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.

Part. BonChon is one of a few chicken places where you can order exactly the part you want, no ifs and buts about it. I used to argue a lot with KFC because they would never just sell me legs and thighs when I buy a bucket. I felt that was unfair that I had to rely on luck whether they had the part I wanted or not. Perhaps the only other chicken place that allows customers the part they want is Max’s. Most fast food joints will not accommodate such requests, but BonChon is now giving them a run for their money because they never run out of the parts you like. That makes my dining experience a more pleasant one. My favorite? Drumsticks.

Price. Indeed the price is very affordable. A two-piece chicken treat is no different from the price of other chicken places, despite the tedious, double-fry cooking system. I love it because they serve it piping hot. Six drumsticks is only P365, not bad I think for 3 people. BonChon is good enough as a date place because the interiors are well-appointed and does not look like your average fast food joint. You will love the crowd who comes to BonChon.

Portions. Big. Enough for two or three people without going over P500. I once ordered squid rice and I was so full because there was a lot of squid rings in each bowl and the bottom part had a lot of rice. P145 is not at all bad for a bowl of BonChon squid rice. The chickens are regularly sized but you get a lot for it’s price. It is not mostly flour coating that you get on the outside, you get more chicken than you might expect.

Come to BonChon. They have branches in the following areas:
1. Alabang Town Center
Tel : 478.1818
2. Ayala Triangle Gardens
Tel : 621.6188
3. Makati City
Greenbelt1
Tel : 659.8080
4. Manila
TAFT(University Mall)
Tel : 516.1818
5. Ortigas
Shangri-La Plaza
Tel : 696.1818
6. Ortigas
Robinsons Galleria
Tel : 477.1818
7. Ortigas
SM Megamall
Tel : 451.1818
8. Pasay
SM Mall Of Asia
Tel : 846.1818
9. Quezon City
Acropolis(LIBIS)
Tel : 655.1818
10. Quezon City
Katipunan
Tel : 441.1818
11. Quezon City
Tomas Morato
Tel : 921.1818
12. Quezon City
Trinoma
Tel : 919.4777
13. San Juan
Greenhills Promenade
Tel : 661.1818
14. Taguig City
One Parkade, Bonifacio Global City

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.

I love dining at the Makati Shangrila because of the service and the quality of food. It may be slightly pricey, but you get your money’s worth.

At Shang Palace, dimsum because extraordinary. The waiters are very knowledgeable with the food they serve. When availing of this dimsum buffet, they give you a separate menu and clearly indicates which ones you can unlimitedly have, versus those which you can only avail once. The dimsum is unlimited and this includes rice, noodles and soup. The main dishes, you can only have once. Desserts are equally unlimited. Not like the average buffet, food is brought to you. You need not stand up with an empty plate and get from food that is strewn across the table in disarray. Shang Palace’s dimsum takes a little time because they will make it from scratch. Dumplings are prepared and steamed only when you order it. So if you order Xiao Long Bao, expect to wait a little bit for it. Same with the pork-shrimp siomai. See how lovely their siomai is.

The fish roe on top is such a delightful touch. A closer look.

For the main course, I ordered Hot Prawn Salad.

The prawns are huge and fresh. I am normally allergic to shellfish but if not they are fresh. Such is the case with Shang Palace. I enjoyed all the shellfish I could order because they served it fresh and piping hot.

If you want to dine here, call them at 840 0884 for reservations and more information. The Dimsum Buffet is available Monday to Saturday 11.30 am to 2.30 pm only. Enjoy!

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.

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.

It is priced much like most smokeless grill buffets in the Metro, P599 per head. Contrary to what most articles I have read in the Internet, Bono Yaki sports good food and many of their cooked dishes are excellent. I didn’t see where the spoiled food or old fish meat were displayed as said in some blog posts, but all I know is that when I was there, the food was fresh and the service was above average.

Seconds and thirds were not a problem because they replenish all dishes in a timely manner. No need to wait too long for the Tempura.

Come to the new and improved Bono Yaki. Service staff are attentive and they give you these little extras you don’t usually find in other smokeless grill restaurants. Want to know what these little extras are? You will have to dine here to find out.

Address: Corby 1 Bldg., E Rodriguez Jr Ave, Libis, Quezon City, Metro Manila
Telephone: (02) 631-0556

From the left is Russel Patalinghog, yours truly, Nesa Muring and Dante Ward.

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.

So thinking about what to do for Mom on her special day? We may not have much of a premium on this supposedly American holiday of sorts, but I believe everyone is in agreement that our mothers deserve uber-special treatment at least once a year. What better to do it than on the second Sunday of May? Here are 5 top tips on where to take Mom for dinner on Mother’s Day.

Top 5 best gifts for Mother’s Day

1. Breakfast in bed. Because it is tuition fee season, May is usually the time for belt-tightening and frugality to save enough for school fees. Cook for her. Bring her breakfast in bed. You may not be the best cook in the house, but your effort will sure bring smiles, if not tears of joy. Don’t forget to clean up afterwards.

2.  Make her a gift. The best gifts are those that are made by the hand of a son or a daughter. A picture frame of the family or something sewn by hand is also a good idea. Whatever you give your Mom will always be treasured and appreciated.

3. Surprise her. Is there something that she has been nagging you about? Something that you know she has been concerned about? Do her a favor by giving her what she has been asking/wishing for. Most Moms want only the best for their children. So go ahead and clean your room, do the dishes without being asked, stay home on Mother’s day and spend it with her rather than with your friends. Give her this one day that will make her smile the most. She deserves it.

4. Flowers and candy. Unless she’s allergic, almost all women appreciate flowers and candy. If she’s diabetic like yours truly, the flowers will do nicely. Whether you picked these from the garden or bought it from a flower shop, your Mom is sure to be pleased with flowers surprising on her special day.

5. Take her out to dinner. If you are already working and earning your own money, Mom will be most pleased with a dinner that she doesn’t have to cook and clean up after. Treat her to a wonderful full-service restaurant serving only the best steaks in town. Melo’s Restaurant is one such option. You can call us ahead of time so we can prepare the food and keep it warm until you arrive.  Wagyu and foie gras are some of the most exquisite ingredients available in the Philippine restaurant industry. Treat Mom no less than a Wagyu steak dinner of Steak Ala Mom’s at Melo’s Restaurant. Mother’s Day smiles will never be the same.

 Mother’s Day comes but once a year.  Why not spend it on giving your Mom a most unforgettable dining experience? Bring her to Melo’s and show her that you love her very much.

That’s Elmo Magallona, Magnolia’s new brand ambassador. Elmo is the new face of the ice-cream loving Filipino youth. I remember how Magnolia Ice Cream had become the cornerstone of my childhood memories. Truth be told, a visit to the Magnolia House was my motivation for going to church on Sundays. Every Sunday, until I was about 10 or 11 years old, my family heard Mass at Sto. Domingo Church, in Quezon City. After Mass, we trooped to the Magnolia House, an imposing structure along Aurora Boulevard built by Philippine architectural titan Leandro Locsin. Honestly, I was kinda when the place became Nestle Cremery. Commerce changes over time, but Magnolia was never just ice cream to me. It was a part of life. With the new flavors, I’d say Magnolia has managed to creep back into my life.

Tourism secretary Jimenez has implemented a partnership with Magnolia Ice Cream in promoting the beauty of our islands by helping launch the new Best of the Philippines Ice Cream Collection. Magnolia now officially uses ingredients native to specific provinces in the Philippines, such as Guimaras mangoes, kapeng barako and tablea from Batangas, ube, macapuno and langka from Laguna. The tubwraps are especially designed to showcase the country’s best tourist places.

Huwag maging dayuhay sa sariling ice cream (don’t be a stranger to your own ice cream brand), has become the unofficial tagline for Magnolia. And it is true. Enjoying Magnolia Ice Cream will do a lot to further local tourism. I personally want to encourage you, dear reader, to buy local and return to Magnolia for your ice cream crravings. Bring back your childhood memories and make some new ones with the people you love, Happy Mother’s to you all……

Breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks were provided along with games and wonderful prizes. Nothing seriously competitive, just serious fun.  Highlights included:

1. Games.  Shiela Munez and her team worked hard to make it all happen. The games were successful in heating up the fun and the laughter. Newbies got the chance to know the rest of the Hummingbird crowd and the oldies got to know them too.  Grand prize winning team got cash prizes and gift certificates from Sariwon Bulgogi Restaurant.
2. Singing. Arvato Hummingbirds wowed the waterpark crowd with their excellent singing voices. Glen’s renditions of “Better Days” and “Hanggang Ngayon” were moving and awesome. Enough said. He should be singing in the Christmas party.
3. Swimming. Fun, fun, fun in the sun! Amana’s famous giant wave pool was just right beside the view deck and the summer heat made it more inviting.  Employees got the chance to don their swimsuits, show off some skin and cool off in the huge waves of the pool. The park had other swimming pools and also had a zipline.

So what are we waiting for? Here are the pictures. Grab what you can. If you have any questions, leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

When you buy or sell online, you need to remember some important tips to keep your money and merchandise safe.

Top 4 tips to remember when buying and selling online:

1. Make sure that the site has seals of approval.  It is easy to buy from just about any classified ads website but it can be quite a chore in finding the right site to buy from. As an initial layer of protection, only trust sites that have some kind of third-party seal of approval. Several online companies seek accreditation from trusted independent reviewers and display their seals prominently on the site.  Trust only the online marketplaces that have a third-party security seal for your protection. 
2. Practice courtesy. When you contact the seller, it is always best to treat the seller/buyer with some measure of courtesy. Good manners show your sincerity in seeing the transaction through. Inversely , antagonistic behavior will tend to send a different message to the other party, that maybe you intend to rip them off and run away with the product without paying. Whether you are buying or selling, put your best behavior on and maybe this will not the last transaction with the other party. You might win a friend and a possible extension to your growing network of business associates.
3. Beware the meeting place. You should never meet the other party in his/her home. Never lose sight of your security, no matter how cheap the product may have been advertised. There have been several documented incidents involving meetups from online marketplace websites that have led to robbery and assault. The best place to meet is always midway between your place and the other party’s. Meet in a public enough place where there is ample security and a good proximity to police stations.
4. Buy/sell from a respected and trusted website where the keyword optimization is excellent and where everybody else buys and sells with convenience and safety. Advertise your products at www.sulit.com.ph  I have advertised with Sulit for three times in the past and each transaction turned out to be safe and expedient. Be sure and be safe. Buy and sell online with Sulit!

The pursuit of knowledge is the primary motivation which drives us to outdo ourselves in whatever we do. However, the traditional school system in the Philippines hasn’t always been successful in cultivating this desire to learn in all students. Because of the unyielding system of grades and categorization, there is a large group of learners that have been alienated by the traditional educational school system. Many of these marginalized students hold great promise and immense talent, but are largely neglected and unrecognized. As a result, we have rebels who insist in doing things their way like salmon swimming against the current. As Eton International School’s leader Jackie Marzan-Tolentino explains both rebels and generals are leaders in their own right. Harnessing the leadership and brilliance of the rebel is not an easy task but can prove to be as rewarding as finding a gold mine in the middle of nowhere. This belief has fueled Eton’s desired to continually find innovations in bringing out the brilliance and genius in each one of their students.

Recently, Eton International School has introduced the use of 3D glasses in their math and science classes. I personally sat through a sample of their 3D science and math lessons and surprisingly, it made the Pythagoras theorem a whole lot easier to understand within the first two minutes of the lesson! These 3D animated presentations, help explain math concepts in a way that even a 10-year can comprehend. I keep telling myself that if only they had these types of lessons during my time, I would have been a faster learner and a more intelligent professional now.

Aside from advances in curriculum, Eton International School has some of the most secure learning facilities. Each classroom is monitored by closed circuit cameras to ensure that teachers and students are where they should be. No one is ever missing because the extensive security monitoring facilities will be able to account for everyone at any given time. That’s peace of mind for every parent.

Thanks to the latest 3D technology, Eton International School students will soon enjoy the best instruction and care available. Eton’s President Jackie Marzan-Tolentino is a product of Harvard University and is an educator at heart. Unlike other international schools where owners are mostly business people, Jackie looks beyond the bottomline and invests heavily on the latest technologies and continuous teacher-training strategies that will ensure the most benefit for the students.  For more information, please visit their website at  http://www.eton.edu.ph and like them in Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/etoninternationalschool .