SOMEWHERE in Binondo, in an upstairs room, mami noodles are still made fresh the old way every day. Dough is made from flour, water and egg, and kneaded with the use of a long rolling pin–so long in fact that you can ride on one end literally, which is what the workers at that restaurant, Masuki, do every day. Willen Ma, who oversees this family business started by her father in the sixties, says they call the rolling pin kabayo, the Filipino word for horse, since workers have to ride that long rolling pin to knead the dough.

Why have they not upgraded to a more modern way of doing things? Willen says this old-style method is what gives their mami noodles the makunat texture. “If we do it by machine, they will come out with a fine texture. Customers can tell the difference. Lagot kami.”

Some 200 kilos of mami noodles are made here every day at Masuki, and these are sliced by machine after the kneading with the kabayo. The noodles are served at Masuki restaurants in Binondo and Greenhills, and are also supplied to institutional customers.
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