My apologies. A few readers have continued to experience problems while trying to access the marketmanila.com site. It seems to be under near constant “attack” from folks who wish to take advantage of the number of hits the site gets daily to do something evil. As a result, my tech guy who helps me with the site, has instituted a number of immediate temporary measures to prevent any further damage to the site. As of today, the contact form has been removed, as it was viewed to be a “way into” the site. So you cannot send me a private email, just leave comments. Some other features are currently being revised as well. As such, you may experience some features not working properly over the next few days. All of this in the name of fortifying the borders on this very old site. The alternative to the frustration was to shut it down, but that would be like giving into morons. And we try not to do that here. :) So bear with us as we try and fix things further. And if it’s any consolation for the nitwits foisting this on innocent sites like marketmanila.com, you are now costing me money to fend you off. Not a massive sum, but annoying. If there is indeed karma in the world, and I believe there is, I hope you spill a cup of piping hot coffee from your favorite fastfood place right onto your nuts for a morning bath while you commute to work. Assuming you have real work.
Meanwhile, on a lighter note, and if you don’t have a chance to visit Zubuchon Mango Avenue which is currently under expansion and will double in size in about 3 weeks time, you would have seen the following crew created notices/signs and have to think, “yup, even Marketman’s crew is starting to think like him…”
On the outdoor window facing the street, the tarpaulin says:
“We are expanding… more piggies coming soon.” With large pig logo and two small piglets trailing behind…
On the indoor divider towards the new expansion area:
“More piggies are coming soon… so please bear with our labor pains. We apologize for any inconvenience you may experience. Thank you.”
HAHAHA. :)
Work on our third restaurant in Mactan has also started, and we expect to open there by mid-December.
38 Responses
Expansion galore! Wow, congrats.
I’d love to see this sign: “We are expanding… Manila piggies coming soon”
MM– can we at least buy frozen lechon and sisig in Manila, please? My husband goes to Cebu but often takes the first flight out, so the store is still closed at the pre-departure area. Or so he says. :(
Thanks for taking care of the security measures,3 weeks ago..while going to your site , using my lap.took me to a complete legal looking security site, i cannot get out..until i have to pay $19.00..i ignored it, it took Quite a few booting and resetting.my lap top is “new ” again, and i use my Desk Top..which is more Secure on Virus, worms,etc. Love your Blog… again Thanks.
Congratulations on the success of your eateries and you expansion!!!
Wow! I assumed that the redirects to porn and other junk was due to a problem on my computer, not this site.
IN MANILA, PLEASE!
So elated to hear about your expansions! More power to you. MM, how about making pastries using pork lard, since you bake well too? For take out pasalubong of sorts? I can imagine your apple pie recipe… drooling right now.
Dear Santa Claus,
Please make marketman open a zubuchon restaurant in manila. pls,pls. i promise to be good.
Little Laine
Hi MM and crew – Wow, congratulations on your expansion and the birth of a third branch! More power and more success !!! :)
Do you have any plans of opening a branch here in Manila?
Congratulations on the expansion! I look forward to visiting when I am in the Philippines during my summer break! :)
I get notifications from Norton that an attempted attack on my pc has been blocked whenever i open your site in my laptop so now i mostly read from my iPad.
Congratulations on the success and expansion of Zubuchon.Still waiting for my chance to taste everything on the menu when I go home for a vacation.
Happy to know more people can enjoy Zubuchon’s many delights! :)
Hi MM. My family and I celebrated my eldest daughter’s birthday at Zubuchon Mango last September. Your lechon did not fail us, as well as the vegetable viands we chose. We especially appreciated the free frozen lechon sisig that we were able to bring home all the way to Dumaguete.
Just two comments…(1) I found the kamias/iba shake a tad too sweet. I would have preferred tasting a little bit more of the sourness. Is there a deliberate effort to mask the sourness? (2) My husband tasted zubuchon earlier this year and he said the herbs really permeated the meat. When we ate it last September he said the “herby” note in the meat was not as strong. Did you adjust your seasonings lately? Or does it depend on what part of the lechon we got?
Hello Market Man don’t forget to kindly tell your tech guy to backup the site often, run periodic checkups for any hack files or malware
Nadia, thanks for your feedback. We have not changed our recipe at all. But what may have happened is the PART of the lechon that your tried. If you got a lot of ribs/stomach area, you would have had a more herby taste. If you got a lot of thigh, the herbs would have been less obvious. We try to serve a kilo of lechon with some of the thigh and some of the ribs, but if you happen to luck out and get mostly thigh, it is less “herbaceous”. To adjust, we do keep a stash of lechon drippings and sprinkle some of it on the thigh meat, but some folks really do just prefer the stomach. As for the shake, we pre-portion a standard amount of kamias by weight, but the level of sourness can differ dramatically. While the bartender is supposed to taste every shake that goes out, I think what may happen is that a standard amount of sugar syrup is added, thereby resulting in a less than even “sourness” level. In future, if you find the shake too sweet, please send it back… they will be happy to adjust to your preference. I know most people don’t think to do that, but at Zubuchon, that request will not be viewed negatively. Thanks for dining at Zubuchon. :)
Noel, Lalaine, PITS, Mimac — we have no plans to open in Manila as of now. The main issue is the lechonan. We have a full facility in Cebu. We are a licensed slaughterhouse, have our own roasting facility and our own commissary. It is a major investment, and it will support several restaurants. So we are concentrating on Cebu first, and getting it right, making adjustments when necessary, and documenting our systems, etc. Only when we have that to our standards, which can be quite exacting, will we look at Manila. Setting up a similar operation in Manila is more difficult and expensive, hence the hesitation. But maybe in a year or so, we will be able to do it. Despite what looks like a snail’s pace, trust me when I say we are still running around like headless chickens. and with the Christmas holidays and Sinulog fast approaching, we are like headless chickens on crack. :)
I finally ate in your restaurant in One Mango Avenue last night. I had the truffle lechon with garlic rice, kangkong and kamias shake. All I can say is the lechon was HEAVENLY!!! Perfectly flavored with the truffle oil. Yum!!!
I really admire you Marketman. Business students and would be entrepreneurs will learn a lot from you.
“Setting up a similar operation in Manila is more difficult and expensive, hence the hesitation. But maybe in a year or so, we will be able to do it.” Now counting the days….
I love this: “…trust me when I say we are still running around like headless chickens. and with the Christmas holidays and Sinulog fast approaching, we are like headless chickens on crack. :)”
Definitely going to Zubuchon Mango during Sinulog season. During off-peak hours… if there is such a thing at Zubuchon =P
Congrats on the third outlet! More success… and here’s to seconding Ami on the Manila outlet.
I am thrilled to know that there will be a Zubuchon Mactan soon! I’m a lurker and this news has made me come out of “hiding.” hehehe.
I’ve been to your restaurant in Mango and have been planning to go back there with friends but it always gets put off. Since we work here in Mactan and live in differents parts of Metro Cebu, there can’t be any more reason to put off a Zubuchon date with friends!
Ahhh, and the thought that I can have Zubuchon for the holidays make me salivate!
More power to you sir!
“…I hope you spill a cup of piping hot coffee from your favorite fastfood place right onto your nuts for a morning bath…”. MM, let’s be politically correct here. It might be that “he” is a “she”. And besides, if this moron is a “he”, I don’t think he has a good pair.
tonito, you are right, but I think the statistics will probably support the assumption that the hacker is male, maybe 70-90% of the time. As for the quality of the pair, hahaha, I have no idea. :) tonito, if you follow this link to an old but probably still relevant article, you will note the author suggests that female hackers are almost non-existent, so maybe it’s safe to say they comprise less than 10% of the hackers or hacking perpetrators… :)
Hi, MM, ever since I stopped using Internet Explorer and started using Google Chrome, instead, the “attacks” have stopped. (The frequent freezing of my Yahoo Mail has also stopped.) I highly recommend Google Chrome.
hello,mm! :) i did not get enough of your zubuchon so like everyone else’s, my christmas wish is that you get to have a branch here in manila! :) everybody should be able to taste your five-pork fried rice! and oooppssss, your kamias shake is sooooo unbeatable! :) i’ll send you the link to my website when i am done with the article. :) thank you,mm! ;)
EJ…my youngest son (our in-home computer techie) switched his and mine to Google Chrome… when hubby bought me an IMac…no more problems! (knock on wood)
i thought that my firewall subscription has expired when i went to your website ’bout few weeks ago, later on i realized that your website is under attacked. your website is the first one i go everyday, to savour the Philippine cuisine from miles away. anyway, i am glad that you are back in track. Cebu City (to dine in your famous resto) is part of my destination when I get to visit my homeland.
So glad that Google Chrome works for you, too, betty q. Thanks so much, btw, for all your helpful comments and info.
Yes, internet explorer seems to be where the bulk of the problems are at. Other folks seem to be perfectly fine. Most folks on a mac haven’t been complaining… :)
To Mr/Ms Hacker,
Go hack some other website. Something st*pid like a frequently plagiarizing portal that keeps showing up on the news. Stay away from our favorite site.
Thanks
Chris
HI MM – glad to hear of your plans for Manila expansion: hope it will be in time for my homecoming next Christmas! You can only have so many outlets in Cebu y’know ;-).
Firefox on Mac – no problem!
Congratulations on the expansion! Hopefully I can go there next month.
I use Google Chrome and never had a problem logging into your site.
MM, thanks for the link on women hackers (almost non-existent). As for that moron, off with his GONADS!!! (If he has any).
Tnx MM, now i can read my fav blog anytime anywhere…:) Good Luck to your new ventures.
Sorry, off-topic, MM. No wonder why I did not get a response to my e-mail to you requesting Mang Fredo’s (Culion boatman) cell #. Group of friends would like to hire him for their Coron tour in Jan. Many thanks.
Thanks, MM. I think your new measures are effective. I have not gotten a notice from Norton security when logging into your blog this morning.
Hey MM,
Nice to know that you are expanding your Mango Avenue resto. We visited the place last month and on both times we have to wait a few minutes to get a table.
On another note, you might want to ask your site developer to hide the ‘Contact’ link. That should be a quick job.
Congrats and good luck!
hope you’ll branch out to Bacolod…
nice to be able to access this site again without being redirected to some porno sites; it annoyed me so much because I used to check your site during breaks in the office that when I was redirected to the porn sites, I had to close the browser for fear of being detected by IT.
now I can read your posts in peace; thanks MM!
really glad security has been sorted out, I have been having withdrawals from not being able to get my regular dose of marketmanila goodness.
one day i hope to be able to visit the Zubuchon Mango Ave, as a kid I spent some of my summer holidays at my grandparent’s place in Gen Echavez which is not far from Mango Ave.
congratulations on the success of your venture :)