#  >  > Travellers Tales in Thailand and Asia >  >  > Philippine Forum >  >  Jolibee- Houston TX

## Lancelot

OK, this is Philippine related so hope its OK to post it here  :Smile: 

I'm strolling down Main Street in Houston TX and what do I see?

A Jolibee!

I walk inside and yep, its the real deal, many Philippine dishes and full of Pinays on a Sunday afternoon. Most are with extended families but it was a hoot to be there, rapid Tagalog and some fine eye candy  :Smile: 

Interesting that a Philippines food chain is doing business here in the USA...

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## Davis Knowlton

First one opened in the US in 1998. They're doing quite well, voted as being in the top ten foreign food chains in the US.

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## beerlaodrinker

I was surprised to see a jolibee outlet in Vietnam as well. Fair play to to the flips for taking there patriotic answer to Mc Donald's  fast food to other countries, jolibee  not to bad as far as fast food goes I reckon, last time I was in Manila Pizza Hut was serving up an Adobo pizza, smart marketing move by the locals

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## Lancelot

> First one opened in the US in 1998. They're doing quite well, voted as being in the top ten foreign food chains in the US.


I had no idea Jolibee had been in the US that long.

I found it interesting, since most praise Thailand as the center of the universe but which country established their national fast food chain in The US of A? 

I vaguely remember Anthony Bourdain doing a review of Jolibee and giving them a positive rating  :Smile:

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## Davis Knowlton

It's fast food. That said, it's not bad.

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## Lancelot

I like fast food, but I know its not good for me and I don't eat it often.

I often used to ask my self how healthy is Thai food? Mostly deep fried with refined white rice...

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## Davis Knowlton

My kids like JBee, but stick pretty much to the chicken and rice - their choice.

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## Lancelot

^ chicken and rice is probably a better choice than a burger

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## nigelandjan

Any pics of the eye candy ?

Just my personal preference , but compared to the Thais what I have seen of them so far they are pretty much non starters

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## harrybarracuda

In the Middle East too.

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## misskit

Jolibee had a chicken salad sandwich at one time that was great. Anyone got the recipe?

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## Necron99

looks like the menu was made by an Army cook.

Spam burgers FFS!

::Welcome to Jollibee::

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## Davis Knowlton

Their chicken is good. Here anyway. Far better than KFC.

Loads of Flips in Houston. Wife's mother lives there, as well as one sister.


I like Spam!

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## Dillinger

^ I prefer the corned beef :Smile:

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## beerlaodrinker

That breakfast dish the flips cook with either spam or tinned corned beef fried up with onions is great but the fuckers tend to use about 2 liters of oil to cook it, but that's how they roll I guess

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## Lancelot

> Their chicken is good. Here anyway. Far better than KFC.
> 
> Loads of Flips in Houston. Wife's mother lives there, as well as one sister.
> 
> 
> I like Spam!


The Jolibee was packed (Sunday afternoon) but I never made it back to try the food and compare it to Jolibee fare I've eaten in the Phils. Now I'm in Austin.

Yeah, they like Spam. Spam is not bad at breakfast, especially after a hang over  :Smile: 

One thing I like about the Philippinos is that they are less culturally snobbish than say Thailand. They know their country is fucked up and they have more awareness of the rest of the world. No wonder, since the country's largest 'export' is foreign workers.

Tell a Thai girl you want to take her back to your ranch in Wyoming and she will roll her eyes and refuse. Say the same thing to a Pinay and she will most likely say: "OK Honey ko, I'm packing now!  :Smile:

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## toslti

And they do better webcam porn than the Thais!

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## callippo

the Philippines is the only place in the world where Mcdonald's gets licked on sales in the burger-related market and where a local brand, like Jollibee wins hands down. There isn't anywhere else where that happened. 

but the main reason why Jollibee did lick Mcdonald's was because Tony Tan realised that the Philippines wasn't a burger-and-fries kind of country, but a chicken-and-rice kind of country and devised menus to suit. Mcdonald's were caught out and basically reduced to copying Jollibee to try and make inroads, which to their credit, they have done. They have more of the market than they used to, but still not much compared to what they have in other places. 

I don't know how many girls I've taken out to Jollibees, but it is a lot. Hardly any of them get a burger. They almost always get chicken-and-rice and spaghetti, and almost never a burger-and-fries.

I have never seen one but I heard US Jollibees were a bit sad and catered mainly to the large Filipino US diaspora and that they don't do all that well, with anyone else.

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## Lancelot

> the Philippines is the only place in the world where Mcdonald's gets licked on sales in the burger-related market and where a local brand, like Jollibee wins hands down. There isn't anywhere else where that happened. 
> 
> but the main reason why Jollibee did lick Mcdonald's was because Tony Tan realised that the Philippines wasn't a burger-and-fries kind of country, but a chicken-and-rice kind of country and devised menus to suit. Mcdonald's were caught out and basically reduced to copying Jollibee to try and make inroads, which to their credit, they have done. They have more of the market than they used to, but still not much compared to what they have in other places. 
> 
> I don't know how many girls I've taken out to Jollibees, but it is a lot. Hardly any of them get a burger. They almost always get chicken-and-rice and spaghetti, and almost never a burger-and-fries.
> 
> I have never seen one but I heard US Jollibees were a bit sad and catered mainly to the large Filipino US diaspora and that they don't do all that well, with anyone else.


I agree. To me the spaghetti tastes like a semi sweet desert, but the locals love it  :Smile:

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## katie23

It's also abt the mascots. A smiling, happy bee is more kid-friendly than a scary looking clown. Heh...

Pinoys don't care whether other ppl hate their spaghetti. Wherever there's a Jollibee abroad, Pinoys will go there in droves, esp in SE Asia. Like the ones in HK, SG and Brunei. Double heh... 

Hooray for Jollibee!  :bananaman:

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## Lancelot

You are thai girl sure,  555. Defensive reference

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## callippo

> *the Philippines is the only place in the world where Mcdonald's gets licked on sales in the burger-related market* and where a local brand, like Jollibee wins hands down. There isn't anywhere else where that happened. 
> 
> .



I have now discovered that this is not true and that there is one other country, where Mcdonald's gets shafted. 

it's Greece. 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goody%...se_(restaurant)

Goody's looks a bit like Jollibee. They only ever open in places where there is a lot of Greek people.

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## fred flintstone

> have now discovered that this is not true and that there is one other country, where Mcdonald's gets shafted. 
> 
> it's Greece.


MosBurger beats McDs in Japan too.

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