Addressing Pinoy desire
Kuya J used to be in an old house in Capitol site with no parking space to its name. Now in its new location along N.G. Escario and Tojong streets, it has ample parking space and is already attracting a lot of people who have found the food particularly good and priced moderately.
The restaurant is owned by a corporation called iKitchen Company whose main objective is “to create a restaurant that will address the desire of the Filipinos to have a restaurant focused on giving them really good food at prices that are affordable and at the same time that if you come to the restaurant, the place is nice and comfortable. So at Kuya J, even the comfort rooms are air-conditioned and the service staff is courteous.” The seats are comfortable and there’s a glass-paneled wall that looks out into a soothing sight: a vertical garden.
Kuya J has also employed a food technologist to see to it that the place adheres to the standards for food safety, from the suppliers all the way to the cooked food that is served.
The food from the original Kuya J may still be found here, like its great tasting baked scallops, calamares, crispy catfish and tuna chili. The rest of the menu lists most of what Filipinos consider their favorite comfort foods like chicharon bulaklak, kinilaw, ensaladang talong, beef pochero, lechon kawali, grilled pork belly, grilled pork ribs, pork humba, lechon kawali paksiw, beef brisket caldereta, chicken adobo, chopsuey, adobong kankong,
ginatang monggo and all sorts of sinigang or tinola (pork, chicken, prawn, bangus, tangigue).
The ginatang monggo is a hearty soup with squash topped with spring onions. The Bicol express is spicy hot but not overwhelmingly so (that’s because green beans are mixed with the green peppers). The tuna panga is always moist and the crispy pata, always has crispy skin and the meat inside soft, moist and flavorful. For dessert, Kuya J has the creamiest leche flan and a maja mais presented with the maja below and the mais with crispy coconut flakes on top. Winglip Chang of the iKitchen Company says that in Kuya J, “The number one rule to follow is to make the customer happy. Everything else will follow.”
It’s a mantra the waiters know by heart and it’s a mantra that will accompany the company as it launches in the future other Kuya Js nation-wide.