Jollibee is the brainchild of Tony Tan Caktiong, a Chinese Filipino who graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a degree in chemical engineering. In 1975, he and his family opened an ?ice cream parlour in Cubao, Quezon City. His ice-cream parlour was then upgraded by offering hot fast food upon customers’ request. The first Jollibee outlet was born in 1978 and it soon became a strong competitor to fast-food chains from overseas such as KFC and McDonalds. Up until today, Jollibee still manages to stand tall in the heart of the Filipinos by offering flavours that stick closely to their taste buds.
The most famous item on the menu, Jolly Spaghetti, is not your ordinary spaghetti. That is because it tastes sweet! Now, why would the spaghetti be sweet? To find out the answer, we need to go all the way back to the World War II era. At that time, ketchup was brought into the Philippines by American soldiers. Soon enough, the Filipinos who liked the ketchup wanted to reproduce the condiment. Unfortunately, ?tomatoes were scarce in the Philippines, but ?bananas were aplenty. This situation led the Filipinos to make banana ketchup by mixing vinegar, sugar, other spices with the yellow fruit.
Jolly Spaghetti, being a Filipino version of spaghetti, has a unique taste that might taste funny to some people. The gravy has a good umami taste with a reduced tomato taste. The spaghetti is also served with sliced beef sausages.
This super crunchy and juicy ?fried chicken is a joy to many Pinoys and Pinays. The meat is slightly bland but the skin is crispy and not very salty. Each set of Chickenjoy comes with a tiny clear plastic tub that contains gravy for it. You can either pour the gravy over your chicken or dip your chicken in it. This gravy is also the same gravy that they use for mashed potatoes.
This spicy fried chicken by Jollibee is said to be spicier than KFC’s. For those who can take in the heat, Spicy Chickenjoy actually tastes better than the original Chickenjoy. The spiciness is not the type that hits right away. According to many people, the spice kicks in slowly, giving you the burn as you eat it. A Chickenjoy set also comes with mashed potato, coleslaw (their coleslaw has some pineapple in it) and a small soft bun.
This unique drink can't be found at any other fast-food restaurant in Malaysia. The taste is sweet and sourish and tastes even better with less ice. If you think that this is just another cordial drink then you are wrong! It still has that tangy ?real pineapple taste in it.
The sausage of the hotdog is kind of big and has some shredded cheese on it. It also tastes a bit sweet, just like the Jolly Spaghetti. The Jolly Hotdog is definitely worth the try.
On the first day of its operations, many Filipinos queued up to get a nostalgic taste that is close to home. In fact, most of those who lined up were Filipinos! As a Malaysian or non-Filipino, if you have no idea what to eat from the menu of Jollibee, you can refer to the 5 yummy selections that we have provided for you.
