Location: 44 Britannia Road East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.wendys.com/en-ca

This is going to sound like an insane thing to say about a fast food item that has the words “sweet” and “honey” in its name, but the Sweet Heat Honey Garlic Chicken Strips from Wendy’s?  Too sweet.

Yeah, that’s right — I said it.

Here’s how Wendy’s describes them: “100% Canadian, white-meat chicken strips flipped & dipped in a honey garlic sauce with ranch dip. Perfectly sweet with just a touch of heat. Like a good date.”

I should note that I quite enjoyed these things, despite their intense sweetness.  As advertised, they’re sweet and garlicky, with just a little bit of spice — it’s enough that you’ll know it’s there, but it’s not exactly going to put any sweat on your brow.  They also have a nice tanginess that theoretically should round out the sweetness, but really, nothing can put a dent in how sweet these things are.  It’s intense.

They actually reminded me a lot of something you might find at a Manchu Wok or Panda Express, like General Tso’s chicken or something along those lines.  It seems like the type of thing you should be eating with rice (which would do a nice job of mellowing out its flavour).

They come with ranch on the side; this adds a nice creaminess, but its flavour is mostly obliterated by the intense sweet tanginess of the sauce.

As for the chicken strips themselves, I got lucky with a well-prepared batch — the chicken was nice and fresh and not dry at all.  It was sauced to order, which meant that the exterior kept its crunch despite being absolutely doused in the sweet, sticky sauce.  Despite my reservations about how sugary these things are, I still quite enjoyed eating them.