Remember that old joke about the cheap Valentine's Day gifts?
"To siomai love for you, hopia love me too!"
Being given this simple foodthing by a suitor is generally considered to be chipipay, as it is associated with street snacks and Binondo. Though I love the taste, I usually avoid regular hopia because it has either lard or solidified vegetable shortening. An exception would be the low-fat corn oil ones from Greenhills, as well as cheap ones like these, which smelled of very nice coconut oil. Made all the way in Kawit, Cavite (but bought in old Manila), the dough was not flaky at all, but who cares? The mongo paste seemed really fresh, most, and not too sweet. The whole box was inhaled by four of us.
And just look at the awesome box. The design was hand-drawn and then printed in blue ink on some red geometric design. It's nice to know that a person who's starting a small business can tap someone (maybe a nephew who "draws well") to design his packaging, instead of today's usual default of searching for "someone who does Photoshop".
Things don't look this nice anymore:
