All set to nom on Chinese food at Lutong Macau last Friday, we were disappointed to find out that the restaurant was closed for a private party. Instead, we ended up having an excellent Pinoy dinner only a few paces away at Chic-Boy, a 24-hour grill that serves chicken and baboy cooked the Cebuano way.

Part of what I love about restaurants in Jupiter street is the free parking provided for diners by most restaurants in the area, Chic-Boy was no exception. We had no trouble finding room to park in front of the restaurant.

I’m happy to say that for a fast food grill house, the place was fairly roomy and cozy. The restaurant was divided into two sections, the airconditioned non-smoking dining area and the open smoking area. We opted to stay indoors (it was a bit warm outside) and proceeded to order.

For appetizers, we ordered a bit more than usual. We ordered the Ginisang Kangkong sa Bawang, Ensaladang Mangga, and Inihaw na Talong with Bagoong, your regular Pinoy side dishes. Chic-Boy didn’t really offer anything new or unusual to the dishes, but they were good (althought the bagoong could be better) and very, very affordable.

One of their baboy specialties is the Cebu Lechon Liempo. For one hundred sixty bucks, you get a plateful of the classic Pinoy grilled pork belly seasoned ala Cebu lechon. Mind you, it doesn’t taste like your typical liempo, the meat is juicier than normal and it has the flavor of the famous lechon from Cebu. One order is good for sharing. My only complaint is that it had too much fat and a little less lean meat than I would have liked.

To warm up, we had an order of their Sinigang na Bangus (no, that price is not a typo, it’s really that cheap). Comforting sinigang soup together with a good few pieces of bangus and a handful of vegetables are served in a medium sized cup at Chic-Boy. Like the appetizers, there’s also nothing very new in this order (if you’re used to Filipino cooking) but it still satisfies you in more ways than one. The order can be good for sharing too, especially if you have other orders.

The chicken specialty at Chic-Boy is their Cebu Lechon Manok. Half a chicken can be had for only one hundred and twenty bucks whileas a whole chicken is two hundred ten bucks. Not bad at all. The chicken is so tender that pieces of meat would fall off if you try to bite a chunk. Like the Cebu Lechon Liempo, it also has the distinct taste of Cebu lechon. It was pretty good (and cheap too!).

This is my (current) absolute favorite from Chic-Boy. Turones con Leche is just like the mini version of your everyday turon. It’s smaller and isn’t fried with brown sugar. The best part about it is that it comes with a not-too-sweet caramel sauce for dipping. Because they have no additional sweeteners, your caramel dip (which is divine) will act as sweetener. Great combo.

Considering that Jupiter street is home to several fancy restaurants and Chic-Boy had a classy fast-food feel to it, we were pleasantly surprised at the cheap price. Everything that was ordered amounted to just two hundred bucks (or so) per person. And that included a (very) full meal, complete with appetizers, soup, dessert, bottomless drinks and a couple bottles of beer. ‘Twas a good night.