When In Manila and you’re out to seek your favorite restaurant spots, one can never forget or miss the Katipunan area which is filled with different restaurants that would cater to anyone’s cravings. There are so many restaurants in the Katipunan area that will leave you bewildered on which to head-out to. For me, finding a new restaurant that would leave me coming back for more has always been difficult in Katipunan due to the wide number of restaurants catering similar delicacies and similar tastes. Not to mention my love for chicken and fish that is so difficult to please. For the record, I have never liked the BonChon chicken taste. I have found real authentic Korean restaurants to give me a better sense of Korean chicken taste than the overly flavored BonChon chickens. Upon being invited by my friend RV De Leon to try out Chubby Chicken which are owned and run by his long time friends and former schoolmates EJ Santos and Executive Chef Aone Rebueno, I was somehow really interested and wondering how it could cater differently from the depth defying number of restaurants around the Katipunan area.
So here goes nothing. Upon arriving at Chubby Chicken, I knew that this place definitely was getting good attention. They had much much more customers dining in compared to establishments beside and near Chubby Chicken. The place was very simple and comfortable enough. The aura of Chubby Chicken was nothing out of the ordinary, but it was cozy enough for meals and hanging-out. I was initially greeted by EJ and Aone with some introductions to how Chubby Chicken came about as a collaboration of long time friends and schoolmates.
ย
Upon having the dishes they prepared for me and my friends served, the food greeted us with great serving and composition. I love the fact that the basic Chubby Chicken meal had the chicken size larger than fastfood chickens and even much bigger compared to BonChon’s chicken. The Basic Chubby Chicken was glazed comparably similar to BonChon’s chicken, although, Chubby Chicken had the glaze much better ocmpared to BonChon’s dry glaze. I also noticed how Chubby Chicken‘s glazed chicken had much better control of the sweet end of the flavor compared to the overly sweet BonChon chicken. I also loved the fact that the chicken’s meat was nowhere near dry and was very tender. I hate it so much when a chicken represents a somewhat dry meat, Chubby Chicken had this well done.
ย With the Chubby Salpicao, as noted, serving was fantastic. Aone noted us that the beef was made of Australian beef. The Chubby Salpicao also came with an egg by the way. What I liked with the Chubby Salpicao is how the flavor is also not overly done compared to common salpicaos. I liked how the beef was tender enough, yet not too soft. I have always found common restaurants to have the salpicao on the rough side and is never tender enough. Chubby Chicken‘s tender Salpicao could probably be due to their use of Australian beef.
ย I loved how the garlic sauce of the Chubby fish tacos were very well controlled and not overpowering the taste of the fish and the whole set. It is common for restaurants catering to wrapped fish or chicken which is seasoned with garlic sauce to have the garlic, either linger or be too overpowering due to how white meat does infuse easily with sauces . But here at Chubby Chicken, all of their garlic infused sauces were extremely balanced out to have enough hit on the taste and not be too overpowering or creating a way too “garlic like” taste. Credits to the whole Chubby Chicken team and to Executive Chef Aone Rebueno for how they had the taste of Chubby Chicken be well defined and still very affordable!
For the entire time that we were at Chubby Chicken, it was the Chubby Chicken Parmigiana that stole the dining experience for me. I loved how the cheese was exquisitely matched with the tenderness of the chicken. It was no cheeze whiz or whatever processed cheese just splurged on the chicken. The cheese blended well with the tender chicken. It was not too dry, not too liquid or overly baked. There was a little spike on the taste of the cheese, a little on the bitter after taste side, but it was nothing worth noticing much since it does not linger on the palette of the mouth. I really enjoyed the chicken parmigiana that they had at Chubby Chicken and I am bound to have it alone on the next time I come back here.
ย
ย
ย
ย
ย
For dessert, we had the Chubby Oreos which is Chubby Chicken‘s take on the famous baked oreos which was popularized by a restaurant located at Katipunan as well. Most baked oreos are presented the same way so I don’t need to go further into detail here. All I can say is that, Chubby Chicken has the BEST baked oreos locally! I have tried several places catering to the widely sought after baked oreos and hands down, Chubby Chicken wins it! Not too sweet at all.
ย
ย
ย
Overall, I can’t fathom how such a well balanced tasting restaurant that caters to dishes that can trump restaurants twice or even thrice it’s price be so budget friendly. Even if you are nowhere located near the Katipunan area, you MUST visit and try their food. Chubby Chicken will now be on my list of restaurants to experience in the Katipunan area.
Follow Chubby Chicken on their Twitter page: @ChubbyChickenPH
Also do like their page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChubbyChickenPHย
ย
ย
Chubby Chicken Katipunan: amazing budget friendly experience to tickle your cravings!
“depth defying”, hmmm..does the number of restos defy spatial laws?
“a well balanced tasting restaurant”, hmm…did you lick the walls by any chance?
“depth defying” is a joking term if you read it properly ๐ oh and “well balanced tasting restaurant” meant the menu of course ๐ well, unless you are sarcastic and sad about everything in life, then go ahead and assume that I tasted the walls similar to what you would probably do since you don’t sound sarcastic or insane at all ๐