Regina Troy Barrios

Article (news)

Max's Restaurant at 80

<p><strong>₱5 for half a spring chicken.</strong> On October 18, Max&#x27;s Scout Tuazon branch will mark its 80th anniversary with a playful throwback that is audacious enough to make you pause—and then look again, just to be sure you read it right.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17607599467211.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">80 years later | Photo: Max&#x27;s Restaurant</span></span></span></div><p>Inside, what hits you first isn’t the scent of fried chicken, but how familiar the place feels. The sign still declares, proudly, <em>“The House That Fried Chicken Built.” </em>The space is big, open, and instantly recognizable, the same place generations have gathered in, only now brighter, fresher, and a little more polished. The tables gleam again, the light bounces differently off the walls. It’s the same Max’s you grew up with, refurbished and ready to explore once more.</p><p>Max’s began in 1945, when Manila was rebuilding itself and people were hungry for more than just food. Maximo Gimenez—Stanford-educated and soft-spoken—opened his home to American G.I.s looking for a drink and a bit of normalcy. His niece, Ruby Trota, made fried chicken so crisp and tender it could stop conversation. Before long, the little house along Scout Tuazon had become a café serving spring chicken, corn-fed tenderloin, and an unexpectedly sophisticated list of cocktails—gimlets, martinis, champale—along with sherry, Chianti, even Sauternes. The menus quoted classical poetry, as if to say: this is a Filipino family restaurant that can hold its own in any civilized corner of the world.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17607599847002.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">The original Max&#x27;s at Scout Tuazon, the house that fried chicken built | Photo: Max&#x27;s Restaurant</span></span></span></div><h3><strong>The next generation’s table</strong></h3><p>Eighty years later, Maximo’s descendants are still running the show—and they’re not just keeping the lights on. They’ve given the original Scout Tuazon property a thoughtful renewal, the kind that respects memory while daring to update it. There’s a café in partnership with Yardstick Coffee, serving beans roasted just for Max’s; a cocktail area called Ruby’s Bar, where the drinks are a nod to the restaurant’s earliest menus; and a small museum that feels like a time capsule. Inside are Ruby Trota’s cookbooks, vintage menus, sepia photographs, and old TV ads that remind you Max’s has always been in the business of memory-making.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1760760103764IG6.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Feast like family at Max&#x27;s | Photo: Max&#x27;s Restaurant</span></span></span></div><p>Even the bathrooms are new. The courtyard, once a modest patch of green, now opens into a calm, tree-shaded space—a pause button in the middle of Quezon City. What’s remarkable is how the place hasn’t shrunk with time, the way childhood homes tend to do when you return as an adult. It’s still the same house that fried chicken built, just brighter, more confident, and ready to greet another generation coming home.</p><p>“The brand doesn’t necessarily need to be the newest,” third generation Max’s scion Carolyn Trota-Salud says. “Sometimes you want to go to what is the most comfortable. Every time that you go, it’s there.”</p><p>The family’s third and fourth generations now sit at the head of the table—cousins and siblings who grew up on the same fried chicken they’re now entrusted to carry forward. Carolyn, with Jim Fuentebella and Pao Salud are among them, but they’re quick to remind you it’s still a family affair. The work now isn’t about chasing trends; it’s about staying true.</p><p>In a city hooked on the new, Max’s changes what it must—and never what it shouldn’t.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1760760143403IG5.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Nanay Ruby’s sinigang | Photo: Max&#x27;s Restaurant</span></span></span></div><h3><br/></h3><p>This balance between keeping up and staying true to its roots defines the newly renovated Scout Tuazon flagship. The restaurant wears its eighty years with the ease of something that has nothing left to prove, with a few thoughtful updates: a new kitchen, a cozy Ruby’s Bar, an events space, and a bakeshop. It’s familiar yet refreshed, modern yet rooted—a polished little time warp that still feels like home</p><p>Ruby’s Bar, tucked just beyond the dining room, isn’t a bid to compete with the newest cocktail spots or chase trends. Its drinks pay homage to history: whiskey sours, Manhattans, martinis, gimlets—echoes of Maximo’s original menu. The glassware gleams, the lighting is low enough to flatter, and the bar feels less like a modern hotspot than a gentle reminder of how the first Max’s offered civility, quiet sophistication, and a place to linger.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:900px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1760760168863IG1.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">After 80 years, the fried chicken is still crisp, golden, timeless | Photo: Max&#x27;s Restaurant</span></span></span></div><h3><strong>More than chicken</strong></h3><p>Of course, the chicken remains the centerpiece. It’s still golden, glistening, stubbornly unchanged by time. But the menu is no mere shrine to nostalgia. Ruby Trota’s recipes—sinigang, kare-kare, crispy pata, pancit canton, lumpiang shanghai, halo-halo, caramel bars—feel vintage and comforting, yes, but they are also genuinely delicious. Humble, careful, cooked with love, these dishes still form the backbone of Max’s</p><p>It’s that mix of abundance and restraint, of flavors that comfort, that makes Max’s different from the flood of modern fast-casual chains. It’s not trying to be high-end or exclusive. “Max’s never wanted to be too high-end that the regular Filipino family could not bring their grandmother, nieces, and nephews,” Jim Fuentebella tells me. That simple inclusivity explains why there are now 160 branches in the Philippines and 28 abroad, often serving overseas Filipinos craving the taste of home.</p><p>As I left Max&#x27;s, I paused on the sidewalk to watch families arriving, some clearly visiting from abroad. The Scout Tuazon branch glows softly, its familiar presence a quiet beacon in the bustling street. At 80, Max’s isn’t pretending to be young. It endures because doing things well—and doing them with heart—is how relevance is earned, quietly, one perfect fried chicken at a time.</p><div><br/></div><div><em>If you need proof that Max’s still knows how to make people happy, drop by Scout Tuazon on October 18. For one day only, the half spring chicken goes for ₱5—cash only, dine-in. Call it what it is: a love letter to the Filipino public, a nod to a time when meals were simpler and joy was found in a perfectly fried chicken. Follow </em><a href="https://www.instagram.com/maxschicken/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>@maxschicken</em></a><em> on Instagram for details.</em></div>

<p>For its 80th anniversary, Max’s is celebrating in true Filipino fashion—with nostalgia, community spirit, and an irresistible ₱5 deal for half a spring chicken that’s got everyone talking.</p>

For its 80th anniversary, Max’s is celebrating in true Filipino fashion—with nostalgia, community spirit, and an irresistible ₱5 deal for half a spring chicken that’s got everyone talking.

₱5 For Half A Spring Chicken? Max’s Turns Back Time For Its 80th

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₱5 For Half A Spring Chicken? Max’s Turns Back Time For Its 80th

Troy Barrios

Published October 17, 2025 12:15 PM PHT

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Updated October 18, 2025 12:10 PM PHT

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