McDonald’s Limited Edition California Melt

Review of McDonald’s Great Tastes of America California Melt

Website: http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/product_nutrition.beef.817.california-melt.html

What they say:

California dreaming? Get a taste of the Golden State with our 100% beef patty topped with cheese sauce, slivered onions, shredded lettuce, bacon and cheese slices with peppers, all in a sesame-topped bun.

Price: £3.59 for the burger only.

Calories: 700 kcal.

So despite being a bit late, here we are on day one of week four of the Great Tastes of America campaign and up next is the California Melt.

McDonald's Ireland Promotional Picture...

Firstly I would like to apologise that for this review we were unable to film Burger Lad TV. This was an impromptu visit to Les Maisons Ronald without our very own Onion Boy! but we hope to be there next week for the New York Classic. After that we’ll be taking a little break as living life in the Fast Food Lane has taken its toll on Burger Lad® but fear not… he’ll be back.

Anyway…I wasn’t expecting much from this burger’s presentation as it was ordered via the drive-thru so I just knew it would be subject to the dreaded “burger slide” and as you can see from the pictures this was true.

More side slide than Michael Jackson...

After a gruelling 3 hour wait in A&E I was starving and recklessly took my first bite without shooting our now infamous “lifting the lid shot”. The California Melt was a bit of a gooey, cheesy mess. I really could not distinguish where the cheese sauce ended and the cheese slices started. In fact I am starting to doubt there were even any on there as there was no self-proclaimed pepper taste.

There was a good amount of lettuce on the burger which had been slapped on a bit haphazard and I could not distinguish the bacon at all. Perhaps I had been spoilt last week with my fresh order Arizona Nacho Grande? The patty was the standard ‘Tastes of America’ fare and the ooze on board this Melt masked any dryness there may have been.

The real McDonald's California Melt...

As you can see from the photo above the buns looked a bit burnt on the inside (must be that California sun) and I literally got to the final quarter before hitting some of those promised onions. The lasting memory of The California Melt is that it is a cheesy tasting mess and all in all a pretty weak burger... and dare I say it the worst offering so far?

We’ll find that out next week when I have to face my three demons known as ketchup, mustard and mayo… all on one burger. Now my reaction to that will be one to watch on Burger Lad TV!

Where's the "lifting the lid shot" you Melt...?

As we approach the end of the Great Tastes of America campaign for 2013 my mind has now cast to the next promotional limited time offers. Could it be the ‘My Burger’ campaign which has featured in countries such as Germany, Switzerland or Sweden or could some free Coca-Cola glasses be around the corner?

We’ll hope to find out and tell you about it first!

See you all next week for the fifth and final burger – The New York Classic and on this review we’ll rank all five of the burgers that have been available for this limited time (until 2014). Maybe…

With that let us take one last look at that California Melt…

A cheesy, 700 calorie mess...

Thank you to Salad Girl for persuading me to do this review.

We are the people's burger website™

Enjoy!

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McDonald’s Secret Menu Item McFry Burger

Burger Lad creates a new 2013 secret menu item at McDonald’s called the Marty McFry Burger

Price: £6.07

Calories: Approximately 1,100

Secret menu items are no secret to Burger Lad®. There is an entire website devoted to these Frankenstein-style burgers over at http://mcdonaldssecretmenu.com/

We know all about the McGangBang, The Land, Sea and Air burger and the Monster Mac but these delights have been around awhile now and nobody seems to create any new ones.

Burger Lad® attempted to create an off the menu item when we ordered a Double Big Mac in the UK and more recently developed the Rodeo King but it was at the Burger Lab that Onion Boy! had a concept, a vision. This vision was entitled the Marty McFry and after a burger-storming session one evening the dream was set to become reality.

It was a “Fryday” that we decided on creating this Back to the Future inspired burger – but what dare you ask are its key components? And do you need a Mr. Fusion to make one?

All you need is approximately £6.00 for a Big Mac, a McChicken Sandwich and small Fries and a total disregard for your health and diet! Weighing in at 1.21 giga-calories (approx 1,100 kcal minus some buns) this is not a stunt to be taken lightly and not to be attempted at home, your local McDonald’s or a park if you are that way inclined.

We drove at 88 miles per hour to get to McDonald’s and this time the staff looked on suspiciously. Did they know Burger Lad® was in to review or had their Point of Sale alerted them to a suspect combination of items ordered and triggered the secret menu alarm.

So… here we are… the new secret menu item. The Marty McFry or The McFry burger for short and my goodness it was a leaning tower of greeda.

The Marty McFry burger...

We of course filmed the latest quest for secret menu items and you can see the video below but how did this monster taste?

Well firstly you have to have jaws similar to a snake just to take a bite. From the bottom up this calorie layered burger went; bottom Big Mac bun, cheese, burger, fries, McChicken sandwich, middle Big Mac Bun (we were going to take this off but it has the Big Mac sauce, lettuce and pickles on so it stayed), burger, fries and top Big Mac bun.

The real Classic Combination...

What’s the matter McFly? Chicken…!?

The Point of no Return...

Many of the audience gasped and sniggered as I tackled my way through this unholy alliance. The burger was actually not bad. The fries were a little lost as was the beef and the main thing I could distinctly taste was the chicken but this could be that it is in fact my first ever McChicken Sandwich. We’d discussed the prototype having BBQ sauce on it as well and I think this might work… maybe next time…!?

A rare action shot...

We would have liked to have created this with the 1955 burger as this is the date Marty travels back to but they are currently unavailable in the UK. I didn’t enjoy it much anyway and you can see that review here.

The Commissioner of Secret Menu Items confirmed that this could be added as an official entry and we had also created the McMayo.

"Are you going to eat that...?"

A number of staff looked our way and at one point I thought we were going to be ejected. We are now on the McWanted list!

2015 is the 30^th anniversary of Back to the Future so we asked our favourite graphic designer codename “Copier” to mock us up some promotional material which we hope you like. He is the best... the bestiest of the best... he's just the best!

Coming 2015...

Back to the Future is the copyright of Universal Pictures.

And you can now catch the reaction to the McFry burger on our latest episode of Burger Lad TV brought to you by Onion Boy!

This is a bit of a disjointed “review” and a little rushed but the bWo just wanted to get it live as soon as possible for your amusement. I also haven’t had the expert editing from Salad Girl which quite frankly is always needed!

I felt dirty after this latest quest so I had to have a long shower after to wash away the shame but it was a bit of fun and definitely a one off. You might think the weight just piles on Burger Lad® doing these sorts of stunts but as long as you watch your calorie intake you can actually still lose weight. 

In fact we went back though the drive-thru that evening (luckily not banned yet) but I didn’t have anything as I said “my body is a temple.” To which the nest of vipers Salad Girl countered… “yeah… the Temple of Doom!” And on that note we’ll leave you with one last shot of the McFry secret menu item burger.

What's the matter...!? Chicken!?

To be continued…

We are the people's burger website™

Enjoy!

For more burger related news and comments follow me on Twitter...Burger Lad®

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McDonald’s Limited Edition Arizona Nacho Grande

Review of McDonald’s Great Tastes of America Arizona Nacho Grande

Website: http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/product_nutrition.beef.318.arizona-nacho-grande.html

What they say:

Treat yourself to the taste of Arizona. 100% beef patty topped with nacho-style sauce, shredded lettuce, pepperoni, crunchy nacho chips and cheese with peppers, all in a sesame topped bun.

Price: £3.59 for the burger only.

Calories: 730 kcal.

So here we are again on day one of week three of the Great Tastes of America campaign and up next on this culinary tour of the US is the Arizona Nacho Grande.

Out of all the limited time offers we’ve had so far on our gastronomic road trip, the Arizona Nacho Grande seems to be quite true to its Taste of the State. Arizona cuisine has been strongly influenced by Native American and Mexican settlers and is closely linked to what is now known as Tex-Mex style of food. So it comes with mild (or should that be spicy) surprise that McDonald’s on this one, has actually looked at creating something that honours the state.

Nacho-style sauce, crunchy chips and a peppery cheese are all on board this Mex-influenced Maccies but how would it measure up to the Burger Lad® treatment?

The McDonald's Ireland promotional picture...

Onion Boy! and Burger Lad® flew solo on this latest burger escapade knowing that we may not be the first to get our video online. But at Burger Lad® we pride ourselves on having strong production values (after the portrait fiasco of earlier episodes) and will not compromise on quality…or quantity.

Anyway, with that said we abandoned the trick of arriving early to beat the hoi polloi and got to our nearest (and dearest) at about 12:15. This tactic proved fruitful as in front of us two blokes took away the Grandes already made up. Onion Boy! took one for the team and had the last remaining burger so I could savour one freshly made. It got me thinking “what would they say if, as a customer, I asked for one to be made up fresh instead of one that had been waiting?” We also saw who we now affectionately call the “Double Big Mac guy” and you can see that adventure here.

There was a brief, two minute wait for the girl that had served me to bring my order over. Onion Boy! had already taken his first bite into this latest Taste of America and exclaimed it has a “satisfying crunch”. There has a bit of “burger slide” going on but it looked pretty good on the whole.

Mine looked good, hot and freshly made with lettuce bursting out the seams. After the latest episode of Burger Lad TV was shot (video below) I took my first bite. The first thing I noticed was the real distinct pepperoni taste and it was pretty darn good. The cheese on this was ace. It’s so good to see a new cheese being added instead of just throwing on the standard American slice for us. The combination of these elements made for a very rich, artery throbbing limited time burger and at 730 calories you’re probably better off not eating many! Otherwise this burger won’t be the only thing that’s grande!

Onion Boy! had a bit of burger slide...

You would think that the nachos shouldn’t work but I can promise you they do (perhaps this is why Burger King Argentina have released the Whopper with Lay’s). They gave it a good, crispy texture to mix it up in your mouth and I could actually pinpoint a ‘dorito-type’ flavour to them.

The bun…was fun and the nacho-style sauce we think, shares some sort of close association with that Big Mac Special Sauce. The “patty analysis” revealed some interesting results. I was surprised... well, perhaps surprise isn't quite the right word... the answers met our expectations as the patty was quite standard but I noticed some light seasoning on it.

The real McDonald's Arizona Nacho Grande...

There was a grand(e) amount of lettuce this time, like I said earlier it was spilling out and it all looked fresh and complimented the richness of the ingredients nicely. I think overall this is a real good promotional item from the Golden Arches. Each bite packed a pepperoni punch but there has got to be one more mention again for that sauce and cheese. Arizona Nacho Grande? Yes please!

As we left McDonald’s you could see quite a few of these black boxes on tables so clearly they are very popular. I’ve noticed more television advertising for the campaign in the last 7 days and I wondered why the promotion doesn’t hit full swing until into week two.

Lifting the lid on 64% of a woman's daily recommended fat allowance...

The Arizona Nacho Grande is a good high street burger and reasonably priced at £3.59 and if you are a fan of McDonald’s you won’t be disappointed. Week four is all about the California Melt so don’t miss out when we’ll be back in true Burger Lad ® fashion.

You can catch the latest episode of Burger Lad TV here:

And with that let us take one last look at the Great Tastes of America week three limited time offer.

I'll be back...

We are the people's burger website™

Enjoy!

For more burger related news and comments follow me on Twitter...Burger Lad®

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McDonald’s Limited Edition Chicago Supreme

Review of McDonald’s Great Tastes of America Chicago Supreme 

What they say: 

Experience the supreme taste of the Windy City. 100% beef patty, shredded lettuce, bacon, onions, cheese slices, spicy tomato salsa and cool mayo, all in a chilli, chive and sesame topped bun. 

Price: £3.69 for the burger only.

Calories: 655 kcal.

Week 2 of the 2013 Great Tastes of America promotion sees us visit Chicago on this whirlwind tour of the United States. In case you missed it you can read our review of the Louisiana BBQ from week 1 here.

What is the true supreme taste of the Windy City? Is it Chicago-style hot dogs? Or is it possibly deep dish pizza or Italian beef? McDonald’s will have us believe that a bacon cheese burger with salsa and mayo on a posh sounding bun is a reflection of the tastes of Chi-Town.

So, is this a load of old Chicago bull, or will it single-handedly win the NBA (New Burger Award)…?

The McDonald's Ireland Chicago Supreme advert...

We found ourselves at our nearest McD’s on day one of the second of five Great Tastes limited time offers. My latest trick for living life in the fast food lane is to get to McDonald’s for midday, thus missing the majority of the lunchtime crowd. However, this does backfire somewhat as guess what was sat waiting for me when I placed my order?

That’s right – two Chicago Supremes lay in wait looking for a new home. These burgers that are made-up ready are prone to what we in the trade call “burger slide” where some or most of the ingredients slip to one side resulting in bun misalignment and a potentially messy eat.

I was served quickly and off I went with my latest capture to find somewhere to sit. We gave it the glamour shot treatment and then I was finally ready to try the Chicago Supreme. Now I understand this has been on sale in previous promotions but I will treat it like any other review and give it the full Burger Lad® blarney.

Warning: Slippage my occur...

As you can see from the photo it had suffered a bit from the aforementioned “burger slide” but looked fairly well put together. We filmed our latest episode of Burger Lad® TV (see below) and savoured the flavours on board. Immediately I got a hit of the spicy tomato salsa and this was a very enjoyable condiment – I wouldn’t call it spicy but more tangy, and it was a shame there wasn’t more of this saucy salsa on board. More Ronald please!

The next distinct element was the bacon and this tasted pretty good with its smoky tones and I was fairly impressed with the standard of the slice. We did our usual “patty analysis” – it looked a bit dry to be honest but as you broke it up a bit you could see some moisture in there but there wasn’t much of a taste to it. The bun didn’t have much of a chilli or chive taste to it but it did hold together well and was firm and fresh.

The real McDonald's Chicago Supreme...

Now in the past I would have probably skipped trying this due to the mayo and quite possibly the salsa. This is due to my thought process assuming it is tomato ketchup in disguise, but again I was pleasantly surprised by the creamy quality combination of the mayo and cheese. The final fling of the Chicago Supreme was that sharp taste of the onion cutting through to ward off any palate fatigue. The lettuce was a bit sad and looked like it has been pressed against warm food for too long and my mind wandered back to the packaging for the McDLT.

Bacon and cheese? Yes please....

Overall this burger was a fairly safe play from McDonald’s for this 2013 Great Tastes promotion. If you dissect every component alone I wouldn’t say anything supreme shone out but combined together it makes for a reasonable enough limited time offer. The Arizona Nacho Grande is available next week which contains slices of pepperoni and I thought maybe the Chicago Supreme could have some additional Italian Beef slices on it for a tenuous link to the Windy City. Just an idea…I assume bacon is more likely to attract the average consumer than something like Italian Beef. 

As we left there were three cages of items from a delivery outside ranging from packaging to sauces to pickles. I joked to Onion Boy! that I imagined chaining them all to the back of the car and driving off with them trailing behind like on a car of a “Just Married” newlywed couple. After the strange look he gave me I decided that such thoughts should probably stay in my head in future. And because of our exceptional relationship with the big M we wouldn’t dream of pulling such a stunt. 

We lift the lid... again...!

We’ll leave you with our latest episode of Burger Lad® TV and that Chicago Supreme. I won’t insist you rush out and buy it because I’d put money on it appearing again in the future. Burger Lad® also predicts, Mystic Meg style, that your hard earned money should be saved for the Arizona Nacho Grande. This time next week…..

We are the people's burger website™ 

Enjoy!

For more burger related news and comments follow me on Twitter...Burger Lad® 

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Nando's Chicken Breast Burger

Review of Nando’s Chicken Breast Burger

Website: http://www.nandos.co.uk/themenu

What they say:

Home of the legendary, Portuguese flame-grilled Peri-Peri Chicken. Your filling in a Portuguese Roll and a bit of salad.

Price: £5.95 or £7.25 with one regular side, £8.90 with two.

Calories: 333 kcal for the burger only.

Nando’s was up next in our chicken run. They don’t have much to say on their website about the burger other than a claim of a ‘new recipe’, so Burger Lad® decided it was time to see if it was fair or fowl. I was tempted to check out the double breast burger but my mantra resonated through my mind “think of the calories”, and I opted for the single breast.

Nando’s opened their first restaurant in the UK in 1992 but it was a visit to their Auckland location in 2003 when Burger Lad® started a long love affair with the popular poultry purveyor.

I’m a fan of their bottomless soft drinks, endless peri-peri sauce and generous loyalty cards. After just three visits spending a minimum of £6 each time you can claim a free quarter chicken – just remember to check those T&Cs!

Anyway… it was a beautiful sunny day in Cheltenham town so we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and sit outside. It was fairly warm already but things were about to get a bit hotter as I’d opted for the extra hot sauce on my chicken breast burger.

For anyone that has never been to a Nando’s you have to decide how hot you want your food; Extra Hot, Hot, Medium, Lemon & Herb, Mango & Lime or Plain-ish. I was also asked if I wanted cheese on the chicken burger which I wasn’t expecting but certainly wasn’t going to turn it down. After placing your order and paying at the counter your food is brought to you fairly quickly. In the meantime you can sup on as many Coke Zeros as you desire while clinking your sauce bottles together like Luther in The Warriors.

I opted for the tried and tested combination of spicy rice and peri chips for the two sides with my chicken burger and it wasn’t long before they arrived.

Nando's Chicken Breast Burger...

The chicken burger looked good and had been cooked on the grill perfectly with a slight charring to it in places. The extra hot sauce glazed the succulent chicken breast nicely and I liked the look of the cheese. 

There were a few lettuce leaves on there and a cheeky little tomato hidden away which I didn’t discover until the very last bite.

But how did it all taste? Well I didn’t find it extremely hot but it had a definite kick to it. I am used to eating peri-peri sauce at Burger Lad HQ so my tolerance levels are probably higher. I enjoyed it though, the chicken was moist, fresh and firm breast meat and that cheese slice had a distinct taste to it which wasn’t lost. I have started to enjoy the cheese more now when it isn’t melted on the meat below it as it seems to retain the flavour.

1,000-ish calories on a plate...

I was really, really impressed with the crispy Portuguese roll that housed this chicken winner. I’d definitely like to get my hands on some of these for BBQ season as despite their crispy exterior the inner part of the roll was lovely and soft. Very good roll and I’d definitely try the double next time knowing these fine bakery items can cope with the load.

At £5.95 for just the burger it’s priced somewhere slightly above the KFCs and McDonald’s and below the gourmet or independent establishments. 333 calories is pretty good too but it’s when you start adding the sides that you start hitting the 1,000 calorie mark.

We’ll keep this review short which is not a reflection of the Chicken Breast Burger from Nando’s. Anyone fancying a peri chicken fix on a roll can’t go wrong with this one. It’s great for a quick lunch or dinner and the staff are always friendly. And remember you can have as much of the sauce as you like, just remember to leave the bottle at the restaurant!

I think a slice of bacon on this would make this a real winner chicken dinner but that’s just a nice to have blue sky thought. We’ll be back very soon for out next review and we’ll leave you with one last look at that Nando’s Chicken Breast Burger.

Mayo is included...

We are the people's burger website™

Enjoy!

For more burger related news and comments follow me on Twitter...Burger Lad®

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KFC Sweet and Fire Supercharger

Review of the KFC Sweet and Fire Supercharger

Website: http://www.kfc.co.uk/our-food/burgers/sweet-and-fire-supercharger

What they say:

The Sweet and Fire Supercharger combines sweet mustard mayo with fiery 2HOT4U sauce on the original Supercharger - two 100% chicken breast mini fillets with lettuce and cheese on a 7 inch toasted sub. The Supercharger just got supercharged.

Cost: £3.79

Calories: 615 kcal

I wonder if my avid readers (and there are many) will remember the controversial Wonderbra ad campaign from several years ago, which featured the ample cleavage of a supermodel on a billboard…...resulting in several vehicular crashes.  Well this Burger Lad® himself was taken in by such flirtatious advertising recently. Only this time it was thanks to KFC’s new Sweet and Fire Supercharger burger sprawled prominently on the side of a bus shelter. And we bring you this review TODAY!

"New" to KFC...

I didn’t really fancy this latest KFC promotion to be honest and offered one of the bWo the chance of glory. Most shirked at the responsibility as only one or two of them really have the commitment and stamina required to be a Guest Reviewer.

You can thank Salad Girl for this latest review. I had resigned myself to letting KFC Bloggin’ cover it but she said to me firmly “What is wrong with you man”, and with that Burger Lad® found a new resolve. So… the new edition of the KFC Supercharger is called the “Sweet and Fire” – but would it turn out to be dire?

We shot out early to avoid the Kentucky Friday Crowd and it was a good job too as later we saw Fat Slaw oozing out of the Sail Barge. Anyway…

I placed my order and it went something like this:

Cashier: Good afternoon Burger Lad® welcome to KFC can I take your order please?

Burger Lad®: I will have just the Sweet and Fire Supercharger burger only please.

Cashier: Do you want to go large on the drink?

Burger Lad®: Just the burger thank you.

Cashier: Oh sorry Burger Lad® you confused me by saying burger only.

Burger Lad®: Don’t let it trouble you further. *

* This may or may not be an imaginary conversation.

So after a very short wait I trotted off with my tray, thinking that it was a good job I eat a calorie controlled diet otherwise my weight would balloon with this endless supply of reviews.

Eat a Supercharger to get larger...

This ‘long’ burger looked fairly well assembled but the bun didn’t appear toasted and was quite limp. My initial reaction to the first bite was that it did have quite a kick to it but with my insurmountable palate I wouldn’t call it fiery. I’d been introduced to the 2HOT4U sauce before so was looking forward to this element – it was noticeable but the real dominant flavour on this was the sweet mustard mayo. The flavour of it was good but just bordered on overbearing and drowned its hot cousin out. 

The chicken was the standard mini breast fillets and it all got a bit messy as one of them fell out of the sub-style roll – my mind thinking back to the Wonderbra ad campaign and one of those popping out.

I'm the Supercharger...twisted Supercharger...

I have noticed the lettuce you get in KFC is better than McDonald’s. It’s a fresher, more generous portion which in combination with the melted cheese meant that this was an enjoyable enough burger from The Colonel but nothing to really write home about. Oh wait…

Perhaps I am a little ‘saturated’ after all the burger bliss encountered in Berlin and with the release of the Great Tastes of the World promotion? I think the best bet is to re-group and come out fighting again on Wednesday when McDonald’s release the Chicago Supreme.

Burger Lad lifts the lid on the latest KFC promotion...

In the meantime we’ll leave you with one last shot of the Sweet and Fire Supercharger. It’s an enjoyable release from KFC but I am starting to see a pattern with their limited time burger offers. Chuck some sauce on an existing burger, do some fancy advertising and a new slogan and bang we’ve got a new promotion.  They need to up their game if they want to keep Burger Lad® coming back for more.

The KFC Sweet and Fire Supercharger

That said… if you’re passing then it is worth trying but I would save your pennies (and calorie allowance) for the Louisiana BBQ from McDonald’s. If however you must have a chicken fix then check it out. It will be interesting to see if Burger King enters the limited time offer merry-go-round – you can guarantee that if they do… we’ll be there!

We are the people's burger website™

Enjoy!

For more burger related news and comments follow me on Twitter...Burger Lad®

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McDonald’s Germany McRib, Western Beef and 1955 Burger

Review of McDonald’s Germany McRib, Western Beef and the 1955 Burger

Website: http://www.mcdonalds.de/home

What they say (via Google Translate so some grammatical errors may be present):

McRib:

Those who love good flavour cannot avoid the McRib ®. With his inimitable hearty sauce and best pork he throws a really because it says bogged down.

Calories: 470 kcal

McDonald's McRib...

Western Beef:

Western Beef burger with crispy fried onions and smoky Western sauce.

Calories: 290 kcal

McDonald's Western Beef...

1955 Burger:

For the Herzhafticos among you: extra spicy and extra juicy. Spiced beef with tomato and lettuce in a wheat bun with sesame seeds. The whole garnished with grilled onions, bacon, ketchup and smoky BBQ sauce.

Calories: 700 kcal

\McDonald's 1955 Burger...

Welcome to part three of the Burger Lad® ‘Burgers in Berlin’ tour where we profile a number of burgers we discovered on our recent trip to Germany. Three is the magic number with our final chapter of our tour as we bring you not eins… not zwei… but drei burgers for you!

In 1983, British cinemas featured Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi as a triple-bill and as a young lad I went to see this triple feature. It was dubbed ‘A Once-In-A-Lifetime Spectacular’ and it truly was…

Tonight we present you our very own triple bill with a look at three burgers not commonly available in the UK… tonight we present our very own once-in-a-lifetime-spectacular…the McDonald’s Germany McRib, The Western Beef and the previously released 1955 burger.

First up, The McRib – this features on menus around the World now and then as a promotional item but here in Germany it is a permanent fixture.

Rare mint in mint box...

Now before trying this I had my reservations. I was unsure what the texture of the meat would be like and having previously sampled the Domino’s Pizza Boneless Ribs I was almost put off. However, the Rib-Wich (aka the McRib) looked very much like its promotional picture as we opened up the box. But how did it taste?

Not far off that promotional picture...

We likened the sauce to a Steakhouse BBQ sauce but with a hint of oriental five spice. I was very pleasantly surprised as I expected a jelly texture to the patty but it wasn’t like that at all. In my original (drunk) notes I described it as “really nice” and the fresh thick cut onions and gherkins really enhanced the sandwich and cut through that rich sauce. A good start to our triple bill then and it left me wondering if we would see it in the UK anytime soon. Here’s one final look at that McDonald’s McRib…

iPhone not included...

Next up is the Western Beef - this had been on my radar for a while now and was always on my shortlist to try it because at less than 1 Euro it was well worth a punt.

Under one Euro...

To be honest it looked pretty pathetic especially as earlier in the day we’d been at The Bird sampling the monster known as ‘The Works’ but let’s give it a chance…

Burger no. 2 of 3...

Basically a plain hamburger with a concoction of crispy onions and a BBQ sauce it actually turned out to be a cheeky little purchase. It was very dry but the sauce just about saved it and we both lifted our eyebrows in surprise at the taste. Yeah not bad and at 99c it was pretty good value.

Lifting the lid...

Schnitzel Girl gave an insightful comment that a little more effort was required on this saver menu style burger and perhaps the addition of a cheese slice of some kind would make it more amicable.

This brings us to our final burger on the ‘Burgers in Berlin’ tour and here we have the 1955 burger. This was has been a special edition burger around Europe and was previously on sale in the UK to commemorate the first McDonald’s being opened in the aforementioned year. To be honest I was looking forward to this one.

Missing the www.burgerlad.com watermark...

Well after The Bird this was a massive disappointment. In fact of all the McDonald’s Germany burgers this promised the most (possibly with the exception of the El Chili Con Carne) but definitely punched below its weight.

1955...!?

The burger looked scruffy in appearance – you can see from the pictures just how dry the patty looked and it was absolutely nothing like its attractive looking promotional picture. OK not many do but really this did not look appetizing at all and if you check out our video you will see my reaction to it, especially when I spotted the ultra-sweet ketchup.

Our final leg of the 'burgers in Berlin' tour...

The burger contained melted cheese, bacon, lettuce and grilled onions which were probably the best bit about the 1955 but the overbearing taste was the sweetness from that ketchup. The flavour of it did contrast with what tasted like a fake ‘grilled flavour’ of the patty – almost like a copy of the flame grilled flavour from Burger King.

Promised so much... delivered little...

Overall I think the three burgers weighed in at about 10 Euros but a whopping 1,500 calories! Luckily as a burger reviewer you only have to take a few bites before consigning the rest to the bin and that was where the majority of the 1955 burger went. Shame as this was also the year Marty McFly travelled to in Back to the Future and I’d originally thought about a few puns based around this. Sadly the 1955 is not worthy of being linked with this movie.

There was one final chance of another review when we got to Berlin Schönefeld Airport and there at BK was the X-Tra Long Chicken Spring Curry. At this point I was all burgered out and passed on the opportunity. Let’s just hope McDonald’s UK don’t bring out that Great Tastes of America anytime soon… oh wait!

Maybe next time...

And for those of you who cannot get enough of Burger Lad® in glorious landscape vision with sauce on his face here is the final video from #burgersinberlin.

I would recommend to anyone to check out this brilliant city as I had an amazing time there with Schnitzel Girl.

Enjoy!

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