Seemingly to open soon? If it hasn't already. http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/general/filipinos-welcome-jollibee-s-plans-to-open-in-uae-1.1321143
They are nothing if not ambitious, the only company to beat McDonald's decisively on their home territory, not a place where I like to eat but my kids like it. They will do well in Dubai, they have a presence in several middle east countries and have European plans too.
I think it's disgusting. I have eaten three times in the Horrible Looking Bee, and it tasted like slop.
Look at that woman, gazing upwards. She's thinking - what sort of creature is that? Surely it's not a bee? But a satanic demon with a marshmallow on its head? She would be right.
You aint see nothin. On a 5am jaunt from my hotel to MCIA I spotted a decidedly obvious rip-off called, wait for it... JolliAnt Only in Pinas
Seems pretty popular amongst Filipinos. I recall Andrew saying that MacDonalds claim the Philippines is the only country in the world that gives them stiff competition with Jollibee. However if Jollibee is as bad as people are saying I will give them a miss in the future. A Filipina my wife knows, after spending 8 months here in the UK, upon return to the Philippines the first thing she did was go for a Jollibee meal. Maybe they are addictive?
A burger is a burger, Jollibee burgers and chicken are no worse than any other basic burger joint, they are moderately good value but personally I would eat in Tokyo Tokyo any day for a couple of quid more, or Chowking for that matter. Mang Inasal is dodgy, had several bad barbecues from them, Hap Chan if you have to eat Chinese from a franchise is excellent but there are many great Chinese restaurants over there and cheap at that. Also Max's is good.
I visited Houston, Texas, several times and discovered that there is or was an abundance of burger joints to choose from. Each offered a variance on a theme. There you can by an "upmarket" burger. In fact just close to where I am they make some classy burgers, if indeed a burger can be classified as such.
Exactly Don't get me wrong I do enjoy the occasional nice burger and I'm not averse to cooking mince dishes. As an aside I went for a nice night out in a restaurant in Makati a few weeks back, last time I had been in this blokes restaurant was 2006 in Malate and on that occasion we spent about 4500 peso and had a fantastic meal and the best wine I've had in the Philippines, this time I spent 6000 including tip, nicer surroundings but the experience was nowhere near as classy. I went for a medium steak and Ana went for a well done steak, nice, but overall it felt like a steak and chips joint, there is an American steakhouse franchise over there that would have done better for about 4000 peso. The guy that owns this place is a Scot and he owns two quite classy restaurants right next to each other in Greenbelt in Makati just round the corner from Cafe Havana, the first one is the Sala Bistro and the second is the Peoples Palace that tickled me, it is a Thai restaurant and he's named it after a Glasgow museum We've not eaten in the People's Palace but I did order the best red wine we've ever had in the Philippines one night, from the d'Arenberg vineyard. I mean the wine was from the d'Arenberg vineyard
Do you mean it says a lot about the quality of Filipino food or the opposite? It seems that those that can afford to eat what they want in the Philippines still hanker for a Jollibee meal. Or some do, at least.
Keith I'm fond of a lot of home cooked dishes over there, it's not that bad mate, Adobo, Nilaga and so on, there is a lot of good stuff but what they think of as luxury foods is maybe where the issues start
you can eat well in the Phills but to eat well and not spend perhaps more than you would here is a bit more tricky I could eat surf and turf (good steak) for 250peso in Casa Verde in Cebu 4 years ago but generally in Thailand I could eat everywhere yum Filipino restaurants are not thick on the ground here and with good reason
Only two mate, I am not usually extravagant but it was just after pay day and I am paid well even though I moan about my situation (perhaps too much). We had not tried to go out for an upmarket night out for nearly nine years that's why I was willing to pay nearly a hundred quid but in the end I was disappointed compared to our previous experience of Colin's restaurants. The actual bill was 5600, but I chose not to be kuriput and gave 500 as a tip.
