- [Serena] Jollibee is the premier fast food restaurant
of the Philippines.
Anytime a new Jollibee opens, people lose their (bleep).
- [Interviewer] How excited are you that a Jollibee's here?
- How excited are we?
(crowd screams)
That's how excited we are.
- [Person filming] Oh my god, this line, just for that.
- [Serena] I've written about it,
but I've never actually tried the food,
so I enlisted the help of my buddy Dale Talde, chef,
but also a huge fan of Jollibee.
- So when I first came to New York City,
my Moms was mad worried, she's like,
"There's a lot a Filipinos in Queens, so go to Woodside."
I'm like, "okay Mom."
- Well 'cause it's super diverse borough, but just so happens
there's a lot of Filipino people in this neighborhood.
- Yeah, there's tons of Filipinos here
So tons of Filipinos, tons of Filipino food.
- Jollibee, which is a huge chain
in the Philippines, - Yup.
- I've never had it but, people really love it.
- Here it's a unique brand,
in the Philippines they're everywhere.
You're always longing for what you had back at home
when it comes to food especially.
And you know, Jollibee brings people back to that.
The Jollibees we're goin' to here in Woodside,
this is the first one in the East Coast.
Him and I look a similar build,
(laughs)
My head's only this big in my head though.
It's just my ego.
- [Serena] What's your basic order,
what do you usually get?
- I'm usually like a, three piece chicken,
and rice and gravy guy.
The hot dogs and cheddar cheese with the spaghetti.
- [Serena] Sweet tomato is like theme.
- It is our jam here.
Tomatoes are more sweet than savory here in the Philippines.
- [Serena] We're gonna order like everything.
(upbeat music)
- Filipino comfort food is a unique blend of
Chinese, Malaysian, Spanish, and Americana.
- [Dale] It's as good or better than Popeyes
because it's not as heavy of a batter.
Fried chicken in general is a unifier.
- [Serena] This is what people come for, the Chicken Joy.
- Drag your finger through that, got some heat to it.
- Oh!
- Let's jump in.
- Okay,
mmm...
- That's legit fried chicken.
- Yeah that's good.
- [Dale] Freshly fried chicken, always.
- Mmm, so much of eating fried chicken for me is just
that familiarity and I can see if you know
I grew up on Jollibee and then I didn't have it,
and it showed up in my town I'd like freak out.
'Cause it's that specific kind of texture and flavor
that you can't, you can't get.
- This is one of the things that my mom like
got me up on, is fried chicken and rice.
The rice, is perfect.
I always grew up on just like knowing
that it was a dope combination and people are like,
"What are you eatin', rice with fried chicken?"
I'm like, "yo."
(laughs)
- [Serena] So this is the special.
- [Dale] Yes, so it's basically a chicken noodle soup.
This is very Filipino.
- Very Filipino, okay.
- Very, very Filipino.
These are mung bean threads so
so instead flour noodles, they're mung beans.
Gluten free.
(mellow music)
We know when there's 7,000 islands,
people make this a ton of different ways.
What I like is that the noodles aren't hammered.
- Yeah like a pudding in here.
- Yeah, but no they've actually held together.
- That's, yeah.
Should we do one with vinegar,
get a little vinegar, we should try this.
So this is pretty classic?
- You'll always find this on the table.
I like giving this a shot or two of this chili vinegar,
and it really changes what you're working with here.
It feels like something homemade
in a place that's a fast food restaurant.
I feel like we're doing drugs.
(laughs)
And I'm like trying to lead you down this (bleep) gateway.
"Do it, do it, eat the burger, eat the burger."
Y'know what I had corned beef with in my house was
for breakfast, you'd eat it a lot
with rice and some eggs.
This is pandesal, very soft, squishy.
- [Serena] Yeah, super squishy.
- It has a little more texture than a potato roll,
but this is a common bread that you get for breakfast
or just kind of a snacking.
- [Serena] It's a little sweet.
- It's a little sweet.
- Almost like a Hawaiian roll.
- Yep.
(mellow music)
- Alright I think we should do these pastas next.
Yeah? - It's still really sweet.
- [Serena] And it's definitely not an al dente.
- Hammered.
- It's like very soft.
- But there's never really al dente noodles
in the Asian palate.
Even if it's a ramen noodle,
it's not al dente, where you can still see a little
something in the middle.
It's cooked through but it has a chew to it.
And if you go to these noodles.
I grew up eating this.
It's called Pancit Palabok.
It's a rice noodle, the gravy is
basically a thickened shrimp broth.
They have minced pork, so chicharon on top,
and then they always garnish with egg,
and they have some more shrimp on top.
I love this, it's made from
like coconut juice that they turn into vinegar.
- [Serena] This feels like something I've eaten.
- Yes, a lot of this food
is definitely from the American occupation
in the Philippines.
You get a, they wanted a taste of home,
this was a taste of home for a lot of Americans.
- I see, so this is post occupation.
- This is pre definitely,
(laughs)
that's post.
- [Serena] Okay peach mango.
Oh yas.
So bubbly and crispy.
- [Dale] You can hear it, you can hear the.
(crackling)
- [Serena] Yeah, that's crackly.
- [Dale] The crackly crunch.
There's some diabetes in here boy.
- The pastry's almost savory.
- Yeah, well you gotta imagine,
they're not frying this in any other oil
but the chicken fat oil.
- [Serena] Seriously?
- For sure!
For sure, I can guarantee it.
(laughs)
I guarantee it.
And, but, it's delicious.
- Yeah it's super crispy, it's good.
- I'm gonna try this.
I know my man wants to eat this.
You know he does.
He's straight Hawaiian.
Hawaiians this is like,
you put egg on this and he's like.
He wants to eat this.
I know he want to eat this.
(laughs)
I know he wants to eat this.
- Hell yeah
(laughs)
I knew it, I was like
he was staring at it like, he was like,
"yo, that box open yet?"
- I know, I saw you guys.
- In this world, in this genre of what this is, fast food.
- Yeah.
- It's a good product.
- It originated from the whole pride of
our Tonkotsu pork broth ramen being the best.
And we want customers to really under--