Jollibee
204-772-6701
May 2018
Touted as
the McDonald’s of The Philippines, Jollibee has over a thousand outlets in Asia but Winnipeg Canada
The
original concept of Jollibee brought Western fast food from North America to The Philippines. The menu featured a smattering of Western
staples like fried chicken, spaghetti, and burgers. A Filipino dish or two spotted the menu but
the business concept wasn’t to serve local cuisine.
Now
imagine Jollibee opening a franchise in Winnipeg
Huh?
Essentially,
the Filipinos took Western fast food, brought it to Asia , who then expanded to bring it
back to the West. So can we call this
Filipino-influenced Western fast food?
That’s what we’re here to find out.
At less
than $3, the Yumburger seems like an absolute bargain compared to the local
fast food joints, where you can’t find a burger for less than $5. When the Yumburger comes, I find it
comparable in size to A&W Baby Burger; this certainly isn’t enough to feed
an adult. It may have a good price but
the amount you get is commensurate to the amount you pay. The sauce has a somewhat odd taste to it that
I can’t quite make out, although the standard Filipino sauce comes with just a
mayo-catsup blend. The sauce has a
pinkish tinge but I suspect it’s heavier on the mayo than catsup and there’s
another ingredient. It complements the
sandwich well but it’s not among one of the usual Western sauces. The patty tastes adequate, comparable to the
fast food patties that you find in any to-go restaurant. The tiny little bun looks a little sad but it
does the job.
My
favourite part of the meal stems from the expertly fried Jolly Crispy
Chicken. The meat tastes moist and juicy
and the skin has a deep crunch to every bite.
There’s a tad more grease than necessary, but not too much where you’re
soaked in it. Whereas much of the
Western world prefers chicken’s white meat, most Asians prefer the dark meat (as
do I). Each time I ordered the chicken
from Jollibee, all the pieces are dark meat, leading me to think that’s all
they serve. That’s great to me but if
you prefer white, you may be out of luck.
The
chicken order comes with a side of gravy and rice, although I’m not sure what’s
supposed to go into the gravy. Do you
dip the chicken into the gravy, or is it for the rice? The mushroom gravy has an odd taste as well
that I can’t quite pinpoint. I like the
chicken so much, I would never think to alter its taste with the gravy and the
rice tastes quite fine on its own as well.
The
Palabok is the only Filipino entry here, comprised of rice noodles with ground
pork and shrimps. The plump shrimps come
well cooked and still moist. I think
every dish tastes better with egg on it and the slices of hard-boiled egg go
well here. The sauce is essentially a
seafood sauce that blends well into the rice noodles. A bit of a warning though: the sauce tastes heavy with fish sauce. I love fish sauce and it’s one of those
ingredients that add umami to foods but you have to be very careful with it; it
tastes very powerful. I find it a tad
heavy-handed here, leaving the dish fishy.
If you don’t like fish, you should avoid this option.
On tap,
they offer a pineapple drink that tastes like sipping on sunshine! This delicious drink has you believing that
you’re sucking on an overripe, freshly cut pineapple. I’m wishing for a refill on this beverage.
Not
knowing what to expect, I hoped to find a Filipino fast food restaurant that
serves Filipino food. Aside from the
Palabok, everything here is Western. The
burger and pasta taste passable but they did a very good job with the chicken. I like what they have but I hope they expand
their menu to include more Filipino options.
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