Toronto fried chicken fans camp out overnight for a taste of Filipino favourite

Thousands of new restaurants open each year in the GTA. Few of them have customers camped outside for 17 hours to get a taste as soon as doors open.

But wind, rain and icy temperatures weren't enough to keep people away from the Toronto opening of Jollibee, a favourite of devoted Filipino fansaround the world.

In the Philippines, Jollibee is more of a national institution than a chicken joint.

"Since I was a child, I loved Jollibee," said Evelene Isanan, who lined up with friends on Easter Sunday morning at the Scarborough location. There's another opening planned for Mississauga. The only other city in Canada where you canorder the fried chicken, mango peach pie or "Jolly Spaghetti" is Winnipeg, home to two Jollibee restaurants.

"It's like our family's no, actually, like the whole Philippines it's our national restaurant," Isanan said. "It's a group thing, and a family thing, of course."

Friends Mark Koh and Patrick Dooclined up at 3 p.m. on Saturday, way in advance of the Sunday 7 a.m. opening.

"He called me up and said:'Let's line up. We got to get the first bucket,'" said Koh, who was already back in line for his second bucket of fried chicken when he spoke to CBC Toronto.

"I packed up everything and we went here," he laughed.

Koh said he grew up in the Philippines, moving to Canada at age 12. It had been a decade or more since he'd tasted Jollibee.

"So I had to be here,and be one of the first people to have it here."

Years of speculation

Dooc has been waiting, too, for a Jollibee to finally arrive in the GTAafter years of rumours that an opening was imminent. He stressed that the intercontinental chain's menu can appeal to all kinds of gourmands, not only those with a Filipino palate.

"Manila to Toronto,it has landed. If you're not Filipino, you should try it. You'll taste the Philippines," he said.

The pair said the overnight wait was a price worth paying.

"We're going to taste it together like best friends," Koh said.

Jollibee has some 1,000 restaurants in the Philippines, and more than 35 in the United States.

Paul Magbujos, who lined up with his wife and some other family members, compared Jollibee's arrival to a "festivity" years in the making.

"It's very big in the Philippines. And opening this in Toronto, it's a huge thing," he said.