This adventure was pretty unknown to me and honestly I just went along for the ride but boy am I glad I did! Tongxin has been begging Christel to go and get Jollibee for some time now apparently but seeing as it's a little far from campus it hasn't been an easy trip to make. The two of them finally decided to go and invited me along as well and now I'm obsessed.
LOCATION: 5033 N ELSTON AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60630
Jollibee is a Filipino fast food chain that's known for their fried chicken (i.e. Filipino KFC) with the cutest Jolly Bee as their mascot and really good food. Christel is from the Philippines so she knew exactly what to get and just ordered the three of us a sample of everything so we could take in the Jollibee experience. Christel ordered us a Bucket Treat B which comes with a 6 pieces Chickenjoy Bucket (with gravy because this chicken MUST be eaten with gravy to be authentic), one family sized jolly spaghetti, and three mango peach pies. We ordered a soda to share and also an order of Palabok fiesta which is a Filipino noodle dish to round out the meal.
I had zero expectation of what this would be like but Tongxin was pretty excited she finally got to try some Jollibee and neither of us was disappointed. This chicken definitely gives KFC a run for their money; its soft, moist, and had a great crisp skin with great flavor. I'm too American and can't get used to eating it with gravy but that's not to say the gravy was bad at all. Jolly Spaghetti is pretty good but it's one of those sweeter spaghetti's with little hot dog pieces in it. Very American if you ask me but Christel and Tongxin are all about it. I'm a bigger fan of the palabok but that's not a surprise seeing as I like rice noodles with citrus drizzled on it. The palabook has a lighter sauce and comes with egg, shrimp, and crunchy pork skins on top for texture and flavor. I'm hooked and will dream about this noodle for a long time and I'm already sad it's gone. I'm already planning my next visit with my mom because she loves KFC and this is something she'll actually enjoy without a doubt.
Of course it doesn't stop there, we made sure to stop in time to save room for dessert and Christel ordered us one halo halo to share which is more than enough after our chicken feast. Halo halo is a filipino dessert (similar to Chè for all my Viet homies out there) thats made up of shaved ice and evaporated milk. Jollibee halo halo includes this beautiful jam smeared on the inside of the cup and all the magical beans and jello hiding on the bottom including white beans, red beans, chickpeas, young coconut and has two scoops of ice cream (ube and cheese flavored) and flan on top. Christel said there was supposed to be pieces of jackfruit mixed in but we totally got ripped off and didn't have any and this thing was still magical. Halo halo and Chè are just those fun desserts that I love that no one else understands in America because it just doesn't exist but when you have it, it's just super special.