Jollibee Fast Food Restaurant, Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines

Jollibee (4 April, 2017)

Jollibee is a fast food restaurant chain in the Philippines. Founded in Quezon City on 28 January, 1978, the chain now has some 3,000 outlets not only in the Philippines, but also in Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the United States. The restaurant is quite ubiquitous in the Philippines, especially in Metro Manila, where it seems to appear in every street corner.

Among the items available at Jollibee include burger, hot dog, spaghetti and fried chicken. The restaurant seems to borrow or localize what is also available in other fast food restaurants, giving it an Asian twist. For example, the burger steak is burger served with rice. Then there's also the tuna pie. Jollibee's fried chicken is available in two versions, original and hot-and-spicy, which is similar to other chains.

I had the opportunity of trying out Jollibee for the first time on my recent visit to the Philippines. I was staying at Hotel 101, and there is a Jollibee outlet along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue Extension right next door (GPS: 14.53561, 120.98768). On our first evening, event organiser KF Seetoh treated us to a dinner at Jollibee, saying that it is one of those items on the been-there-done-that list for visitors to the Philippines. I did enjoy the fried chicken from Jollibee, though I did not care much for the burger steak served with rice. The French fries are served with a sprinkling of curry powder, so it has a spicy twist to it.