Ah, Y2K, the time of simpler things: Nokia phones, butterfly clips, and Jollibee’s Honey Beef rice.
Looks like we’re not the only ones having sudden flashbacks to the era. After making a comeback in selected stores in August, elder millennials — and other cohorts who have fond memories of the time — rejoiced after Jollibee announced that the return of their beloved Honey Beef Rice is now available in more branches across Metro Manila and Luzon.
It would seem that Jollibee is looking to amplify people’s cravings as we continue to languish in the pandemic — remember the Ube Cheese Pie they released in July?
While the dish certainly pales in comparison to Jollibee’s other now-iconic items such as the Chickenjoy, a bit of digging around the Internet show that the Jollibee Honey Beef Rice has earned some kind of cult following, along with another rice bowl variant, the Garlic Beef Pepper Rice. Forum threads of yore from PinoyExchange and Reddit demonstrate a clear fondness for Honey Beef Rice, years after it had been phased out.
In case you’re looking to further wallow in Y2K nostalgia, here’s a clip of its era-defining ’99 commercial, complete with food porn-worthy closeups against a swelling choir and serif-fonted phrases like “Sosyal na beef” and “Hanep sa honey sauce”:
What other old Jollibee menu items would you like to see making a return?
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