Chicken Studio at Lilac, Marikina

Chicken Studio is the result of frantic cramming between friends. What seemed like a nice idea at first suddenly became a rushed-up reality when a very fortunate and timely offer fell on our laps. The heart of Chicken Studio is the chicken (obviously), and the spirit is the studio as it is currently invisible...but maybe in time, there will be one. We honestly don't know when though. In the words of my friend as a retort to one of the complainants about us not serving dessert, "Wag na sila mag tanong kung ba't walang dessert yung Chicken Studio; wala ngang studio yung Chicken Studio, dessert pa!" Initially we had plans of turning the second floor into a photography studio and creative space, but judging by the influx of people plus the work that needs to be done, the project has been delayed.

Slowly though, we are making changes to make things better for the restaurant, our staff, and of course the customer. And for the record, my partners and I have zero experience in the food industry nor had any previous food-related jobs...and this makes everything so much harder. We are doing our best to address the successive problems that arise since we opened our doors...but we're just clueless at times. To better explain our inexperience, we are a combination of an architect, a photographer, a videographer, a graphic artist and an accountant. For the love of food and sharing it, we ventured into the restaurant business. This is the reason why we appreciate insightful inputs to help us grow, not plain hatred from hangry people...which I suppose is unavoidable at times. 

We have a total of 10 flavors, all formulated and cooked in-house by the owners ourselves. The food we serve is a collaboration between my partners and a cousin, including other menu items that originated from Crazy Chicken. We modified the menu and made a new concept, but kept some of the original favorites from the old resto. The recipes were crammed by Anthony and I, and it's just so unexpected how well most people received it...considering we are not chefs nor had any formal training. We cringe whenever people call us "chef". We just love food, cooking, and running a business.

Our wings are marinated, lightly battered, deep fried, then tossed in our signature sauces before serving. We have a total of ten flavors so far.  

Classic New Yorker is our version of a classic buffalo sauce. Spicy and tangy at the same time. Hot New Yorker is a spicier version the classic one, also the spiciest level among the ten. The name is intended as a pun. Who wouldn't want a hot New Yorker, right?

Hot Korean was initially named Hot Korean Oppa, but we just dropped the Oppa because we didn't feel like explaining to every customer the meaning of oppa. Hot Korean is inspired by a confused-fusion of tteokbokki sauce and dakgangjeong.

This flavor was inspired by my love and addiction of adding melted cheese to my ramyun. I highly recommend you grate Quickmelt on top of Nongshim ramyun. It's amazingly delicious. Similar to Samyang's cheese flavor, but not as hellish.

Chili Cheese came about because we always knew there is a huge audience for anything cheese-flavored...and adding a spicy kick to the mix made it more addicting.

We needed a strong flavor targeted to men, so a classic Smokey Barbecue flavor was the obvious choice. True enough, this became a staple favorite. Trivia: Ana painted the word Smoky on the wall instead of Smokey but was she was too tired to correct the spelling...so we left the error as is. Can you spot the word she wrote?

Sweet Soy is a child-friendly flavor catered to those with low heat tolerance. It's a soy-based flavor that has a nutty and garlicky aftertaste. Kinda similar to Bonchon and McDo's soy flavored chicken.

Javanese Satay is a flavor that I personally pursued to perfect as it is a sauce that I find nostalgic as one of my favorite joints in Bacolod serves this over grilled meat. It's a sweet and savory peanut sauce originating from Java, but the one we serve in the restaurant is quite different from the traditional satay recipe. *We've discontinued the flavor, but wait for it to pop out as a limited edition flavor soon.

Honey Glaze was formulated by my partner; a sweet-tangy taste on the chicken. We use real honey and fresh lemon for the sauce. And yes, it is sweet, but works.

We were not able to shoot a crowd favorite, the Garlic Parmesan...a flavor passed down by my cousin who claimed that the flavor had a lot of following. She was spot on, it is one of our best sellers. It is a combination of butter and fresh fried garlic topped with grated parmesan. A mild-tasting flavor compared to other sauces.

Besides our flavored chicken wings, we also serve five kinds of burgers using pure beef patties from Burger Jack, a staple favorite of residents who live around Lilac. The Jalapeño Sticks is also a favorite from Crazy Chicken that we kept around for the regular customers of the previous restaurant. We are still in the process of trying out new things for the resto just to make things interesting, and we have future plans of serving new flavors beyond the ten.

We have burgers! Regular Jack is a best seller, but Slaw Jack is something I recommend because I personally prefer coleslaw on my burger instead of just lettuce. Yes, Slaw Jack is another pun...because he is slow. -_-

Jalapeño Sticks are deep fried green chili and cheese wrapped in lumpia wrapper. Comes with an aioli dip. 

This is our restaurant's facade.

My friends and I did all the murals to save up on time and money. We finished the entire wall in just one day!

You should be able to find my avatar Sheepig on one of the steps...because I just had to!

It took months after opening before I got to schedule our mural on the second floor.

Probably took me 3 hours to finish painting the chicken on the left side of the wall. My goal was to use them as photobombers, and I initially planned to paint them on the first floor, but now they seem to fit better at that area.

I really didn't have a proper study as to what they were supposed to look like...I didn't really plan on adding some colors on them until I saw how much extra yellow paint we had, hence the sort-of yellow shadow. I'll fix the red someday though because we used spray paint for the red and had no mastery over it, thus the drips and stuff. 

My brother and I painted the cute chickens on the left side and we were building a story behind those birds...care to guess what? It'll probably take a while before we color them again though...

For the most part, it was a whirlwind that caught us by surprise. From a simple dream of owning a restaurant, it took us exactly two months to realize that we were getting more than what we have bargained for. With two simultaneous viral posts, we jumped from a laid-back hole in the wall startup restaurant to this busy circus that swallowed us defenseless. This made me a believer of social media, how one simple post can catapult you into this unexpected flurry of recognition, so much so that we were getting bashed within a week's time. It was a wake up call that we needed to step up in order to cope up. It is not easy to open a restaurant, much more, run it...day after day after day. The food industry is both an unforgiving and rewarding experience...and you can switch between spectrum in a matter of days. It still feels surreal to us at times...but it is sinking in, the reality that we may have started a good thing. 

WE DON'T CONDONE FOOD WASTAGE!

HENCE THE RULE...

NO LEFTOVERS!!!

There are just some people who want to get away with certain rules. Please, let's be diplomatic about it.

How to get to Chicken Studio by commute:

The only UV Express or jeepney that pass close to the restaurant are the ones with the signage "SSS Village" Marikina on them. There are UV Express that leave either from Farmer's Mall or Gateway Mall in Cubao. The fare is Php35.00 from Cubao for the UV, while the jeepney costs Php17.00. There are also SSS Village UV Express that leave from Park Square in Makati and Robinson's Galleria in Ortigas, but they only have specific schedules for that; apparently only during rush hours.

You can also take any ride that has the signage "Marikina" on it from many UV terminals or jeepneys and have yourselves dropped off at Bayan or Marikina Palengke as all SSS Village UVs and jeepneys pass by the area. From palengke, the jeepney costs Php11.00 while the UV costs Php20.00.

Once you ride for SSS Village just tell the driver to drop you off at Lilac Street. They take various routes, but your landmark in Lilac is Puregold as our building is situated right beside it. Some drivers will take you there, but other times you will have to walk around two blocks from the drop-off point to get to the restaurant. You should be able to find our store if you see a yellow and black canopy, you'll have to look up to see our billboard signage as we don't have any signages at eye-level save for a poster. There is also a Mercury Drugstore right across our building for your reference. If all else fails, Google maps, Waze, and Grab are other means to find us. If you are close to Lilac, like Concepcion area you can take a tricycle to the resto, just tell them to drop you off at Puregold Lilac. They cost around Php25.00 on average. 

Store Hours: 12nn - 10pm
*We have a cut-off for walk-in guests at 9:30pm though.

*We only accept advance reservations for groups of at least 15pax, smaller groups are welcome as walk-in guests.

*Our seating capacity on the first floor is 32, while we can accommodate at least 36 people on the second floor.

*Our unlimited chicken wings includes rice, and we don't have a time limit for it which is why it is hard for us to tell when customers will bill out. 

Please "Like" us on FACEBOOK and "Follow" us on INSTAGRAM 

*The food shots were photographed by one of our partners Kaloi Obidos. The wall murals were done by my friends from Teacup Ideas. The branding and concept was mostly done by me. 

Chicken Studio

56-D Lilac St. Concepcion Dos

Marikina City
09498860668
chickenstudioph@gmail.com