Jollibee has long since been a staple of the Philippines. If you ever went up to a random person in the Philippines and asked them what their favourite fried chicken joint was, more likely than not they would say Jollibee. Now if you were to go to someone in Vancouver or anywhere else in the world, KFC has mostly been the go-to. Myself being a Philippines born individual, I’ve had the opportunity to start the beginning of my life surrounded with this very popular restaurant. I’m pleased to say that it finally has landed in my beloved city of Vancouver! On February 25 2022, my childhood finally opened its doors to the public. I no longer had to spend over $1k just to have this long timed tradition.
I had the king of western style chicken in the palm of my hands! Of course I was very lowkey about my excitement towards this and I needed to make sure no one got in between me and my love for chicken. I took to the restaurant 1 hour before they were scheduled to open one week after the initial grand opening so that it wouldn’t be as crazy and not surprisingly, there was still a line going down 1 block filled with people like me anxious to get their hands on this iconic chicken. In my head I thought, “they can’t possibly take that long to serve all of us on their grand opening month could they?” Little did I know that 15 mins would turn into 30, and 30 into 1 hour 15mins.
Finally, after all that time I was at the front of the line staring at the server awaiting to take my order and I triumphantly proceeded to order $200 worth of chicken, pies, spaghetti, and burgers. Once I finally got my order (which felt like an eternity), I took one look at the chicken thigh and immediately dunked that chicken in gravy and took the biggest bite that I could. The crunch and flavour was just like how I remembered it. That iconic generic flavour that only Jollibee chicken would ever taste like. From that point on I knew I would be making a trip here at least once a month.
But after all this blabbering about my obsession with Jollibee, I almost forgot that I’m first and foremost a Chef and food blogger that must rate this chicken honestly. So here it is: if KFC and Church’s Chicken had a child, this is that child. The flavour of well rounded seasoning from KFC, to the nice big juicy and crispy pieces of Church’s chicken. This is the real deal. Now rating wise I would give it a 8/10. Even though I fondly remember this chicken and will always love it personally, there are some technical aspects of the chicken that don’t make it the best. After having trained myself to have a refined palate, the chicken is too greasy. It wasn’t allowed to sit as long as it should have. Doing this would’ve made it that much crispier and not have the bottom become so soggy. As well, the seasoning was slightly off. It was more on the saltier side than usual. For a place to have their grand opening flagship product to not be up to standard was a felony. But of course I will always have a soft spot for this place. If you’ve never heard of or even tried Jollibee chicken, I suggest you do so. This will definitely give you sense of what true fried chicken should be! What’s your favourite chicken place? Comment below!
- Crispiness: 7/10
- Juiciness: 8/10
- Greasiness: 6/10
- Flavour: 8/10
- Affordability: $$
- Overall: 7/10
- Would I go back: For sure!
Address: 833 Granville St, Vancouver, BC V5M 2C9
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