“Welcome to the offline community.”  This was Ion’s response to me when I thanked him for organizing the very successful Filipino bloggers meet-up last month. (In case you don’t know, Ion is the man behind the famous Boy Dubai blog.)

I’ve been following their blogs even before I started mine so to finally meet them in person and be welcomed to their close-knit group was quite a huge milestone for my humble blogging life 🙂

From L-R:

• Sheila of AB and Me
• Myla of Find Me a Break
• Ion aka Boy Dubai
• Tin aka Tin Cura
• Jane of The Desert Life
• Lady of Lady and her sweet escapes
• Arence of A World of Travel & Possibilities
• MM of MM in Dubai
• Fill of sounds funny and the not so funny
• Pam of Glimpses of Pam
• Joy of The Thrift Trip
• Carla of My Yellow Bells

Though some of us only met for the first time, we immediately felt connected and at ease. It was more like catching-up with old friends actually. 🙂

Aside from sharing stories and blogging tips, we also shared a sumptuous seafood dinner courtesy of a homegrown Pinoy brand, Max’s Restaurant. They were generous enough to host our dinner and really took care of us from start to finish. Pinoy hospitality at its best 🙂

In addition to their bestsellers, Chef Henry proudly introduced a new Seafood Specials menu. This menu comes with a tagline ‘Fresh catch. Freshly prepared’ For me, this only means quality 🙂

Without further ado, here are five dishes that will surely satisfy your seafood cravings!

Sauteed mussels with lemongrass, ginger, tomatoes, green chilli and basil leaves. This dish instantly brought me back to my Nanay’s kitchen. Such old familiar flavors which I really appreciated 🙂

Grilled squid stuffed with chopped prawn, onion and tomatoes. Loved this dish, perfectly grilled and very tasty.

Tiger Prawns wok-fried prawns in sweet chilli, garlic and oyster sauce. My favorite. I can eat a whole serving of this by myself. haha. But seriously though, it’s good enough for sharing!

Black pepper blue sea crab Fresh crabs tossed in black pepper sauce. I missed this one (unfortunately!) simply because I didn’t want to risk staining my white top. Hay.

Deep-fried hammour topped with sweet & sour sauce, diced mango, pineapple, and peppers. To those who didn’t want to get their hands dirty, this was the safest to eat. 🙂 Sauce was delicious and sweet but I would have preferred to have crispy fried fish. Perhaps next time, I will just ask the chef to serve the sauce separately.

**all the above dishes will be served with 2 cups of steamed rice

Max’s team were so generous, they also served us their classic dishes — Bulalo, kare-kare, sizzling tofu, and of course, their signature spring fried chicken! Oh, and don’t forget that dessert platter 🙂

BURP!

It was indeed a memorable night. Thanks to delicious food and new found friends 🙂

Special thanks to Max’s UAE, Ion and Mr. Art Los Banos for organizing this event. ‘Till next time!