We finally decided to try out the Max’s Restaurant in Jersey City. They opened sometime in 2010, the first ever in the East Coast. For those who are unfamiliar, Max’s Restaurant is a Filipino chain that specializes and is known for fried chicken. Hence, it’s called “the house that fried chicken built”. They have been in business since 1945 and has already become a household name. I remember eating here since I was a child, most of the time we would order “to go” and the chicken would come with warm buttered sweet buns and packets of banana ketchup.
We went on a weekday for lunch and were seated right away. I have heard that when it first opened there will always be a long wait for a table. We ordered the whole chicken, fried lumpiang ubod and sinigang na baboy. Max’s chicken is known for it’s unbreaded crispy fried chicken. Way back you can only get it half or whole. Now there are a few more options. The chicken did not disappoint and tastes exactly as I remembered. The fried lumpiang ubod (a kind vegetable egg roll that uses heart of palm) did not live up to my expectations. The wrapper burst during frying. The taste is also not the same as I remember. The sinigang na baby (pork in tamarind soup) was good and was served promptly. It would have been better if they added more leafy greens to it.
Overall, we had a great experience and would definitely go back for the fried chicken and try out other items from their menu.
Red Ribbon is one of the biggest chain of bakeshop in the Philippines. They serve not only baked goods and sweets but Filipino savory snacks as well. This is not our first time to visit Red Ribbon at this location. We went there way back when it first opened in 2006. I remember trying out almost everything they offered from the menu out of nostalgia. This time we just had halo-halo and a slice of ube coconut cake and some mamon to go. I would have gotten the coffee crunch cake or the chocolate mousse cake if they serve it by the slice. These were my two favorite cakes when I was teen. Their cakes seemed to have deteriorated in quality though.
