I just realized that, in all of my years of doing Burger Month, I haven’t actually done one for the Philippines own local brand, Jollibee. I have reviewed their Ultimate Burger Steak a long, long time ago. But, for some reason, I’ve never returned to doing a proper look at their burgers. Jollibee has since broke off the local shores of the Philippines and has branched out internationally for a while. So why not do a proper Burger Month look at their burgers? It only seems fair, right?

Now, I do have to mention that I have checked out Jollibee’s international menu, specifically the ones found USA and UK, and I realized that, if your in those locations, you might be thinking Jollibee specializes more on fried chicken. I get that because it does seem like that in the Philippines because, even though it generally tried to compete against McDonald’s early on by serving burgers, the franchise became immensely more famous for the ChickenJoy fried chicken.

So you may be surprised that, in the Philippines, Jollibee actually has a kind of signature burger called the Champ, which is a 1/3 pound beef cheeseburger… which was taken off the menu for a while. But they did bring back the Champ a couple of years ago in selected store and with a vengeance. That’s because Jollibee “upgraded” the regular Champ burger with what they call the Amazing Aloha Champ, which combined the original Champ but with added bacon and, get this, a ring of pineapple. It may sound weird but it does exist. In fact, it’s the Amazing Aloha Champ that’s being featured here right now! With a side order of fries and a soda, of course.

One thing I will say about the Amazing Aloha Champ is that, well, it doesn’t look particularly impressing. Sure, it’s a big burger but, if you’ve seen one huge burger, you’ve seen them all, right? That actually goes for the Amazing Aloha Champ for the most part. On the surface, it doesn’t look particularly special in any way. You do have to open it up to actually see what does make it sort of special… kinda.

I will say that one of the things I really wish Jollibee or any other fast food burger joints do better is actually assembling the burgers in a neat way. The people preparing the food obviously have to work quick because, well, it’s called “fast food.” So they have to be speedy in slapping things together, which is fine. But I just wish they take a little more care with how they layer things at times.

If you look at the Amazing Aloha Champ I got, you can see they got the order right. It’s a 1/3-pound beef patty burger with lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, cheese and a couple of pineapple rings as well as a healthy serving of honey mustard dressing. It just looks a little messy and it’ll only become messier because everything will be slipping and sliding all over the place because of how things are layered.

One thing I will say about Jollibee’s burgers is that it does have a distinct taste to them. It definitely doesn’t taste like McDonald’s or Burger King. It has a much stronger flavor and a little denser. It also does come off as a little dry but there are a few things that the Amazing Aloha Champ has that counteracts this issue. For one, there is a lot of the aforementioned honey mustard dressing, however, the “honey” seems to disappear in the background. The bacon also adds a nice saltiness but the quality of how the bacon was prepared is a little hit or miss. One strip was nicely cooked and rather crispy but the other was a little on the limp side. The bun itself was nothing special. It was toasted a little but not to the extent where it did anything.

The biggest thing that I was surprised with regarding the Amazing Aloha Champ was the addition of the pineapple. I was expecting it to come off as adding a level of sweetness I wouldn’t like but this was not the case. I think a lot of the sweetness was counteracted with the flavor of the beef patty as well as the bacon. The pineapple also makes it feel like the burger is actually more juicy than it it. I was pleasantly surprised with how good addition the pineapple was to everything.

As I did get a side of fries with my Amazing Aloha Champ, I’ll just talk briefly about them. I’ve had Jollibee’s fries a lot of times in the past and I will say… they’re okay. They’re generally a little more dry than other fast food fries out there. What this means is that they come off as much crispier than the ones you’d get at places like McDonald’s. But the drawback is that the inside isn’t going to be all that fluffy and soft on the inside. They’re not bad but not necessarily the best.

So, overall, do I recommend the Amazing Aloha Champ? Yes, I do. It’s a decent fast food burger and it is Jollibee’s “specialty” burger like McDonald’s Big Mac. Even if I didn’t really like it, I still would recommend trying it out if it’s available in your area for the simple reason it’s not available everywhere. Even in the Philippines, the Champ is only available at selected stores. I think they’re available a most locations but there may be some places where it’s not available. The only caveat I would give is that, if you don’t really care for Jollibee’s burgers because of their unique flavor, then don’t try it out. I don’t think the added pineapple and bacon will change your mind anyways.

Have you tried Jollibee’s Amazing Aloha Champ? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!