Kuya J - Robinsons Place Iligan — Restaurant in Iligan

A welcome addition to the Iligan City food scene. Kuya J offers traditional Filipino fare, as well as familiar dishes given unique interpretations.

My comments on the food I tried here on my first visit, Dec 2017: crispy pata: awesome beef pochero: not great. Beef was tough and broth was a little too sweet for my taste chopsuey: unmemorable. Too much pork (personally, I like my chopsuey without any meat) ube halo-halo: awesome vanilla halo-halo: slightly less awesome than the ube halo-halo; I wasn't able to pick up a distinguishable vanilla flavor. Although, that could've been just the ube overpowering all the other flavors. I'll have to try it again, I guess.

More on the halo-halo: they're huge. Each order could easilly feed 2 people, or 3 light eaters. The ube/vanilla flavors appear to have been already mixed into the shaved ice, instead of the typical halo-halo where the ice cream is placed on top of the shaved ice. I happen to like the Kuya J variation as it keeps the ube/vanilla flavor homogenously spread...

We decided to try something different from our usual go-to dishes at Kuya J and ordered a few solo-sized meals to mix things up: Squid Sisig, Beef Pares, and Pancit Palabok. Squid Sisig was okay — decent flavor, though nothing particularly standout. It’s a nice option if you’re looking for something a bit lighter than the classic pork version. Beef Pares was the highlight of our meal. The beef was tender and flavorful, and the sauce had a comforting, home-cooked feel. Definitely worth ordering again. Unfortunately, the Pancit Palabok was disappointing. The sauce had a noticeably fishy taste and lacked the rich, savory flavor we expected. It also looked like it was missing a good amount of sauce — the noodles seemed a bit dry, and it showed visually before we even tasted it.

We love Kuya J and usually have a great experience, but this time was a bit mixed. Still, it was fun trying new dishes — we’ll probably stick with our favorites next time, and maybe give the Pancit...

Underwhelming experience, ordered the bicol express, pork bbq, and the boneless chicken wrapped in pandan leaves.

Where to begin, the bicol express iirc was around 300+ php serving but the serving was so small, its like a one cup rice type of bowl and had a weird fishy aftertaste too, thus we didnt even bother finishing it. The pork bbq was alright, nothing special but the size of the barbecue was so small compared to he menu pictures, the size is comparable to streetfood type pork barbecue. The chicken oh my god was so dry, it was also burnt on the outside, probably cooked on high heat, but the place had a few customers in it so i dont think the place being packed is an excuse. Also the pandan leaves wrapping felt gimmicky almost as if it was trynna cover the sad burnt chicken inside it. I mean look at it the leaves are burnt to a crisp compared to the menu pictures where its green and the chicken is golden brown. Man i have never been this disappointed to a...