Jollibee opening: Rain or shine, it’s fiesta time
NEW YORK — Neither snow nor rain, nor heat or long wait, prevents homesick Pinoys from piling into a Jollibee store opening.
Just as in London a week ago, lines of expatriate Filipinos snaked around Jollibee’s first Manhattan branch for hours Saturday, the stormy weather failing to dampen their childlike enthusiasm to savor the offerings of what has become the temple of Pinoy soul food.
The Manhattan branch is right next to the Port Authority bus terminal, the entry point for thousands of New Jersey-based Filipinos who commute to the city for work.
It is actually Jollibee’s second branch in the Big Apple, the first having opened nine years ago to even greater enthusiasm right in the Filipino section of the Queens district.
Despite having no central commissary in North America, Jollibee has been able to maintain the same “langhap-sarap” flavor that Filipino-Americans, and even Fil-Canadians swear tastes like home. The secret, as they say, is in the sauce. The chicken gravy, the hamburger sauce, and even the peach mango filling are all imported from the Philippines, ensuring taste consistency from coast to coast, said Jollibee North America head Jose Maria Miñana Jr.
What they do not have in overseas branches are the fresh calamansi slices for the palabok because of import and supply issues, with Jollibee relying instead on packaged lime juice to provide the approximate tanginess for the noodle dish.
The palabok, in any case, was missing in the Manhattan menu, as was the Aloha Burger that bowled over the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.
Perhaps as a competitive nod to its next-door neighbor, the sandwich chain Arby’s, the Manhattan branch relied on its Chickenjoy and its variants for its initial main offerings.
Still, to someone who has not tasted Jollibee’s chicken sandwich in years, the Manhattan version was decidedly meatier, juicier, and not compacted to look like hamburger patty.
The obligatory lettuce looked fresher and greener and the bread tasted better than Manila’s.
Finally, here’s something for inflation watchers to chew on. The disparity between the Manhattan prices and the opening price list from the Queens branch for three bestseller items shows how costs have galloped in nine years even in the land of plenty.
The three-piece Chickenjoy now costs $9.99 (from $6.89 before), a serving of Jolly Spaghetti, $5.99 ($4.49 previously), and a piece of Peach Mango Pie, $2.49 ($2.29 in 2009). Money talks
– The PNoy-era Board of Investments has been rebuffed by the Supreme Court for having wrongly withdrawn the income tax holiday incentive of SR Metals, a mining firm controlled ironically by PNoy supporter and Liberal Party funder Eric Gutierrez.
– He generally declines media interviews, especially from the local busybodies, but port developer and casino magnate Enrique Razon Jr. has nevertheless agreed to fly to Thailand to be a speaker at a Forbes magazine global CEO conference in Bangkok tomorrow. Heard through the grapevine
Developer Luke Roxas has won a two-decade court battle with Ayala Land over the sale of a 372-hectare Dasmariñas property owned by the family of E.M. Ramos and Sons.
E-mail: moneygoround.manila@yahoo.com