When in Manila, there are a number of places where you can grab a bite and explore different food experiences. Well, there’s a new food park in Q.C.: The Yard.

The Yard features 30 food stalls with different cuisines, specialties and concepts. That night, we were in the mood for some hot-from-the-grill chicken, though.

Good thing The Yard has a place that exactly met our cravings: Melmac Peri Peri Express. Peri peri chicken is a dish of African descent traditionally made from Piri Piri peppers native to South Africa. After knowing this, we felt the urge to try something new and take a break from the traditional Filipino BBQ chicken.

He’s off the menu, girls, but try out the solo order of Peri Chicken at Php165.

We came as a group, so we tried their bucket of chicken. It consists of 6 pieces of grilled or fried chicken and it comes with 3 choices of dip sauces. Don’t worry if you just want to try them out, though. They have a solo order of Peri chicken available with 1 sauce, 1 side and 1 staple. If you need more rice, their peri peri rice costs Php35 per bowl.

Friendly staff bringing the food. *drools*

Now back to the verdict.

6 pieces of Grilled Chicken Bucket @ Php350

Their chicken is great! It goes extremely well with the peri peri rice, which is spiced, as well (I guessed the turmeric that was added to the rice). The chicken is well-seasoned and the meat is tasty. The best thing about their chicken, though, is that it is not dry or flaky, even though it is grilled. We learned that the glaze keeps it from getting dry and gives the chicken a great deal of flavor. Actually, I expected it to be spicier; but as I looked around and saw families eating at their tables with their kids, I realised that kids can enjoy their meals, too.

Then we tried adding some sauce to our chicken. Melmac Peri Peri Express has 5 sauces on their menu: Harissa Oil, Chimichurri, Blue Cheese Cream, Garlic Cucumber Raeta, and Garlic Cilantro Butter. Luckily for us, they came up with a 6^th sauce: Bell Pepper Coulis.

Awesome sauces! Dip Sauces – Php30 each / Peri Peri Rice – Php35 per bowl

I really loved their sauces. They elevated the depth of flavor and added different experiences from every bite. My personal favorites were the Harissa Oil, Bell Pepper Coulis and Garlic Cucumber Raeta.

I mentioned before that I expected the chicken to be spicier, but that was before I tried the Harissa Oil. There was this late kick of spiciness coming form the Harissa after I took a bite of chicken with it. Whoa! It is intense but satisfying for people who love spicy food.

The Bell Pepper Coulis has a combination of sweet, sour and spicy flavors. Here’s a tip: try the coulis before the Harissa, so that the Harissa’s spiciness won’t overpower the coulis and you can appreciate the coulis mix of flavors. The Garlic Cucumber Raeta gives out the expected garlicky taste, but the cucumber gives it a refreshing touch that clears the palate of the Harissa’s spice.

Overall, Melmac Peri Peri Express is a great place to get some protein with an array of flavors at The Yard. I would definitely come back for more of their chicken.

P.S. Follow their Instagram account. Apparently, some celebrities are frequent customers of Melmac Peri Peri Express. You might be able to bump into them. 😀

Melmac Peri Peri Express

Instagram: @melmacperix2xpress