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Bon Chon Chicken in Manila, The Good and the Bad

November 19, 2010 by Janey

Despite feeling really sick last Monday and recuperating during the Holiday Tuesday, I couldn’t keep myself from the thought of chomping good food. Great food is the best medicine after all –okay, next to laughter. I got to admit that a good laugh can bring me a few inches off the ground faster than good food.

My visit to Bon Chon Chicken at the Ayala Triangle Gardens last Tuesday with the Foodie gang, however, didn’t leave a smile on my face. Mostly had to do with service, which I’m trying to excuse since it’s only Bon Chon Chicken soft opening, always bound for kinks at this early stage, but a customer can only bear much. A lot of things are unforeseen especially when you’re starting, but OPEN with a BANG! –a good one and not a whack on the head.

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Ro and family arrived early that day together with Richard and family. They were able to secure a table before it got completely packed. Placed their orders but it took a while to arrive, which is forgivable, but when the food started arriving, it wasn’t their orders. Their particular orders got mixed up too.

Abet, Joan, Bubba and I arrived a bit later, lined up patiently to place our orders. It took 35-40 minutes before the food started arriving –2 boxes of Bulgogi rice first. 10 minutes later, the highlight of the meal arrived, 2 boxes of Bon Chon Chicken. We ordered half spicy and half soy garlic flavor –the wings with the toothpicks are the ones that are spicy, supposedly… but in this case, they also somehow mixed the batches and the non-spicy ones turned out to be SPICY.

If you’re a bit acidic, eating spicy food (by mistake pancake… and not even YOUR mistake) after waiting for your food for a long time might just put your whole day to waste. This is a more sensitive part that shouldn’t be overlooked –separating what’s spicy and what’s not.

On the Table

Bulgogi Rice PHP 125

Priced fittingly, it had just enough stir fried beef with onions that matched with the warm plain rice. It wasn’t extraordinary but this dish dispelled my hunger pangs and was quite satisfied with it. I don’t mind ordering it again the next time. I only wish the Kimchi they had on the menu was available too.

Bon Chon Chicken Wings 12pcs PHP 365

The Bon Chon Chicken Wings made the “service” fuss fizzle out a bit that Tuesday lunch. “Voted as the BEST chicken in America,” it did deliver in taste. The soy garlic sauce coating the outer layer seeped into the chicken wings and brought out a lot of the flavor of the marinade –which is sweet, garlicky and had the right touch of soy.

The skin has to be one of the crispiest that you’ll ever get a good crunch on. It’s so crunchy on the outside while the inside is moist and tender –not overcooked. Its crunchiness makes it sooooo appetizing!

The Bon Chon spicy chicken wings also maintained that crunch consistency and tender meat inside. I found it too spicy though and I eat spicy stuff. The spice really scorched my tongue and even asked the wait staff if I could have a bit of sugar to put on my tongue to ease the heat since water just didn’t quite cut it. Nonetheless, the Bon Chon soy garlic chicken was a big hit on the table.

Pickled Radish PHP

Cleanses your palate in between chomping your Bon Chon chicken wings

Image Source

Bubba liked Bon Chon Chicken a lot (I did too!) so I’m not closing my doors in giving it another shot but it might take me a long while before I get hot and bothered again to visit.

Bon Chon Chicken

Restaurants at Ayala Triangle Gardens

Makati Ave., Makati City, Philippines

Bon Chon Chicken Album

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Chicken Charlie is The New Chicken in Town

August 17, 2010 by Janey

Who are you calling chicken? 😉

Last Saturday afternoon, Bubba and I went to Dapitan in Quezon City to look for some home stuff. Before starting our short shopping stint there, we stopped by Serenitea Banawe branch. Guess who we accidentally bumped into getting their fill of Serenitea? 😉

Philippine Blogosphere’s stalwarts namely Foodtrippings.com’s Sha and Karla, Justwandering.org’s Nina, Batangyagit.com’s Winston and Baratillo.net’s Juned hovered in one table. I was such a happy bee bumping into them that despite the fact that Bubba and I were crunched for time (we haven’t even had lunch and that was 3pm), I can’t resist the urge to hang for a bit with the group… Chica here and there and best part, I got dibs of checking out Chicken Charlie along Amoranto St.

And that’s exactly where Bubba and I headed for a late afternoon lunch. Bubba was ecstatic that it was right across Tasty Dumplings because that’s one of his favorites that we never really get to eat at often.

Since Chicken Charlie has quite a small space –I think the intent was really for it to be a “to go” or “take-out” setting, so Bubba and I decided to grab lunch at Tasty Dumplings and just order to go from Chicken Charlie’s.

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We got a box of 10 wings and a box of 8 wings. Note that these are freshly prepared and cooked upon order so expect 15-25 minutes waiting time, particularly if there’s a line ahead of you.

Choice of Soy Garlic sauce or Hot Sweet sauce:

Wings

4pcs wing PHP 99

8pcs wing PHP 195

10pcs wing PHP 235

Drumstick

4pcs drumstick PHP 199

6pcs drumstick PHP 289

8pcs drumstick PHP 379

Combo

2 Drums + 4 Wings PHP 197

3 Drums + 6 Wings PHP 288

4 Drums + 4 Wings PHP 288

Sides

Fries PHP 45

Pickled Relish PHP 20

Rice PHP 15

If you order more than 4 pieces, your order will be served with a side of pickled relish.

Our orders were glazed with soy garlic sauce that gives the chicken an Asian flavor kick with semi-sweet semi garlicky taste. I love how it coats the chicken perfectly with a crispy outer layer –even when we had the leftovers the next day, the skin was still crackling!