Savor 11: 11.11, holiday food deals to watch for

MANILA, Philippines — Only a few days left and it will be Christmas!

Since many Filipinos are staying at home for the holidays due to the pandemic, restaurants and dining services have come up with innovations to make families’ stay-at-home feasts still fruitful and memorable. 

Whatever it is that you crave for, may it be local or international fare, here is a list of choices that could make your holiday menu merrier.

Filipino, American

Just as the US Elections heats up, New York pizza brand Yellow Cab aims to warm up the palate with the return of its Dear Darla free chicken wings promotion. 

From November 9 to 15, get four pieces of fried chicken wings for free when you purchase any nine-inch Dear Darla specialty hand-rolled pizza. Choose between our Original Darla or Roasted Garlic & Ricotta pizzas, and pair it with our juicy, crispy wings in Hot Chix, Sweet Soy, Garlic Parmesan, or Sriracha. 

This limited time offer is available in participating stores nationwide for dine in, curbside pick-up, take-out and delivery. This is also available via GrabFood, foodpanda and LalaFood. 
Likewise, Filipino restaurant chain Max’s Restaurant joined forces with Pancake House and Yellow Cab for the new Ultimate Chicken Crossover, which enables foodies to enjoy fried chicken from Max’s Group in one bundle that includes three pieces of Max’s “Sarap-To-The-Bones” Chicken Leg Quarters, six pieces of Pancake House’s Classic Pan Chicken and 10 pieces of Yellow Cab’s savory Chicken Wings with your choice of up to two flavors; including sweet and tangy Sriracha, buttery Garlic Parmesan, Sweet Soy and Original Hot Chix. 
 
You can also claim a free box of six Original Glazed Doughnuts from Krispy Kreme when you present your Ultimate Chicken Crossover receipt in select stores until November 30. From December 1 to 31, every order comes with a free condiment trio from NutriAsia featuring the iconic combination of banana ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce. 
 
The Ultimate Chicken Crossover is available via delivery, take-out and Curbside Pick-Up from EDSA Eats—Main Avenue, Forbestown, Hampton Gardens, Harbor Square, SM City Sucat, Waltermart Makati, Market! Market!, SM City Bicutan, and SM City San Lazaro starting November 6 until December 31. 

Staying at home may seem to have limited playtime options, but there are still ways to make things more enjoyable for kids. 

To encourage imaginative play at home and bring adults and kids closer together, Jack ‘n Jill Knots launched Club Knots, a Facebook page dedicated to provide creative and fun activities that parents and kids can enjoy doing together.

Club Knots offers unique ideas for arts and crafts. The page will feature video tutorials that moms, dads, and their little ones can watch together to guide them in co-creating creative playtime tools. Check out inspired ideas like Elephant Puffs, Shadow Play and more. Bonding moments at home are going to be more creative and fun with these activities while enjoying Choco Knots, Berry Knots and Milky Knots, products of Universal Robina Corporation (URC), makers of C2, Piattos, Cloud 9, Magic Crackers and many other well-loved Pinoy products bought in supermarkets, groceries, convenience stores and sari-sari stories nationwide.

To address the growing demand for group meals for stay-at-home customers, Mang Inasal meals now come in family size and are available only via takeout or delivery. The Filipino restaurant chain added to its menu five new offerings: four pieces Chicken Inasal Paa Large, in either original or spicy variant; three pieces Chicken Inasal Pecho Large; 10 sticks Pork BBQ; and Palabok good for four to five servings, available for delivery through GrabFood, FoodPanda and LalaFood. Customers may also call the specific store for delivery or place their orders online through Facebook Messenger Chatbot, Jose.

The brand also launched its Everyday Sarap Savers, a line of value-for-money meals that include regular Chicken Inasal, one-stick Pork BBQ and Pork Sisig, served with one cup of rice and Palabok. Moreover, the restaurant chain added a third variant to its line of Halo-Halo for merienda, the Buko Pandan Halo-Halo.

Fusion

There’s no such thing as celebrating too early or having too much holiday spirit. As part of Foodpanda’s kumukutikuti-TAP Christmas weekly surprises, the food delivery app continues with 20% off and more with no minimum order, available across the app’s thousands of featured restaurants. There are also free delivery deals from breakfast to dinner using promo codes.

Likewise, the delivery service app officially launched Pandapro, an exclusive membership program that aims to give its loyal users rewards such as free deliveries and discounts.
 
“Food is a big part of our culture as Filipinos and we want to give our most avid customers the option to have a more premium experience,” Foodpanda Philippines Managing Director Daniel Marogy said. 

To be part of the program, one has to update one’s app by clicking “How to be a Member” and filling out the required details. A user must be 18 years old and above and a holder of a valid credit card. The membership fee will be deducted from the credit card you used to sign up. The subscription and its benefits automatically renew monthly.

Chinese

Like all other restaurants and businesses, The Empress Dining Palace in 7th Avenue, Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City has been greatly affected by the pandemic as the restaurant had to close its doors for weeks. When the government allowed restaurants to resume operations, standards in the new normal must be adapted. Limited seating capacity, health protocols, keeping high touched areas sanitized at all times, safety measures and contactless payments are being implemented in the store.
 
“Everything is challenging in this pandemic but everyone must adapt and even innovate to the new norm to survive this adversity. For (us), it is upholding the commitment to provide great food and great service, both in dining and delivery, which has become the most challenging at the same time a great motivation,” Aida Velasco, the restaurant’s Chief Operating Officer, told Philstar.com in an e-mail interview. 

To keep up with the times, the management launched The Empress Express delivery team, and even partnered with delivery companies like Grab and Foodpanda to reach other areas in the metro to ensure that its patrons will have the same royal experience even at the comfort of their homes.
 
Apart from the dining hub’s signature dishes and bestsellers such as Peking Duck, Suckling Pig, Baked Bolo BBQ Pork Bun, Multi-Flavoured Xiao Long Bao and Treasure Pot, the restaurant also innovated with a Rice Bowls Menu and dimsum platters. Following their success for delivery, the rice bowls and dimsum platters are also available for dine-in. To retain the same quality of food, the restaurant has also offered the use of claypot as food container for takeaways and delivery.
 
“Our marketing and digital teams are very aggressive in keeping the name of the restaurant and its flavorful offerings visible to the public through various platforms. However, the most important is to maintain the quality of the dishes - be it dimsum, bowls, main entree, signature dishes, dessert - made by Chef Lam Pui Hung. It is upholding the commitment of providing authentic, quality, flavorful Chinese dishes that will pique the interest of new guests at the same time help keep the loyal customers,” Velasco said.
 
For the holidays, The Empress Dining Palace will be launching its Special Sauces, composed of three homemade sauces made by the restaurant’s Master Chef Lam. They come in three flavors and will be packed in jar bottles for gifting. 

“Apart from the Special Sauces, we also have an upcoming lineup of more authentic Chinese dishes as well as promos to make the feast more memorable,” Velasco shared.

Japanese

Many Filipinos have always been drawn to Japan because of its climate, people, culture and food. As such, Japan snack brand Calbee recently partnered with sushi bake experts, Taste and Tell MNL, to offer Suteki Aburi.

For a limited time only, Filipinos can munch on Suteki Aburi steak-flavored sushi bake paired with the crunchy Calbee Wasabi Chips. This special sushi bake is made with a 21-day dry aged tenderloin (prepared under precise temperature control for 2.5 hours), along with shiitake mushroom, fried garlic chips, teriyaki rice and Taste and Tell’s secret aburi sauce. Think of it as a deconstructed steak nigiri, complemented with the extra crunch and spicy kick of Wasabi chips for a mix of flavor and texture.

This new Japanese treat is available in small, medium and large tray sizes every Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, at Taste and Tell MNL’s website and Instagram page. The Wasabi Potato Chips, meanwhile, are found in leading supermarkets, convenience stores and online shopping sites nationwide.

Vietnamese

Filipino foodies looking to expand their gastronomic experience at home from the usual sweet, salty, sour and sauce-filled flavors can now enjoy the equally delicious yet fresh and herbs flavors of authentic Vietnamese food in the comfort of their own home through the easy-to-cook Pho24 Home Meal Kits.

Considered the national dish of Vietnam, pho, pronounced “fuh,” is served in every Vietnamese household. Vietnam’s pho chain Pho24 now has a branch in Manila that offers a Home Meal Kit of its bestselling Beef Fillet Pho, which is made with 100% premium beef slow-cooked in beef broth that has 100% beef shin bones and 24 special ingredients of herbs and spices.

The Meal Kit serves two and includes rice noodles, fresh vegetables and tender beef slices, filled with a delicately blended broth. The brand also offers Fried Spring Rolls Meal Kit, which contains 12 pieces of crispy fried rolls served with traditional Vietnamese dipping sauce. Both kits are available via delivery through Facebook Online ordering and food delivery apps GrabFood, Foodpanda and LalaFood. Those in Pasay and nearby areas can also opt for takeout from its branch in Double Dragon Plaza.

“Filipinos love flavorful dishes, and they can satisfy their taste buds with something different through Vietnamese food that are deliciously authentic,” said Business Development Head Ned Bandojo. “We’re happy to make Vietnamese food more accessible to Filipino foodies through our easy-to-cook Home Meal Kits.”

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