[Photo credits to Israel Vinuya of pixntoys.blogspot.com]

I’ve been browsing through my picture albums and found some photos with my former officemates in Lawson during a dinner meet up in Max’s Restaurant in SM Makati. By the way, we call ourselves Yumyum – Yummy Young Professionals, lol.

 

Max’s is not Max’s without their famous fried chicken. Besides, it’s “the house the fried chicken built”. This is definitely a Max’s staple order.

crispy skin, tender meat… (almost) perfect fried chicken!

 

Chicken Sisig…

 

Their Filipino style pancit canton is also something worth ordering. I sometimes substitute this to rice.

 

Chopseuy for side dish.

 

Now this is a new favorite – Sizzling Tofu. I never thought tofu can be really good, so irresistible.

tokwa to the next level

 

Max’s Restaurant is definitely one of my favorite Filipino restaurants of all time. Delicious food at very reasonable prices; such a classic.

Admittedly, one of the things that excites us when our US counterparts are here in Manila is their treat. During one of their visits, we had our team lunch out at Little Asia in Venice Piazza McKinley Hill.

 

Little Asia’s owner is the grandson of one of the original owners of the very first Savory Restaurant in Escolta, and is kin of the owners of The Original Savory and Classic Savory. But unlike the Savory brands which has a casual feel, Little Asia is on the fine dining side and has upscale interior.

classy interior

 

Little Asia offers a fusion of Asian dishes mostly with Chinese twist. We had Appetizer Sampler as starter.

prawns wrapped in bacon, Vietnamese spring rolls, shrimp curls, Indian minced meat, samosas and golden pouches

 

Boneless Tilapia with honey mayo sauce – didn’t try this ‘coz I don’t like mayo :(.

 

Beef Tenderloin Rolls with Cheese in Teriyaki Sauce – I love dishes with cheese… Actually, I love cheese! The expats liked this too.

 

Ahhh… sweet Korean Beef Stew…

 

Prawns with Garlic and Aligue Paste – you would love it if your fond of bagoong/aligue. Well, I’m not… ugh.

 

Little Asia’s Crispy Chicken - they said the recipe is inspired from that of the very first Savory Restaurant’s fried chicken recipe.

 

Chienese restaurant isn’t a Chinese restaurant without Yang Chow :).

 

And of course, a pancit of some sort - Combination Chow Mein.

stir-fried Lo mein with beef, pork, chicken, squid, shrimps and vegetables

 

But this was really what got my approval - Caramel Mango Tower FTW!

 

Thanks for the treat Steve and Pete, see you again in Manila!

 

Little Asia Venice Piazza
Ground Level, The Venice Piazza
McKinley Hill, Taguig City
Landline: (+63 2) 798-0354
Operating Hours: Monday to Sunday 11:00am to 11:00pm

So two weeks after our Boracay 2012 vacation, the gang decided to have a meet up and re-live our island memories. We just can’t get over with those happy and funny moments at Boracay. And since diet was finally over for us, we had dinner at Kanin Club in UP-Ayala Technohub.

some of the best sellers

 

From the name itself, Kanin Club’s specialty is rice. Tapos na ang low-carb diet so let’s start with the heavy Loaded Fried Rice.

the heavy hitter: fried rice with Chinese sausage, ham, green peas, pork, and topped with minced scrambled eggs, roasted garlic and spring onions

 

Bagoong Rice – argh, I don’t like vinegar-infused food. And since bagoong has vinegar, I didn’t try this. My friends like it though.

 

This is their best seller of them all, the dish that made Kanin Club famous – Crispy Dinuguan!

But because this has vinegar, I didn’t eat this too. Loser me, bleh
grabe, lugi na talaga ako nito ha

 

Pambawi sa nalugi – Lemon Chicken!

mmm… ok naman

 

Seafood Kare-kare…

this was really good; medyo bitin nga lang sa sauce

 

Lots of Boracay adventures that we talked about, especially the funny ones.

my super tried and tested high school friends – the Tictac Gang

 

Would I recommend Kanin Club? Even though I didn’t like most of their specialties, it wasn’t really their fault. Maarte lang talaga ako ‘coz I don’t like dishes with vinegar. Other than me, Tictac Gang really like Kanin Club especially the Crispy Dinuguan.

 

But what I really appreciate most in Kanin Club UP-Ayala Technohub branch? The staff’s honesty. After paying our bill, I accidentally left my credit card on the table and I just realized it the day after. I called them and the staff told me that they were actually about to notify my bank so I can be informed that my card was with them. When I got my card back, I decided not to replace it even though there was this risk that someone could have copied my card details. Months after, no unauthorized transaction was posted on my account statement; so I can say my card was carefully kept while on their possession. Kudos to Kanin Club staff!

Kanin Club UP-Ayala Technohub branch