The battle of 24/7 convenience stores heats up in Iloilo City as national brands give homegrown stores a run for their money. Before 2014, Ilonggos were attuned to local stores like Quix! Mart, Go Mart, Munsterrific and I-Mart, among others. With the entry of 7 Eleven, earlier this year and MiniStop, a few days ago, the battle seemed to rise notches higher. And in order to have an edge, these stores must have signature product that would make Ilonggos go back to them more often.
Enter MiniStop's Uncle John's Fried Chicken. This has aroused my gastronomic curiosity ever since its opening day. For starters, only MiniStop offers fried chicken among the convenience stores and the fact that it is among the most aggressively advertised, there must be something about this fried chicken...
A one piece combo meal (PhP79) consists of a single fried chicken with gravy, one rice and a 500ml plastic bottle of Pepsi products while if you want 2 pieces be prepared to shell out PhP119. Without drinks according to the menu, its only PhP57.
They ran out of gravy so I got ketchup instead |
And they're right, It's Big, It's Hot and I must add, It's Crispylicious! The skin and breading already packs the flavor and even if its overly crispy outside, the chicken is juicy inside. It was an utmost pleasure savoring every bite and regretted that I didn't get a two-piece order. The only downside I had when I ordered this is with the rice- my very first visit they had ran out and in my next two visits the rice was not "fully cooked" or as Ilonggos would say "lagdos".
But I enjoyed the chicken very much that I can't wait for my next visit at MiniStop for another "Eat's a Date" with Uncle John's fried chicken. It'll surely be a two-piece order this time... or maybe a bucket!