120), we got three gigantic pieces. It was forgettable, but \u2013 after the siopao \u2013 at least the meat used here didn\u2019t taste <em>malansa<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many people come, and will continue to head to Charlie. No surprise there since this can be a comfort zone for some. <em>Kami<\/em>, however, we don\u2019t believe nostalgia alone makes any place deserving of being blindly supported. And so off we go in search of more <em>lafangan<\/em> venues\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Charlie Wanton Special is located at 265 Haig St. Daang Bakal, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila. For more information, contact (02) 7718 1880.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For those craving noodle soups, tambak ang options in Metro Manila. But one of the old faves is Charlie Wanton Special in Mandaluyong City. We #LGBT checked if it&#8217;s worth visiting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8,7],"tags":[2566,1445,2567,110,1742],"class_list":["post-11197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destinations","category-dining-out","category-travel","tag-charlie-wanton-special","tag-dining-out","tag-mandaluyong","tag-travel-2","tag-travel-adventure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11199,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11197\/revisions\/11199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}