Jumbo Kingdom is one of the most misunderstood structures in Manila Bay. A lot of people are intimidated with its magnificent floating restaurant structure and often mistake it to be a casino (which was rumored during Erap’s time). In 2000, two tugboats crossed from Aberdeen Harbour in Hong Kong to Manila Bay just to bring to manila one out of three Jumbo Floating Restaurants. It’s claim to fame is not only its magnificent sculpture, precise workmanship and intricate detail but also its delicious Cantonese Chinese restaurant! Jumbo Kingdom boasts of 11 VIP rooms equipped with videoke, a Fine Dining Restaurant, Crystal Banquet Hall and the Jumbo Music Lounge on the top floor (which is the place to be). This is definitely worth a visit if you have visitors/ balikbayans — the food is definitely good but the desserts were disappointing 🙂
The glitz and glamour of the Jumbo Entrance lobby is enough to get you excited about the place and you are welcomed by beautiful Chinese ladies. The exterior is brightly lit by more than 10,000 bulbs. You should be prepared with your cameras on hand as you pass by the scenic route from the lobby to the fourth floor (best to take the stairs rather than just the elevator straight to the 4th floor)
Check out this Jumbo Kingdom Photoset.
I would recommend that you reserve the fine dining section outside of the music lounge with an al fresco ambiance. You could also reserve inside the lounge but they only have cocktail round tables which should be OK for small groups. Live bands perform every night and I love that acoustic sound and soulful voice of the band as you eat your delicious cantonese food.
This is the deck of the fourth floor and during cool months, this is the best place to reserve and perfect for that dinner date. However, during the summer season, I’m not sure if it is still a good idea to eat al Fresco 🙂 Sometimes there are fireworks in the nearby Gloria Maris that can be viewed from Jumbo.
It is best to view Manila’s beautiful Sunset and colorful cityscape from each of the four decks of this unique floating restaurant in Manila Bay. Here is a photo of my dad with the view of Westin Philippine Plaza.
Hot and Sour Seafood Soup “Szechuan” Style (P160/person) — yummy soup if you like hot & sour.
Baked Mushroom and Bean Curd with Portuguese sauce in Pot (P380) — My brother loved this! Atkins friendly and Healthy food for my mom 🙂
Pan Fried Beef Tenderloin in Black Pepper Sauce (P50). You always need to ask about their Ala Carte Dinner Promo where for a minimum of P500 purchase in the ala carte menu during dinner (5.30pm-11:00pm), you can avail of the promo menu which included this beef dish.
Fresh Lapu Lapu! (P1050 for 700g) Deliciously Fresh and this is enough to make our dinner worth while 🙂
Steamed Stuff Winter Melon with Scallop, Shrimp, Garoupa Meat, topped with Egg White and Crab Roe (P420). This is also deliciously good and healthy alternative.
Before you leave, make sure that you are able to get a group picture in this emperor’s chair (Lung Chi) which was sat on by the Emperors from the Ching Dynasty (1644-1911).
JUMBO KINGDOM
located by the shore of CCP Complex at the back of Folk Arts Theater
Tel# +632 832 8888
Email: sales-ph@jumbokingdom.com
Lunch: 11am-3pm
Dinner: 5.30pm-11pm
Jumbo Music Lounge: 6:00pm -11:00pm (Mon-Thu) but until 1:00am (Fri-Sun)
I’ve always wondered how much a meal would cost at Jumbo Kingdom. I appreciated this write-up, Anton. I hope your eyes are recovering just fine. 🙂
I’ve never even seen this place! It’s amazing the number of places in Manila that have yet to be discovered. =)
Lori…
It is me who had the eye operation… not Anton. I am the guest blogger. But thanks for the warm thoughts.
I’ve been there last night with my friend, and yes i was very intimated because the place was really NICE and seems to be that only those people with 1000 pesos is the lowest denomination in their wallet can eat in this place! It’s just that i do not know if the price is also expensive. But WOW! I loved the place at first sight HAHAHA! But i feel so depressed, because i am so excited that i could visit the so-called Vodka Room, having a negative 10 degree temperature?,{my friend told me}unluckily they said that it was reserved already….so so so frustrated, even dreamt of it last night…..sigh… =(
yeah the vodka room is hard to get, I’ve been planning to reserve it
but to no avail 🙁 this is one of the restos that I like too…
hi anton! i’ve have read almost all the articles in your blogspot and they’re really informative.. anyways, i’m planning to treat my parents and sister at jumbo kingdom for my birthday.. would you know if a 1000/head budget be enough for lunch? thanks in advance! god bless!!
Hi, been planning to visit the place..tentatively on March 14, 2007. Can you suggest wheres the best part of the rest should we stay. need an nice ambience (definitely thats your palce) but i need to know where exactly in the jumbo place and how much at least the damage ill be spending.
This would be a table for two only.need romantic place
Don’t be intimidated, 350-500/head (for basic stuff) is more than enough unless you eat the really expensive stuff. Going there again tomorrow for the… 5th or 6th time. Cheers!
our anniversary is coming and maybe i’ll have to surprise my hubby since his birthday is the same week as our 5th year.:)any more food recommendations??
Were planning to visit the place on April 8, 2008 after my nephew’s graduation (dinner time). But first, I need to know how much will I spend if we are a party of 12. Do we need to make a reservation? Where’s the best part of the restaurant should we stay? And since it will be our first time to visit the place, any food recommendations? Thanks in advance.
Been to Jumbo Kingdom last night to treat my balikbayan uncle and auntie.My husband and I blushed in embarrassment for the place. It is definitely over-rated! The exterior was okay but not necessarily exceptional or stunning in anyway. The interior was a big,big,disappointment! Reserved a table at the roof deck coz I read it was the best place in the resto. The chairs were rusty,I almost didn’t want to sit on them, the floor was old and filty, the utensils and tablecloth were not exactly clean-looking.There was not even a table setting. They just handed us our plates and spoons and forks straight from the kitchen and that’s it. We even had to ask for our drinking glasses. Didn’t they expect us to be drinking while eating? .Ambiance was zero with everything around showing signs of decay! The food? I’ve tasted better chinese fastfood,to think this is supposed to be fine dining! The service: our party was told at the reception area to proceed to the 2nd level where a certain Adel is waiting to usher us to our reserved table on the roof deck. On the 2nd level,nobody seemed to be there in anticipation of our arrival. There was a lady dressed in her chinese costume chatting with another lady and was glancing at us. She did’nt take the initiative to approach us when we were clearly looking lost and apparently waiting for someone coz all six of us stood there for a while. I interrupted their conversation and asked if she is Adel. She said yes and asked if we were the ones supposed to go to the music lounge.I said yes that’s us. She pointed a finger to an area of the ship and told us to go that way. She didn’t accompany us. The reception could have just told us where the staircase is straight away so we didn’t lose time looking or waiting for her. We proceeded to where she pointed. It was a poorly lit part of the ship,where we found a dirty steel staircase bedecked with trash and restrooms.If its your house, that’s probably that part that you dont want your guests to see.The experience and how we were treated was completely devoid of any hint of class.We might as well be on a roro ship to who knows where!!! I find nothing luxurious about the whole thing! I felt like I wanted to disappear in embarrassment to my guests who have just been through a mediterranean cruise! They’ve been gone for 30 years and now that they came back for a visit this is what I showed them! It was a terrible mistake I don’t think I could recover from coz they are leaving tomorrow!Nakakahiya!!!
And you might want to know, if you still didn’t know, that is. It IS pricey!!!
LESSON LEARNED: Don’t believe every review you read on the internet. Go check out the place yourself before bringing your guest,lest you want to end up feeling small like my husband and I did!