5 Famous Fast Food in Manila. What's Your Favorite Meal?

Where do you like to eat later? One budget meal, please? I want sundae, can you phone them? I miss that crackling sound when I ate their fried chicken last monday, you might wanna order? They have 24/7 delivery anyhow. These questions you may have asked before or heard somewhere, am I right? Well, the thing is it all boils down to one answer and that is 'fast-food'. FYI, the word "fast-food" was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam-Webster in 1951. Commonly quick alternative to home-cooked meals.

Nowadays, as malls continue to multiply, as our workload doubles, as our lives become busy as bees, we don't have option but to buy 'takeaway' and eat 'on the run'. It may sound not right because as everyone knows, we find it less nutritionally valuable compared to other dishes we cook in our kitchen. Usually precooked, high in saturated fat, sugar, salt and calories. It has also been linked to obesity, cancer and high cholesterol. But I am sharing this to you guys not to discourage or push you to eat more. Hello! We are in the 20th century now, okay? We all know, yes you know too, that fast-food sells the best food in the planet from fried chicken, hamburger, french fries to my favorite caramel sundae. Let's not be hypocrite, they are really irresistable. I still always believe everything must be in moderation, so, you know what to do. 

It was 2014 when I started not to bring packed lunch at work because of my shift, when I no longer had time to prepare for this, somewhat I also thought it would save my time and money, in short no use of gas in our kitchen and less effort. And since I love all of them, might as well dedicate this post to my favorite fast-food chains in town.

1.) McDonalds

https://www.mcdonalds.com.ph

I'm lovin' it! This household name is also known to their ad campaign "Paparapapa...love ko to!" in the Philippines. This is one of the oldest fast-food restaurant chains in the country, I remember when I was a kid I often attend birthday parties where the venues were usually at McDonalds. And yes I was also I fan of happy meal toys back then, I used to collect it everytime there's a new Disney movie, like 'Hercules'. Honestly, I like the happy meal toys before than today.

Saying Hi! From the famous clown on earth, Ronald McDonald, the primary mascot of McDonalds fast-food brand.

McDonalds mainly sells cheeseburgers, chicken products, fries, breakfast items, soda and desserts. Today, everywhere you go there is McDonalds, and that made them the world's largest restaurant chain(36,538 outlets) serving approximately 68 million customers daily in 119 countries. (wikipedia)

What I like to order is usually the McSaver Meals. How about you? First, even when I was in college, I really like this budget meal, for less than 100pesos(almost $3.00) you have 1 pc fried chicken with rice, softdrink and dessert. "Mc...Mc...McChicken!" A cute commercial I just saw on tv, it was like a new version of cock-a-doodle-do.

Sunday will always be special because of sundae. Which one do you like? Choco fudge or caramel? I hope they would come up a new flavor. What do you think?

Sadly, I got the butt part, but it was still good, especially the skin. Right?

2.) KFC

https://www.kfcdelivery.com.ph

KFC stands for "Kentucky Fried Chicken" with a trademarked tagline "finger lickin' good".

Salute! To the official mascot of KFC, Colonel Sanders.

What I usually order here? The classic 1 pc chicken with rice and soda, plus 1 dessert for less than 100pesos(almost $3.00). Like many filipinos, I'm also a fan of "unlimited gravy" and it's no longer weird for me to flood my plate with this gravy-licious sauce, the technique also here is when you wanna feel full right away, don't worry I understand you're on a tight budget, then feel free to drink a pitcher of gravy, lol, just kiddin'. This made KFC famous, their gravy really stands out amongst other fast-food chains, plus the meaty chicken, plus the mashed potatoes, plus the "krushers" and yes! Everything is Yummy!

Chewy choco brownie on the side. 

3.) Jollibee

www.jollibee.com.ph

A well-loved Filipino multinational chain of fast-food restaurants. Famous to their positive and child-friendly slogan "Bee Happy!". Plus they have the cutest mascot. The most admirable bee in the planet. It is the largest filipino-owned fast-food chain in the Philippines. And on behalf of all filipinos, all over the world, thank you Jollibee for putting the country on the map of this industry. Also being the first to compete with the giant McDonalds, hahah. Still, it's a healthy competition.

Without a doubt Jollibee's popular Chickenjoy is a bomb! Great Evah!

Mango Sundae. Yum!

4.) Chowking

www.chowking.com

Although it is also a Philippine-based chain this fast-food primarily sells chinese food with a touch of filipino cuisine, you heard it, right? Chinese food, that's the reason why I fell in love with Chowking right away. I understand that they always have available "siomai" but you know what I had loved their "orange chicken" first, sadly it's no longer part of the menu. Then surprisingly Chinese-style fried chicken came, another savory food made me realize, there's much better to order.

Chinese-style Fried Chicken

I tried their new "Choco Pao" and it's also good. Perfect snack for everyone.

5.) Mang Inasal

www.manginasal.com

A popular Filipino fast food chain because of its trademark "Unlimited Rice". Apart from the usual crispy fried chicken we can buy in a fast-food resto, this grilled chicken started to boom in the world of fast-food around 2008, I remember I was in college when it became "talk of the town", everyone was like crazy about chicken barbecue of Mang Inasal and the unlimited number of rice servings for free, and what is great about it, you can have it all plus the softdrinks on the side for less than 100pesos. It also introduced a very unique "orange" chicken oil you can mix with soy sauce and put it on your rice. Mang Inasal also promotes filipino cuisine in the market and that's the nicest thing I love about this fast-food, it gives you easy access just in case you wanna eat filipino food.

Chicken "Inasal"- Just in case you don't know, it is a chicken marinated in a mixture of lime, pepper, vinegar and annato then grilled over hot coals while basted with marinade. It is served with rice, calamansi(Philippines alternate to lime), vinegar(sinamak or white vinegar) and soy sauce. A common dish in the western Visayas region of the Philippines, a specialty in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental as well as in neighboring cities and provinces. (wikipedia)

Neither gravy nor catsup is the sauce for "Inasal", either soy sauce and calamansi or sinamak vinegar, infused with lots of garlics, chili peppers and langkawas(a kind of ginger). (wikipedia)

If you haven't seen yet, this is Halo-Halo, a filipino dessert, usually you can buy this during summer but Mang Inasal made it available for all seasons. So if you plan to visit the Philippines, just look for this fast-food. This is a must try! You will surely say, "I ❤ Mang Inasal!".

There you go! I hope you've made the right decision where you wanna eat next, but all of them are really great to try. So no more dilemma, you can go 1 fast-food a day. There are a lot of amazing restaurants and places to go, so see you on my next post about that. I'll continue my walk and search for this. You're welcome!