SM North Edsa Food Bunk Reviews: Manang's Chicken and Big Better Burgers

As we are rarely ever in the city, we thought we might as well sample a Korean Bon Chon-style chicken for lunch while we were at SM North Edsa last week. We were torn between Bon Chon and Manang’s Chicken, but decided to go for the latter anyway as the sister-in-law has been raving about their “delicious chicken”. I mean, this is a girl who’s willing to pay thousands for a slab of good steak.

Famished, we wasted no time ordering the signature Manang’s chicken (P99 for a one-piece meal with rice and iced tea) plus a regular-sized Chips and dip (P39, your choice of dip). As in other Korean-style fried chicken, theirs was fried then glazed with a caramelized sauce- available in original, mild spicy and spicy.

Manang’s Chicken in Original Sauce

Service was relatively fast compared to other fast food chains at lunch time, but one would later on find out that this is probably because their chickens have been cooked waaay before serving. Sad-looking and pale, both our meals were served cold and tough, possibly reheated. The meat had no juice, the skin without any crunch whatsoever, and the sesame seeds, insipid. Jigs’ sauce pick, original, is too sweet on the palate. You’d have better luck with the mild spicy sauce, which is less sweeter and carries that nice subtle kick of hotness.

Manang’s Chicken in Mild Spicy Sauce. Better than the original.

Their saving grace were the chips, which were suuuuper crunchy and salted just right. The Creamy Cheese dip was fantastic as well.

Barely satisfied, Jigs decided to have another bite at Big Better Burgers (just beside Manang’s) just 2 hours after lunch. He got an order of the One Third Pound Value Meal consisting of freshly grilled burger with 1/3 pound pure beef patty, tomatoes, lettuce, mayo dressing, and unshaved fried potatoes plus a drink (P163).

Now ya might be asking, is the burger really bigger and better at BBB? Laid against McDonald’s Cheeseburger or Burger King’s Whopper: Definitely. Grilled spot on, the patty is plump, meaty, and succulent, oozing beefy juice into nice, soft buns as you sink your teeth into it. Even without cheese, I’d pick this delightful sandwich over other cheeseburgers in a heartbeat.

Sorry for the horrendous camera phone shot.
Couldn’t get the husband to stop eating the darn burger.

The fries too came in chunkier cuts than the usual fries in other fastfood joints. Crunchy but not greasy, the potato wedges were fried with a bit of potato skin on the ends which provided an earthy flavor.

And the best part? All you need to do is sit, order from an attendant, eat, and ask for your bill – all that without the costly service charge. How is that for fastfood?