Chili Review #1: Shakey's Chili Con Carne

I love chili. It's not a very popular dish in the Philippines for some reason, but I think people just don't want to give it a chance. Hopefully, this would be the first in a series of reviews of chili dishes, preferably those that come a complete meal in itself rather than just an add-on or a topping (which is more common).

This is a new item from Shakey's Pizza, which I tried immediately after I saw the announcement. Consistency of it is very soupy and thin, very much like how I remember Wendy's Chili to be (before they phased it out). It seemed a bit bland both in taste and spicyness. A little more salt wouldn't have hurt, and a lot more hot spice would have made it better. Filipinos are not known to like food that's too spicy except perhaps Bicolanos and most of Southern Philippines. Which is a shame because spicy is good for you. Reports I read online seem to indicate that eating spicy food actually prolongs your life. So why not put a little spice in your life? Spiciness in this chili is barely there that it's hard for me to actually consider it chili.

I'd give this 2 out of 5.

Online Ordering

One lazy Sunday morning I was feeling too lazy to go out or even cook breakfast. A McDonald's breakfast ad flashed on my Twitter with a link to order online and I thought, why the hell not? I haven't been too trusting of the online side of commercial businesses after I got no replies from a few email inquiries I made at company websites. If they can't answer, what more actually fulfilling an online order?

But that Sunday morning I was feeling adventurous so I decided to try it out. I registered with the local McDonald's website and ordered breakfast. I thought well, if it doesn't work out, I'll just eat bread or something in the kitchen. It wasn't a big deal. Not 5 minutes later our phone rang and it was McDonald's confirming our order. I thought wow, that was fast. And roughly 15-20 minutes later our order arrived. It was great! It was such easy, hassle free experience that we ordered from McDo two more times in the next couple of weeks.

Next we tried ordering pizza from Greenwich. Unlike McDo, Greenwich Pizza is a local business so I was a bit wary, not sure what to expect. On their online form, they made it mandatory to ask for a mobile number rather than a landline, which is a bit inconvenient. I hate using a mobile and when they did call some 10 minutes later, I had a hard time talking to them because of the crappy mobile connection. What is weird is that about 10 minutes later they called AGAIN, this time another person confirming our order again. I mean... why? But the pizza did arrive soon enough, so it's all good!

Next we tried ordering pizza from Shakey's. No hassle. This is becoming too easy! By the way, delivery orders from Shakey's come with a free extra pizza and softdrinks. Just too awesome, Shakey's! Thank you.

Now we come to KFC. It's Easter and I thought I'd order a bucket of chicken online. Sent the order at a quarter to 11. Nobody calls. I mean, it's already almost an hour later and nobody's calling. I did get a con (KFC arrives just as I was typing this.)

Let me continue. I did get a confirmation via email that they got the order and are now processing it and I'm asked to wait 30-45 minutes for our order to be delivered. Some 20 or so minutes later, I get a 2nd email saying that their San Pablo branch now has our order and is now processing it and that I'm asked to wait 30-45 minutes for our order to be delivered. The exasperation at this drove me to write this blog entry and as I was writing it, our KFC delivery arrived, an hour after I sent in my online order. It's no big deal. It arrived here. We ate, we had a good time.

So far, no fails in our online ordering adventures! Where to order online next???