BonChon Chicken: Korea’s chicken legacy to the world
BonChon means “original village.” I don’t anything about Korean villages but I do know a thing or two about originality and defintely BonChon chicken is a taste that is unique and original for me. I have never tried chicken that tasted this way and it is fast becoming a Pinoy favorite. I first saw BonChon at the Ayala Triangle Gardens some years back and I often wondered why there were so many people. Now that I live close to the Greenbelt 1 branch, I realized why it is the favorite of many. It fulfills three basic wants of every Pinoy chicken eater; part, price and portions. Read the rest of this post »
May 16, 2012
· 
Arpee · 
3 Comments
Tags: bonchon chicken, bonchon squid rice box, chicken bonchon, japchae, korean food in the philippines, korean fried chicken, koyo, paper fried chicken, soy garlic bonchon · Posted in: restaurants
My Shang Palace Dimsum Buffet Lunch
One lazy weekday afternoon, I decided to walk over to the Makati Shangrila Hotel and have some of the best-tasting dimsum in town. This could only be enjoyed at the Shang Palace restaurant. From 2010, they still have the P888++ per person (P1,091 nett) dimsum all you can. I was delighted to know that they still have this promo to this day. Read the rest of this post »
May 14, 2012
· Arpee · No Comments
Tags: dimsum, dimsum buffet, Dimsum Plus, hot prawn salad, makati shangrila hotel, manila shangrila hotel, Shang Palace Restaurant, xiao long bao · Posted in: hotel buffets
Amana Water Park vs. Splash Island
Recently I have been to two water parks, Amana Waterpark and Splash Island. Both are water parks that are very popular and were mostly full of people throughout the summer.
This is aAmana water park, where we had our company outing. The water is blue and continuously being filtered. A nice thing to know because children will generally pee in the water, as some adults will also do the same.
This is the Balsa River of Splash Island. Photo has been borrowed from the Splash Island Facebook page.
People have a lot of fun in these water parks, but what the promotional photos do not show is the hassle. heat, expense and inconvenience that these water parks make their customers experience.
Because people want to cool down during weekends, it is expected that the designers and operators of these water parks expect a lot of people coming in on Saturdays and Sundays. Both water parks have their pros and cons so allow me to share with you my thoughts so that you are better prepared when coming to such places. First I will share my Amana experience.
My Amana Water Park experience
The good. It is huge. This place is very huge to the point that you will not be able to see the whole place in one day. To its advantage,  it dilutes the crowd, no matter how huge it is. So you will not feel claustrophobic when walking around. To me it is also an advantage that their pools are equally huge because it allows you to have a lot of elbow room if you want to swim around or laze by the poolside. The wavepool is fantastic though scary for small children. I’m 41 and I go scared. Good thing I have a lifesaver around me. I didn’t mind looking silly but for a man who doesn’t know how to swim and is struggling though 7-feet deep waters in huge waves, silly was OK.
The food was alright. Good thing about Amana is that you can bring in your own food, but not the water. Fair enough. With the huge amount of people coming in, restaurants might not be able cater to all the people in the water park. They rent out barbecue grills so you can make your own barbecue while laughing with your friends and family. There are so many cottages to rent out and there will be no shortage of air-conditioned cottages in case you come in late in the afternoon. Service is good and the staff are very attentive your needs. I highly recommend this water park to my readers. However, make sure you take care of your children because the wave pool can easily drown a small child if he/she is not assisted by a parent or guardian.
The bad. It’s too far! Traffic in NLEX can be hell on Saturdays and the heat can sometimes be unbearable. If you swim then perhaps you will not feel the scorching heat. However, for those who just want to have barbecue and beer and look after the towels and the flip flops, bearing the heat will be a challenge. Parking can be so far from the entrance that going back to the car to get something can be quite a chore.
Overall. I love Amana and I will return to this place. The entrance is P250 and the fun is how you make it. Learn more about their services by visiting their website http://www.amanawaterpark.ph/
My Splash Island experience.
The good. It is closer to Manila, just 30 minutes away on a weekend if you take the Skyway. This is all that’s good about it.
The bad. I do not know where to start. Let me make a list:
1. Facilities. Their shower facilities are not as clean. They hardly have staff clean the toilets because at 9.30 am it already reeks of human excrement. Somebody took a dump first thing he got there and didn’t flush. Then there was no one to clean it. Staff probably just prayed that someone would flush it.
2. Shortage of cottages, no more lockers. It seems to me that all this place cares about is making money, no matter if they already had the place reserved for company outings. Long lines of people in the showers and lockers are filled out easily, though there were a lot of lockers that were still available only they wouldn’t rent it out because there were no longer any pad locks. So instead they started renting out plastic boxes, which do not have locks too but are guaranteed looking after for a P300 fee. They don’t even issue receipts for these rentals.
3. Shortage of food. Yes, Splash Island management knows very well that they overbook the resort and yet they do not allow the people to bring their own food! I was trying to buy lunch and I was told that there was 45 minute-wait because management made a call to stop selling food since they ran out of rice. Their food is also stellarly priced. P400 for 4 cups of rice, 1 liempo, 4 sticks of barbecue, 1 grilled tilapia and mangga’t bagoong, 1 itlog na maalat, 1 lousy anemic tomato and 1 grilled aubergine. They will not sell you extra rice if you don’t buy another stick of barbecue with it! Unbelievable!
4. Hygiene. THIS IS A SERIOUS ISSUE. The waters are filthy, they actually stink. After a dunk in the Balsa River, I didn’t want to go into another pool. Tried to wash myself off at the Water Wahoo but there were so many people there that I just got more filthy than when I started out. The toilets stink, the shower rooms have long lines and there is mud all over the bathroom floors. Such a sharp contrast to the Amana’s constant mopping of the shower rooms and toilets. I can’t believe I spent P500 for entrance and P400 for food so I can go home with an rashly, itchy ass from all that dirty water.
5. Long lines at the rides. Terrible long lines that you will spend an entire day probably only riding one or two at most.
6. No waves in the wave pool. They never opened the wave making machine. The whole day people waited and they never opened the wave machine. I wonder how they can even call this a wave pool when there are no waves.
7. Lack of security. Their security people are mostly hunched inside their air-conditioned offices, not wanting to break a sweat. None of them tried to stop youths who were throwing things are people in the ziplines! Some of them were throwing water at the people in the ziplines while some of them still were throwing food and barbecue sticks!
Overall. So if you want a pleasant water park experience, I’d say Splash Island IS NOT the place for you and your kids.
May 13, 2012
· Arpee · One Comment
Tags: amana waterpark, splash island, waterparks of the philippines · Posted in: rants
My Bono Yaki Dinner Experience
I once went out with friends to this restaurant along C5 right across the entrance to Eastwood City. It was a late reservation because the original restaurant where we intended to dine was already full. So we decided to try Bono Yaki Smokeless Grill. It wasn’t such a bad decision after all. Read the rest of this post »
May 11, 2012
· Arpee · No Comments
Tags: bono yaki family restaurant, bonoyaki, buffet restaurants, japanese restaurant in Quezon City, smokeless grill restaurants · Posted in: restaurants
Max’s has something special for Mother’s Day
I love Max’s Fried Chicken. I think every Filipino does. Max’s Fried Chicken is one of the country’s legacy restaurants, a food establishment that has been a part of every Filipino’s life since the end of the Second World War. If you go to a Max’s restaurant you will see their walls decorated by their old menus, prices that pique the imagination all signed by the closing salutation “forever amber”, something that I am still trying to figure out the meaning.
Through the years, people who frequent Max’s have gone their for various reasons, not necessarily just the chicken. Their kare-kare has been a staple in large gatherings, along with the boneless Bangus and Lechon Macau. Aside from a whole chicken, Max’s meals are made more complete with the Pancit Canton and Fresh Lumpia.
So if you are taking Mom out to Max’s for a special Mother’s Day lunch or dinner, Max’s has added something special for World’s Best Mom. For every 1,300 pesos bill, you get free Body Shop item that Mom can surely use to pamper herself. Don’t forget to ask for your free Body Shop item. This promo is valid from the 7th of May until the 12th so drive over to the Max’s branch nearest you and make Mom happy and proud.
May 10, 2012
· Arpee · One Comment
Tags: body shop, free body shop items, max's mother's day promo, max's restaurant, mother's day philippines · Posted in: pinoylife, restaurants
