$1000 USD Street Food in a Philippines Hood 🇵🇭

Two giveaways in one day around Manila, filmed with Walid. Harry starts by buying every donut in a 7-Eleven and handing them out around a settlement — including as prizes on the basketball court — then crosses town to Tondo to eat his way along the street stalls, leaving 5,000 pesos at each one. He works through sidewalk cheeseburgers, a banana hazelnut waffle, lemonade cut with Yakult, an ice cream built from every flavour in the cabinet, an ube milkshake, a 35-peso burger from a shop trading since 1993, a mango shake and a beef shawarma. What he keeps coming back to is that these are businesses people built themselves rather than taking a job, and that the food beats the chains at a twentieth of the price. By the end word has spread and he’s being followed, so he cuts the day short.

Key moments

• [00:00] The plan: giveaways around the poorer areas of Manila, with Walid filming. Harry predicts he’ll get swarmed the moment people hear “donuts”.
• [00:30] He asks the 7-Eleven staff to sell him every donut they have; the running total comes to 12.50 (from video – unverified) for around 40.
• [01:36] He notes the giveaways keep escalating because viewers keep asking for them, to the point of causing a supply problem for the shop.
• [03:16] The first three offers are refused — not the reception he expected.
• [03:48] A group pauses the giveaway to share drinks with him instead.
• [05:54] At the settlement, the kids take them, and word spreads fast: one person finds out and the rest come running.
• [08:12] At the basketball court he offers a donut as the prize for scoring.
• [10:25] Walid gave away cookies alongside him.
• [10:52] Later, across town in Tondo, for the street food half of the day.
• [11:07] Sidewalk cheeseburgers on a busy main road — cheap, and better than McDonald’s by his reckoning.
• [12:52] He asks to eat first and pay after, and is waved through.
• [13:22] Verdict: it doesn’t look like much, but a good burger is a good burger. He leaves 5,000 pesos.
• [14:03] A waffle stand, where he orders banana hazelnut.
• [15:15] Grace gives him free iced tea unprompted.
• [15:49] Into the kitchen — the waffle maker is effectively a double frying pan, about five minutes a side. The woman making them has worked there five years, six days a week, starting at 11am.
• [17:58] The finished waffle: soft banana, hazelnut and chocolate, which he rates the best he’s had.
• [19:03] He gives the three women 5,000 pesos to share, explicitly for working six days a week.
• [19:41] A lemonade stand, where the seller adds Yakult to it.
• [20:54] He buys lemonades for labourers working nearby.
• [22:00] He addresses commenters who claim vendors are scamming him — pointing out these people aren’t wearing shoes — before leaving another 5,000.
• [22:37] An ice cream shop, House of DG. He asks for one with every single flavour and it arrives with a Magnum on top; a Magnum alone is 140.
• [26:41] Another 5,000 left there.
• [27:11] An ube ice cream stall making milkshakes.
• [27:46] What he admires about Tondo: people set up their own shops rather than take a normal job, and the stalls are dotted everywhere.
• [28:47] The vendor’s ice cream machine cost 90k — Harry notes they’re investing in the business, and leaves 5,000 for that reason.
• [29:19] He tries, badly, to tout chicken wings for the next stall along.
• [30:25] A cheeseburger from a sari-sari store at 35 pesos, made by an owner whose shop has traded since 1993 and who works from early morning to 10pm.
• [31:29] Near Rizal Park he expects prices to be higher, but 35 pesos is under half a dollar.
• [32:39] His verdict: as good as any burger, so why spend ten dollars at Shake Shack. Another 5,000 follows.
• [33:16] A mango shake at 60 pesos with boba at the bottom, from a stall with its own branding and social accounts.
• [34:56] Another 5,000, split between two staff.
• [35:29] Word has spread that he’s giving money away and people start following him, so he decides to move on.
• [36:34] A beef shawarma for 100, built like the Turkish version.
• [37:36] The stall holders laugh at their colleague’s English; Harry tells them off for it, repeatedly, and defends him.
• [39:30] A final 5,000 to the two who work there.

Extracted pages

• Places: Tondo, Manila
• Country: Philippines
• Person: Walid
• Tips: Reward honesty and hard work, Try the street version of everyday services