The Fast Food Review

Somehow recently I came up with the idea of this blog entry.

Admittedly the research for this blog was quite fun, in fact, I'm so dedicated to my blog I had to research two of the following burgers for a second time, to do the review justice.

McDonalds burgers

For the Football World Cup, currently being held in Brazil at time of writing, McDonald's has released three country-themed burgers, as well as a Spanish breakfast item, and an English apple pie - I haven't gotten around to trying the latter two, but I have tried the three burgers - see my review below. It should be noted that at over $8 a burger, they don't help themselves to become more than a once-off purchase.

Brazil burger
A sour cream and a BBQ/bourbon type sauce with a slight spice kick at the end (no pun intended)

From memory it was nice, but not particularly memorable (hence why I had to have it twice before reviewing it.

The sour cream seems to make lots of burgers nice - I know several of the burgers I like at BurgerFuel (a Kiwi gourmet burger chain, taking the Middle East by storm - and I happen to have shares in it, purchased way back in 2007 when they had their IPO - my first foray into the stock market) seem to use sour cream. At the same time, I think the salad and lack of cheese makes it less greasy and makes it feel healthier, but I may just be being swayed by this picture.

Argentina burger
Like a glorified double cheese burger - imagine a double Quarter-Pounder with cheese, with some chilli thrown in for a slight kick.

This is a burger I would have again - the excess of meat and the cheese, grease and slight spice kick give it a place in my memory. I wouldn't say it is particularly different to McDonalds' burgers in general, but the spice kick seems to complement and add to what I already like about McDonald's cheeseburgers. This factor gives it the potential to be addictive.

The French burger
A chicken patty with lettuce and a mustard sauce. It reminds me of a KFC Mayo burger albeit with a mustardy kick, as mustard replaces the mayonnaise. Alright, but certainly not nice enough to be addictive.

 

 

"Cronuts"
Cronuts seem to be, or at least have been, somewhat of a worldwide phenomenon. I first became aware of them from a news story on Seven Sharp. Basically they are supposed to be a cross between a doughnut and a croissant (they are ring shaped like a doughnut, but are made from croissant dough. From my initial understanding, I thought they were then supposed to be impregnated with cream or custard into the airy pastry, however as you can see below in both cases the custard/cream is just sandwiched in the middle of two halves.

When I first got serious about locating a Cronut to try I Googled them and found a list of places. The first place was an Italian café/specialty supermarket, who as it turned out, had stopped doing them the week before as they seemed to have done their dash. The next place was doughnut shop (Momma's donuts on Kahikatea Drive) which only did them on Fridays and Saturdays, and seemed to sell out of them early in the day. After several weeks of trying, I was then informed they no longer did them anymore as well.
My first success was at Mavis and Co., which ironically is in the same carpark as my gym... They call them Dosants rather than Cronuts, and from memory I believe they seemed to be harder - I think they were probably egg-glazed and iced with icing. They were OK, but not addictive or particularly memorable. 

A "Dosant" from Mavis & Co., Hamilton East

 

It was quite by accident that I discovered my local bakery (Tommo's, at the Urlich shopping centre) does Cronuts. I saw the sign one day when I went in there, but they didn't have any that day, nor the next. However they did the following weekend. I would probably rate these much higher as they have a softer doughnut-like texture, and are filled with custard cream, which I am quite partial too. In saying that, they weren't enough to become an addiction, which is probably just as well considering they are available at my local bakery. On a positive, they are only $2.50 - cheap considering the novelty factor.

A "Cronut" from Tommo's Bakery, Urlich Shopping Centre.

Lastly, but not least -

KFC Double Downs

Picture borrowed from www.kfc.co.nz -check them out!

Double Downs originally made an appearance in 2011, and seem to reappear around about the same time yearly ever since. This years incarnations include the Original, as well as the Kentucky and Hash Double downs. The graphic above makes it pretty self-explanatory. My two cents-worth is that I'd stick to the Original, as that seems to have the most attraction to me - I think it is the Special Sauce (back in 2011 I got quite addicted to them, and I blame my current weight in part to them). The only difference between the Hash and the Kentucky is that the Hash has a Hash brown. I'm usually a fan of BBQ sauce, but it seems to be too cliché here, and simply isn't as nice or complimentary to the Double Down as the Special Sauce is. Again, due to the cheapest of these being $8+, there is a natural deterrent to developing an addiction for them again.

 

All in all, eat sensibly. I wrote this for a bit of fun, and also so my calorie consumption wasn't all in vain.