Max's has been frying chicken in the Philippines since 1945, when a Quezon City resident named Maximo Gimenez started feeding American soldiers at a small restaurant near the base. The formula — thin, crisp, golden chicken fried in a wok rather than a deep fryer — turned into a national institution that has since expanded to hundreds of branches across the country and overseas. The Binan branch in Pacita Complex serves the standard menu: fried chicken, lumpia Shanghai, kare-kare, pasta carbonara, and what a lot of regulars swear is the best garlic bread in the chain.
The restaurant is clean, reliably air-conditioned, and staffed with attentive service. It is not adventurous — you know what you are getting — but that predictability is exactly the point. The Pacita Complex location sits on the Binan-San Pedro border, making it convenient if you are coming off the South Luzon Expressway. If you have never had Max's fried chicken before, this is a perfectly good place to try it; if you already know the chain, the Binan branch delivers what it promises.