JT's Manukan Grille

Joel Torre is my man crush.
So please prepare yourselves for a very biased review.

The place is as down to earth as the man himself.
No pretenses of pa-sosyal.

It is as hot as Joel Torre inside the establishment. Numerous fans make you feel like Joel's breathing on you from all corners of the earth.

Beers aren't as cold as I would like. I presume it is because the cold cold beer warms up as soon as it touches the hands of the servers who might have shaken Joel's hand. So they serve it with ice. It melts as soon as it is brought out of the freezer. Probably because there are so many Joel Torre photos on the walls. Nakakatunaw.

The chicken is authentic Bacolod style. Joel Torre must have cooked it in Bacolod and used his Joel Torre powers to fly it instantaneously to Manila.
The isol is juicy. As juicy as Joel Torre in his portrayal of the bad guy in OTJ.

One thing I noticed was that the staff are elderly and some are LGBTQ. Just goes to show that Joel Torre does not discriminate.
They are all polite and smiling. They must have gotten a glimpse of Joel that day.

#loolooDroneGiveaway

A satisfying meal after hard work. Being cheap and healthy (less guilt than beef plus it is grilled ) make this place a go to during lunch time. A humble place but I think you will still be satisfied with their food

JT's, oh how I've missed you!

This particular branch of JT's holds a lot of memories for me from way back in college. We used to live near here (probably 10 minutes if we walk) so whenever dad would feel a bit lazy cooking, we'd eat here. A few of my friends from college also live near San Juan so there were times we would come here for late night snacks.

Back when I was working in Ortigas, we used to frequent JT's at Ortigas Home Depot, but after moving to Makati for work, I haven't had a chance to go back... until last night!

After our movie, we didn't know where to eat! Then suddenly dad remembers JT's! Woohoo, automatic yes!

I wanted to have Pork Sisig with egg but they said they were out!! 🏼 Boo!!! My sister also wanted adobong kangkong but they were also out! They only had apan-apan...

PECHO (chicken breast and wing) - PHP 110
I prefer pecho over paa because I'm not a fan of drumstick. Their chicken here is quite good.

PORK BBQ - PHP 28 one stick
Their pork bbq is quite small but it is well marinated. They also have that one piece of pork fat at the end of the stick! Hihihi.

CHICKEN SISIG WITH EGG - PHP 185
Had to settle for the chicken sisig since the pork sisig was not available. I still prefer pork sisig over chicken sisig because this chicken sisig was dry and flakey. It wasn't as flavorful either.

APAN-APAN - PHP 85
Ilonggo's version of adobong kangkong made with guinamos, which is Ilonggo bagoong. The taste is on the sour side but it works! You can really taste the bagoong flavor and the twist of sourness. The difference of this to their adobong kangkong is that the regular adobong kangkong is made with soy sauce instead of the guinamos.

KANSI - PHP 135 | KALDO - PHP 30
I rarely go a meal without soup if I'm eating rice... Serious! I always want soup... to the point someone called me a soup monster.

Kansi is the Ilonggo version of bulalo cooked with beef shanks. The easiest way to describe this would be that it's a cross between sinigang and bulalo - without all the veggies. I love this bulalo, even if it's sour. What's even greater is that you can only order the broth!!!! HAHAHA! For 30 pesos, you get a medium sized bowl of kansi broth. ️

Whenever I eat alone or have to order for myself only, I always go for pecho, kaldo, and garlic rice. 110 + 30 + 30 = 170PHP. NOT BAD RIGHT? You can go even cheaper for 2 sticks of pork BBQ rice and just the soup. Hihi. 🏼

After our movie, dad wanted something different from the usual restaurants in Robinson's Magnolia. While we were debating where to eat somewhere in San Juan or Greenhills, we remembered Joel Torre's Manukan was just nearby. We frequented here in the past as we used to live near the area. Although the restaurant had a big place (estimated 80 pax seating), it gets crowded pretty fast so we were lucky a table left when we arrived.

The restaurant is not air conditioned but it didn't feel hot or suffocating. It's actually open aired so you can smell the night breeze Sometimes it's good to forget about the decors and just focus on the food. Although do be warned that this is not the most hygienic restaurant.

We ordered the following:
KANSI [P135] ️️️
Kansi is actually a citrus fruit and JT's Kansi refers to the Illonggo version of Bulalo. It's like the normal one but with a sour flavor. Beef was very tender as it immediately falls apart once your fork runs through it. However, I personally like the original Filipino version of Bulalo since I prefer salty flavors.

CHICKEN SISIG with egg [P185] ️️️
Pork sisig was not available so we opt for this one instead. It was okay. It's like eating a deconstructed torta in a sizzling place. Nothing too fancy.

PORK BARBEQUE [P28 per stick] ️️️️
JT is known for their Kansi and grilled meats. I liked their pork BBQ as it was tender and juicy. Marinate was also spot on. We ordered 6 pcs of this, a stick for everyone.

PECHO [P110] ️️️️
Pecho is the combined part of chicken breast and wing. Definitely better than Mang Inasal's. Super sulit pa because of its size 🏻 I think their grilled meats go really well with their Kansi and garlic rice. Yum!

APAN-APAN KANGKONG [P85] ️️
If you're not familiar, apan-apan is Illonggo adobong kangkong with guinamos (illonggo bagoong). I feel like Illonggo people love sour dishes This just did not work for me but it's not super bad. Bearable.

JT is a very Filipino restaurant. I will never get tired of having banana leafs as plates

Service was pretty fast. I think everything was served within 10 minutes after we placed our order. Our bill was less than P1000 considering there were the six of us. Not bad.

Dinner out with family.

Parking is usually a problem here, but not today. Got to park right beside our table!

For food, I had Paa, Pinangat, Pork bbq and some kansi. While the chicken was good, I really liked Pinangat and pork bbq

Sometimes we just need to go back to d basics. Forget those complicated, over decorated high sounding food, just a spicy soy-calamansi sawsawan and a roasted chicken. Dig in!

My family and I had dinner one Sunday evening and place was packed. It was ok since we only waited for 3 minutes and got our seats.
We ordered inasal (paa part), batchoy and itlog na maalat. We were trying to order the isaw but already finished. Yeh, with heaps of diners guess all stocks will be swept in a day.
But still it's the best inasal ever in the Metro.
Wanna try the pinangat next time.

Yummy barbequed meat! Warning: no aircon

Again, better than Mang Inasal's. Also best paired with their pinangat. ️

This was our affordable dinner at JT's.

Paa (PhP95) - yummy!
Kaldo (PhP30) - soup
Plain Rice (PhP25)
Garlic Rice (PhP30)
Adobong Kangkong (PhP75)
Dinuguan (PhP80) - tastes clean and super delicious!

The food serving here is for sharing. The staff are also attentive!

I think this is the best grilled chicken, ever! Ever! Ever!

I liked it.

I loooooove everything here. The chicken inasal here beats everything I've eaten in Manila. The chicken liver barbecue is a must try. Prices are very reasonable. Service is fast and the ambiance is great.

Sarap talaga dito.

The quality has not changed since I first tried it eight years ago!

True blue Bacolod Inasal!

I liked it.

Way way better than mang inasal and bacolod chicken!

I had a hard time looking for this place here in Looloo..di ko masearch? Thanks Jacy L for guiding me!

Anyways, the day my hubby and I went to Jt's Home Depot for lunch, just made us both bitin! Kaya in the evning on our way home, couldn't resist it when we passed by at this branch, so we both had take out orders of 3 sticks Corazon heart and i just added atay on a stick...Yummy!

Had the leg chicken 95.00 cuz the pecho ain't available so it's more of the bone than chix meat, pork sisig -170.00 and their beef soup w/c is quite sour (my guess is cuz of the calamansi).
The orders don't come w/rice w/c is quite surprising, since you can't eat the above w/o rice, so hadda pay an addl 25 bucks per cup w/c by the way is quite small, and we ended up ordering 3 cups in all.
The plastic smaller bowls for the soup are already uber used up that the inside's melamine's over stained and faded and i know is bad for my health. Eewww!!! I jz dont want to act like a diva, but i really felt eeky, considering there's a big askal dog beside our table, starin at my food, that at any moment will jz grab my food from my table, if the flies don't get it first. The food actually ddnt fill me up

Cleanliness.
Service (jz hates it when servers talk too loud, when you jz wana eat)
Food - so so

Everyone would rave about their inasal, it's a crowd favorite hands down. But I bet not everyone knows they serve really good leche flan? Too good that I can finish it up in one sitting? Lols. My thighs will hate me after this!

I thought it was OK.