Manang's Chicken in Davao

The fast food landscape in our city, and country, is dominated by American imports like McDonald’s and KFC, with Jollibee holding its fort as the only top homegrown brand. Most of these fast food chains offer comfort food items that appeal to the younger crowd – usually kids to high school or even college students. Hence, these fast food chains had become somewhat of a family fare, too.

A brand new chain has invaded the market, quite bravely if I might point out, given that most of the other fast food chains had been around for decades. Manang’s Chicken might sound brand new to Davaoenos but they have been around for some time. They used to have a stall at Mercato Centrale in Taguig and their signature soy garlic chicken proved to be a hit. In June 2011, they had officially opened a stand-alone store in Ortigas.

The expansion happened rapidly. In a span of two years, Manang’s Chicken already had 12 branches in Metro Manila. But the opening of the latest branch in Gaisano Mall is its first branch outside of Luzon.

I had been eyeing their store for a long while since I saw the signage that read they are opening soon. On first week of January, about a few weeks since their official opening, I finally paid them a visit. Here is a sneak peek into that meal:

BB2 Meal – Chicken & Chips with Rice and Drinks (PhP 74)

I picked this meal and was a bit disappointed. The chips were quite surprising because there is that sweet aftertaste to it. But the chicken was not up to par. First off, the coating was a little too thick – I could not taste the chicken at all. It was also a bit bitter to the taste, which means that the chicken was either overcooked or the oil temperature was too high.

Chicken and Spaghetti (PhP 124)

This is my favorite of the two meals that we sampled during our dine at Manang’s Chicken. The spaghetti is not your usual sweet style Filipino spaghetti offered in most fast food chains. It is somewhat on the savory side, but not tangy like Italian spaghetti. The chicken was really good, though. I love the crisp on the outside and juicy meat on the inside. They also sprinkled some sesame seeds on top so that helped to liven up the aroma a bit.

The overall food quality was a bit lacking and left me wanting. I will probably try visiting again to see if I just went on a bad day, but I can’t say that I look forward to the return visit. Hopefully, I will get to experience what made Manang’s Chicken a hit in Metro Manila. One thing it has going is that they are really affordable. 

Manang’s Chicken is located at the fifth floor of Gaisano Mall of Davao in the same level as the cinema. It is located beside Razon’s. 

Stay Connected!