Jolly Food at Jollibee

Last Friday was a cold, rainy night in Los Angeles. We wanted to go to the art opening at Thinkspace Gallery in Silverlake, but needed a quick meal beforehand. We remembered the bright and cheery Jollibee on Beverly Boulevard near Vermont. Perfect! Jolly food on a dark and dreary night!

The best thing about Jollibee is the Jolly Bee statue. The place is certainly clean, tidy and modern. There were lots of choices on the menu. It's a chain restaurant from the Philippines. They are getting more popular here in the U.S. They have Yumburgers; chickenjoy; spaghetti with slices of hotdogs topped with cheese (yeah, that's one dish); Jolly-hotdogs, Jolly-fries; Jolly-steak and rice; and lots of really colorful desserts, beverages and Jolly-shakes.

I ordered the Chickenjoy. Yes, it's called Chickenjoy, not just fried chicken. It comes with rice and gravy. Larry ordered the Fiesta Palabok...noodles with shrimp, pork, onions, garlic and hardboiled egg slices in a sweet-ish sauce. We both ordered American soft drinks. The fried chicken was very much like KFC or Pioneer, but not quite as spicy. I preferred the rice with my chicken to the usual mashed potatoes. Larry's Fiesta Palabok wasn't really a fiesta at all. It was a small plate full of slithery noodles with 6 teensy, tiny shrimp, some pork and that hard-boiled egg slice. This dish looks and sounds better than it actually is. It was just OK.

We spent much more time photographing the cheery place and having our photo taken with the human-sized Jollibee statue in front of the restaurant. The only reason I'd go back to Jollibee would be to have a soft-drink or re-photograph that darling Bee.

Mr. Jolliebee with Mr. Larry

The rain stopped. We made our way over to Thinkspace and had a lovely time checking out the killer art and hipsters.

Hipsters, Ted and Brit @ Thinkspace