Tropical Hut

Tropical Hut began in 1962 as a sari-sari store, the tiny neighbourhood shop found on every Filipino street, grew into a grocery and then a supermarket with a coffee shop, and in 1965 was incorporated with a hamburger counter under the name Tropical Hut Hamburger. In 1972 the Mercury Group, owners of the country’s biggest drugstore chain, bought it and opened branches across Metro Manila. It is older than Jollibee (1978) and McDonald’s in the Philippines (1981), and for many people of a certain age it was the first hamburger they ever ate.

Over the following decades the bigger chains left it behind, and by the 2010s many of its branches were quiet. In June 2022 a stock analyst tweeted that he was the only customer at the Escolta branch, and an older post from a branch in Carmona, “Kumain naman kayo sa amin” (“Come on, please eat with us”), went viral at the same time. Filipinos went to look for themselves: branches sold out, some turned customers away, and the chain started hiring. The original supermarkets have since closed, but the burger shops carry on, around twenty of them, mostly in Metro Manila.

The burgers are big, soft and old-fashioned, in sesame buns, with cucumber slices alongside the lettuce and tomato, which is a local touch. The two specialities have been on the menu for decades and appear by name in Filipino essays and short stories: the Rancho Ranchero, topped with a fried egg, and the Hawaiian Glee, with a ring of pineapple. The rest of the menu is classic Filipino fast food: sweet spaghetti with hot dog slices, palabok noodles, fried chicken, burger steak with rice and clubhouse sandwiches.

About twenty restaurants on Luzon, most of them in Metro Manila, several open around the clock.

• Dom Dom Hamburger (Japan, since 1970). Japan’s first hamburger chain, born when a supermarket and McDonald’s could not agree on one percent. Also built on beef and egg.
• Lucky Pierrot (Japan, since 1987). Hakodate’s beloved local burger chain, with circus-themed shops and a sweet-and-spicy Chinese Chicken Burger. Also built on beef and egg.
• First Kitchen (Japan, since 1977). A Tokyo burger chain since 1977, famous for its Bacon Egg Burger, flavoured fries and pasta, now run together with Wendy’s. Also built on beef and egg.
• Burger Machine (Philippines, since 1981). “The burger that never sleeps”: the Philippines’ round-the-clock roadside burger stand. Also built on beef and egg.