Manang’s Chicken – Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City

A couple of weeks ago, I read about Manang’s Chicken from an article from clickthecity.com (article here) followed by a blog post by Anton Diaz from OurAwesomePlanet.com (article here). I was quite intrigued and hoped to one day taste this chicken hyped as “Ang Bagong Fried Chicken ng Pinoy”.

What was really fascinating was the story of the owner, Jill Borja, and her real-life “Manang” who had created a unique chicken recipe. What immediately came to mind was a recipe that was unique yet expectedly Filipino-style. That was my assumption anyway.

Their flagship store was located in Ortigas, a stones’ throw away from where I work. However, I was really pumped when I saw that it had opened a branch in my own neighborhood along Katipunan Avenue.

A few days ago, I dragged along a dining buddy with me to the Manang’s at the Burgundy Plaza along Katipunan. Needless to say, I was excited.

Excited to taste the variety of flavors in their sauce, we ordered three orders of chicken (Mild, Original, and Spicy)

Mild

The “mild” chicken was ok… yet compared to the other two, was quite bland. I don’t recommend this unless you really are not into the other two.

Spicy

Boy.. this was spicy. Spicy for my standards that is (I am sure others have a spicier palette than I do). But it was good.

Original

I got our order of 4 pc Wings in “Original” flavor. And I must admit, that “original” is definitely the best and safest bet. It had a good balance of spicy-sweet.

Finally, we ordered the Chips n’ Dip. I got the large bag of chips with the garlic mayo dip. I love anything that is real potato… and you really get real potato “chips” with this one.  And I must say that this was the best thing we ordered at the Manang’s this night. What? What about the chicken. Verdict below.

Let me begin by saying that the Chicken was definitely very good. It tasted great. But the experience was not as amazing.

Obviously consistency is always an issue in any restaurant, so I am not sure if this just happened during our trip to Manang’s. The chicken was dry. And… I know the the “double-fried” effect is a feature, but it also seemed over-cooked to the point that the dry meat refused to tear off from the bone easily. This was the case with the wings and the spicy chicken.

And Finally…

… what was a disappointment for me was that I was expecting something unique and uniquely Filipino. After all, this was supposed to be an “old family recipe” (see photo above). Ok, it could be just a coincidence. But I tasted this before. But wait! Where did I taste this before?

I could swear that I tasted this same exact chicken at… Bon Chon Chicken and Chicken Charlie which coincidentally, both also have branches along Katipunan.

All of them are double-fried and glazed with their special sauce. I’d swear that Manang’s Soy Garlic glaze on their “original” sauce is just like Bon Chon’s Garlic-Soy sauce. And if you think about it, doesn’t Korean Fried Chicken in this style really have sesame seeds in the first place?

So this leads me to question… “Was Jill’s manang Korean?” Or was it some big coincidence? Maybe.

I came to Manang’s… with the expectation of something Filipino-home-style. That assumption… rightly or wrongly… was based on the great back-story of the company’s origins.

I am not saying that the chicken was bad. All I am pointing out was that it was not unique. And during this particular night, there were a few issues with our order.

I know the internet is all abuzz with the success story of this little stall at Mercato Centralle that grew up to become its own chain. And perhaps my assumption gave me the wrong expectation.  It just did not stand out for me (just my opinion). So for me, if I wanted this type of chicken for a meal and I am trolling Katipunan Avenue… at least I have three options to choose from.

Contact and Location Info:

Manang’s Chicken, Katipunan
Ground Floor Burgundy Plaza, 307 Katipunan Avenue
Quezon City, Metro Manila
Phone: (2) 921-5907
Website: http://www.manangschicken.com/ (still under construction as of this posting)
Faceboook: http://www.facebook.com/manangschicken

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