Classic Savory: A rich tradition of serving timeless dishes, lasting memories

Filipinos from all walks of life love to gather around sumptuous meals with family and friends. This has been the raison d'être why a postwar restaurant serving timeless dishes would live on to become a favorite place for diners, who wish to bond and create special memories over hearty meals and great conversations.

Established by the Ting Brothers in the 1950s post-World War II era as a single establishment serving chicken and lomi in Escolta, Manila, Classic Savory is now one of the country’s most loved restaurant chains with 80 branches nationwide.

   Classic Savory is the perfect place to treat your family and friends to timeless gustatory treasures.

Wanting to introduce the eatery to young foodies, the second generation of Tings, co-founder Antonio Ting’s son Ramon, relaunched the restaurant six decades later, in 2007, and situated more contemporary looking outlets in major malls (SM, Ayala Malls and Robinsons). The third generation of Tings, Ramon’s nephews and nieces, would help run the business as well.

Since then, Classic Savory has become a popular hangout of families and barkadas who wish to satisfy their cravings for reasonably priced, feast-worthy meals.

Classic Savory Marketing Manager Dennis Ting said, “Classic Savory has a long and rife tradition of serving Filipino-Chinese gustatory treasures that have stood the test of time. We shall continue to provide excellent dishes that would serve as perfect backdrops for cooking up tasty memories created among family and friends, and all groups of diners for that matter.”

Not only for dine in or take out, Classic Savory also brings their delectable dishes to your home parties and office events via caterings and deliveries. It has in fact become the preferred takeout food in some offices and catered meals in several home gatherings.

A mix of classic and contemporary dishes

Each of Classic Savory’s time-honored signature dishes, which include the Savory fried chicken, lomi and pancit canton, has truly become a must-try among the restaurants’ new and longtime patrons. 

Tender, juicy and tasty, Savory Chicken is the quintessential centerpiece of many feasts where families and friends create special memories.

Lomi was the main dish that the first-ever Savory would serve way back in the 50s. Its hearty thick soup and tasty noodles aptly made it the standard for delicious lomi, then and now. Another noodle dish that is to die for in the eatery is its delectable pancit canton, which combines saucy noodles with a generous serving of freshly cooked veggies, seafood and meat.

The Savory Chicken, meanwhile, has been a favorite of generations of diners, with its mouth-watering goodness making it the ultimate comfort food. Just like what its tagline says, it’s tender, juicy and tasty! Made even more heavenly with its delicious gravy.

No wonder balikbayans make Savory Chicken a coming-home treat as they miss its unique flavors while abroad. It has also become a perfect centerpiece of several celebrations like birthdays, christenings, and even weddings.  

Aside from these time-honored classics, the restaurant also came up with new dishes that have been equally well-received by its patrons.

Relish appetizing courses like Lechon Macau, Crispy Patatim, Imperial Beef Tenderloin, Beef Ampalaya, Veggie Lumpia Fried, Chopsuey Con Lechon, Beer Battered Crispy Fish Fillet, Steamed Fish in Garlic, Shrimps Relleno and Crab Foo Yong, among other dishes. Not to mention delightful desserts like Almond Fruit Float, Black Iced Jewels, Pandan Fiesta Salad and refreshing drinks like Tropical Cooler and Blended Iced Tea.

Classic Savory seafood dishes

With its superb menu selections and welcoming store ambience, diners will surely find Classic Savory the perfect place to bond and share great dining experiences. Truly a classic that create long-lasting gustatory traditions and memories!

Last Trip of 2012: Ilocos Sur & Ilocos Norte

My guy friends planned a trip to Ilocos, where one of our friends got a family beach house.  They tagged me along since I wasn't doing anything those days. A Lithuanian couch surfer also joined us, since he's in the Philippines for a short vacation. We left Manila at around 5pm on December 28; and we had a stop at NLEX and another one at Rosales, Pangasinan. After 8 hours on the road, we arrived in Vigan, Ilocos Sur at 2am. We had a quick meal at Rizal Park in Santo Domingo, a town near Vigan. The next town was Magsingal, where our friend's place was. We slept from 4am to 11am and headed out after lunch to explore Ilocos Sur. The last time I've been to Ilocos Sur and Norte was 7 years ago, during our field trip in Art Studies class. 

So here's a rundown of the places in Ilocos Sur that we've visited:

1. Crisologo Museum - the ancestral house of the Crisologo's, one of the most influential families in Ilocos Sur.

2. Baluarte - the house and ranch of Chavit Singson, a famous politician who loves collecting animals, even tigers!

3. Bell Belfry - the bell tower in St. Augustine church in Bantay, Ilocos Sur.

4. Calle Crisologo - a historic street in Vigan, which is listed as one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites.

5. Sunset at the beach behind our friend's place in Magsingal - the sunset was so nice, plus the sand was so fine, although it's dark gray.

What's cool about this trip was, our friend's mom was also at their beach house and she was cooking for us while we were there. But of course, we paid for the groceries because only her cooking service was free. haha! We were also able to try the Ilocos miki, a super yummy noodle soup with special noodles called, "miki" that's only available in Ilocos. Our friend's cousin cooked it for us and it was so addicting!:)

So that's our day 1. The next day (30th), we went on a 3-hr trip from Ilocos Sur to Ilocos Norte. We're supposed to swim at a beach in Pagudpud but due to a rainy weather, we were not able to swim. The waves were so huge and the weather was really cold. But at least we were still able to go around Ilocos Norte and visited the following sites:

1. Cape Bojeador Lighthouse - too bad it was prohibited to climb up the lighthouse itself because it's unsafe to do so.

2. Kapupurawan White Rock Formations - it's where Mario Maurer's tagalog movie, "Suddenly its Magic" was shot, plus some fake rock houses were built for "Si Enteng, Si Agimat, at Si Ako", an entry in the 2012 Metro Manila Film Festival.

3. Bangui Windmills - it energy produced by the windmills supplies electricity to the nearby towns.

4. Pannzian Beach and Restaurant - we had late lunch there while it was storming outside; and we loved their adobo.

5. Patapat Bridge - it's a bridge where you can see an ocean on the left and a mountain on the right.

6. Hannah's Resort - one of the famous resorts in Pagudpud; it's where we had coffee since it's too cold to swim. You can also try Blue Lagoon in Pagudpud.

7. Paoay Church - a baroque church that's also one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Due to bad weather, we were not able to explore much of Ilocos Norte. But I still remembered the places we've visited 7 years ago during our Art Studies field trip. That time, we also visited the place of the Marcos family, where the former president's body was still being frozen. That experience really gave me goosebumps. It's so scary to see a dead person inside a glass freezer. Anyway, it's also nice to see the Paoay sand dunes where Panday and Himala was shot. It's like a huge desert. When I first went there, there's not much to do there, but now I've heard tourists can ride some ATVs while playing in the dunes. One place we have also visited 7 years ago was the the Laoag Sinking Bell Tower, as the name suggests, it was said to be sinking year after year. We've also worked on some pottery during our Art Studies field trip there.

Then we went back to the beach house in Ilocos Sur. The next morning, it was still cloudy so we were not able to swim at the beach. We just decided to leave early going back to Manila since it's the 31st of December and we had to catch the New Year's countdown.

The 2-day trip (not counting the days on the road) to Ilocos was quick yet fun. We were able to go to a lot of nice places there in a short span of time. And to talk about the budget, it was so cheap. We paid around Php 2,200 each, not including the pasalubong. So there were four of us and we just divided all the expenses by 4. Here's how much each of us paid:

1. Transportation (gasoline of Mazda 3) - 1,000

2. Food (groceries and snacks) - 1000

3. Toll Fees - 200

TOTAL: Php 2,200 (more or less)

And that's my last trip for 2012. Looking forward to more trips for 2013.:)

xoxo,
citygirl

Surviving Shanghai: Day 3

It's our last day in Shanghai and our itinerary as we planned actually covered People's Square, Shanghai Museum, and West Nanjing Road (for shopping). However, we got some kind of deviation from our originally itinerary.

We're supposed to start our day early but we ended up waking up late because our beds and sheets were too comfy! haha! So we had breakfast at Mcdo, which was two blocks away from our hotel. Then we walked to Baoshan Road station, passing buy a market of surplus goods. Well it looked like Divisoria of gadgets, kitchenwares, industrial stuff, etc. There were lots of people even in the streets so we didn't bother to take a look anymore.

 Double Cheeseburger and it's cheaper there than in the P.I.

We went off at People's Square station. Then we walked a couple of blocks to get to the Shanghai Museum. The museum is open from 8am to 5pm and admission is free. It's super worth our time because we got to know China even more. I've been familiar with Chinese dynasties since high school, and it's so cool to have images and artefacts to associate with  what I've learned those days about the Chinese history.

Shanghai Grand Theater

flowers!:)

inside the museum

ancient pottery

Chinese calligraphy

bad hair day lol

please excuse the kid behind me lol

panorama shot via iOS 6

I forgot the name of this road but it's a strip of restaurants and some boutiques

After a little over an hour inside the museum, we headed to West Nanjing Road, thinking of finding a bazaar in the street but there's none. We walked towards the East Nanjing Road until we found a building which looked like the Silk Market in Beijing or 168 in Divisoria. I got to practice my bargaining skills with a cute leather bag/clutch that we bought. The initial price offered was 620 RMB, and I was like...seriously?!? That wasn't even branded! She did a demo wherein she tried to burn the bag using a lighter and it didn't show any mark. So I haggled a lot of times and whenever the saleslady wouldn't agree, we were acting as if we're leaving, then she's been stopping us every time. Until we arrived at the price of 120 RMB. Imagine that?!? Well they speak good English so you can always negotiate with them without the charades haha! But I suggest, be kind when you haggle because it gets them guilty for overpricing that's why it's easier to haggle. (wasn't able to take a photo of the building)

Shopping there wasn't enough so we headed to the Super Brand Mall, a 13-storey shopping mall in century Avenue. We didn't have much time to shop because we had to catch our flight later that night. Surprisingly, we spent about an hour in H&M on the 1st floor of the building and we had to do a 15-minute grocery shopping for "pasalubong" in the supermarket at the ground floor. After that quick shopping, we took a cab back to the hotel, fixed our things, and left the hotel. The security guard of the hotel called a cab for us and we thought they already talked about where we're headed to. But apparently, they didn't. The taxi driver couldn't understand that we wanted him to take us to the East Nanjing Road station since that's the nearest Line 2 station from the hotel, and that's the metro line headed to the Pudong International Airport. The driver was too kind and resourceful that he used hi cellphone to call the Shanghai Translator call center. He passed his phone to us then the agent on the line said, "This is the Shanghai Translator. Where do you want to go? I will translate it to your driver." It's super cool! I suggest you search its number online because it will be useful if you don't want to do charades haha!

About our departure, I'll share it on my next post. I will also include a summary of our trip, some tips and a bit of an estimated expense to help you guys on planning your trip to Shanghai.

xoxo