Restaurant Reviews / Reviews

A Filipino First at Max’s Restaurant – Review…

Last weekend I had my very first experience of Filipino cuisine thanks to Abigail of Cuddles and Crumbs at the highly popular dining spot, “Max’s Restaurant“. Abigail rounded up a few of us to sample their new menu, as well as the classic dishes such as Max’s Fried Chicken, with recipes that have been passed on generation to generation of Maximo Gimenez’s family since 1945! 

“Max’s Restaurant has established itself as a household name in the Philippines, an institution, and a proud Filipino tradition. The second and third generations of the family continue to zealously uphold the standards and traditions set by Maximo and Ruby for all Max’s Restaurants.”

Abigail explained that if you are a Filipino, you will undoubtedly yourself have celebrated or attended a special occasion, whether it be a birthday party or a wedding reception, at your local Max’s Restaurant. This is reflected in the casual family-friendly ambiance that the restaurant has, as well as the segregated rooms that can cater to larger groups celebrating.

We too were seated in a segregated area with sliding doors, which turned out to be the best decision, because by the end of the night we were pretty noisy, laughing hysterically at our children dancing away like maniacs or chasing one another around the room.

Starters

We began our dinner with a selection of refreshing Pineapple and Mango Mojitos, accompanied by a range of Starters.

Tokwa’t Baka (AED 22): Fried tofu and beef tossed with chilly soy vinegar sauce. This dish was incredibly succulent and tangy.

Crispy Seafood and Beef Wanton (AED 22): Stuffed wonton with minced shrimp, ground beef, garlic and white onion. This was definitely my favourite of the starter dishes.

Ensaladang Talongg (AED 19): Grilled eggplant, chopped tomato, diced onion, vinegar and light soy sauce. Topped with quail eggs and cherry tomatoes.

We also enjoyed another of the new dishes, Max’s Appetizer Plate (AED 32) with Calamares, Lumpiang Shanghai, Chicken Wings and French Lumpiong Ubod.

Mains

Now, it was time to delve into the main dishes which I was highly anticipating…so without further ado, here are photos of a couple of the dishes we tasted.

Kare- Kare (AED 49): A classic Pinoy favourite- rich beef and vegetable dish simmered in thick peanut sauce, served with alamang – a shrimp paste that Abigail told me was an aquired taste, so I was careful to only take a little.

Seafood Oyster (AED 47): Wok fried prawns, fish fillet, fresh mussels and mixed vegetables in oyster sauce.

Boneless BBQ Chicken (AED 49), served Espetada style with Rice and dips. These were by far my favourite main dish of the night, scrumptiously sweet, saucy and tender. The also served huge king sized prawns in the same marinade which were absolute heaven.

Max’s Fried Chicken (Whole- AED 46): The original and classic fried chicken. Golden fried to perfection with a unique blend of secret spices and served with sweet potato fries.

There were a couple of other new dishes too including the Beef Ribs Humba (AED 39), which is a Filipino style Beef Rib Stew and sweet, sour and salty all at the same time.

Desserts:

To end the night on a sweet note, we were served up with Filipino desserts I had never tried before. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that Max’s restaurants each have their own in-house bakery that creates deliciously fresh sweet treats including cakes and brownies.

Max’s Dessert Platter (AED 29): Delectable dessert of Buko Pandan, ube creme decadence, strawberry jelly, leche flan, cream cheese brownies a la mode and coffee jelly cream. I am not a huge fan of coffee, so the last one was naturally not my first pick, but the brownies were Ah-mazing! And the Ube Creme decadence (which is purple yam for those that are unaware like I was), brightly lilac in appearance, had me licking my spoon!

Turon (AED 19): Banana, Sweet Jack Fruit and caramelised sugar. Served with vanilla ice cream. This dish is not only Instagrammable, but is rich in flavour and sweetness, just the way I like it. Also, fun fact, I am obsessed with eating jack fruit, and I often can go through an entire tray of them within a few minutes.

Overall, I think you can count my first Filipino cuisine experience as a huge success, and I am thankful to have been introduced to it through the highly popular brand of Max’s restaurant, and in the company of experienced Filipinos that answered all my queries with every bite I took, and share with me the interesting history of their cuisine.

I would highly recommend you try out Max’s restaurant, if you haven’t already, or even any Pinoy cuisine in general, because I am sure you will not be dissapointed.

For more information, head on over to Max’s Restaurant website or follow them on Instagram and Facebook. Have you tried Max’s Chicken or Filipino cuisine yet? What do you think of it? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Note: I was invited to review Max’s Restaurant. However, all views and opinions expressed above and honest and solely my own.