jollibee

i ate here because of the reviews and there is always a line. i ordered the two piece chicken with rice and mash potatoes, yum burger with tlc, and a hotdog. the chicken was nothing special. it was fresh and hot, but it is just lightly floured deepfriedchicken. the mash potatoes were standard plain instant. the brown gravy was really good. the yummy burger was bland and didn't taste very good. i came, i saw, i won't be going back.

whisper the word jollibee (or post a picture on facebook) and every filipino for miles around will text you an order for chicken to be brought back to canada (does that seem a bit like a stereotype? sorry. let's say, every filipino that my partner knows for miles around). it is definitely a taste of home for a lot of folks and currently the tukwila store is the nearest jollibee to vancouver, bc. this is a popular fast food place in the philippines best known forfriedchicken. and it is pretty goodfriedchicken, being crispy yet very moist on the inside. i wouldn't put it above seattle's own ezells but it is as good as churches or any of the other vancouver chains and a good deal better than most. you can order it with some interesting sides like palabok, a noodle dish with chicharon, pork, shrimp, boiled eggs and their version is very tasty. or try it with spaghetti. the filipino version of spaghetti is much sweeter than the italian and traditionally has chopped up wieners in the sauce. not my personal favourite but popular at jollibee and their version is not too sweet. i know that seems odd but don't try to compare it to italian bolognese and it is quite tasty. other than that, their gravy is pretty decent, with onion and celery notes. they have burgers, a decent breakfast and more. personally, i wouldn't drive to seattle just for jollibee (my partner would) but when we are down there we definitely make the stop. also it is surrounded by a few other filipino places like the grocery store seafood city which has amazing fresh fish and some harder to find filipino items, a couple of bakeries and least two more fast food places. if you are filipino, you already know (sorry... stereotype again) and if you are not, you owe it to yourself to expand your cultural horizons!

thefriedchicken was piping hot, fatty and juicy (in a good way) and i liked the sweet spaghetti because that's how my mom also taught me to make my spaghetti (1 teaspoon of sugar to cut the acid).

my filipino friends at home were jealous.... i had heard about jollibee from filipino friends and coworkers, so when we randomly stumbled across it while we were at the mall, we had to check it out.

the setup is very food court-ish, but the line moved pretty fast and we only had to wait a couple of minutes for the food to be served.

i had the 2 piecefriedchicken combo with mashed potatoes and gravy and buttered corn.

the mashed potatoes and corn were fine, but the gravy was awesome. and thefriedchicken was delicious. fresh, hot and crispy. i seriously debated going back for more, but opted to go next door to red ribbon bakery for dessert instead (the ube cake and coconut macaroons were excellent!)

if we're ever in the area again, we would definitely go back.