Tag: Australia

Tasty Australian Pastries at The Sydney Grind

Published on by Michael NusairLeave a comment

The Sydney Grind
Location: 2883 Lake Shore Boulevard West, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.thesydneygrind.com/

The Sydney Grind is a delightful Australian-themed coffee shop that serves a bunch of tasty-looking pastries.  One of those pastries: the lamington, an Australian specialty that features yellow cake coated in chocolate and coconut.

The Sydney Grind

It’s quite tasty.  I mean, how could it not be?  It’s just plain cake with chocolate and coconut — all tasty stuff.

The Sydney Grind

Well, I guess you could mess it up by making a bad quality cake or using shoddy chocolate, but that’s clearly not the case here.  The cake is tasty and moist, and the chocolate/coconut combo is expectedly delicious.

Aussie BBQ & Egg Burger at McDonald’s

Published on by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Aussie BBQ & Egg Burger at McDonald'sLocation: 5310 Dixie Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.ca

Well, here it is — Australia, the last stop on McDonald’s World Taste Tour (though there’s also the Mexican breakfast wrap, which I guess I should try at some point).

McDonald’s describes the Aussie BBQ & Egg Burger as coming topped with “a fresh cracked egg, crispy beet chips, processed cheese, leaf lettuce and a smoky BBQ sauce on a brioche-style bun.”

Aussie BBQ & Egg Burger at McDonald's

I’m not even going to bother complaining about the burger patty itself.  It’s not good — but then it’s McDonald’s, so no one should be surprised by this.  I will say that I really wish they’d use the thinner patties from the regular hamburger and the Big Mac on all of their burgers.  When it comes to the beef at McDonald’s, less is more.

But then no beef patty could have saved this burger — it’s easily the worst of the World Taste Tour.  It’s mostly pretty good: an egg is always welcome on a burger, the beet chips and the lettuce add a satisfying crunch, and the gooey cheese helps bring it all together.  But the smoky BBQ sauce (which is mayo-based, unlike a standard BBQ sauce) completely ruins it.  It’s the absolute worst.  It’s cloyingly, aggressively sweet, with no smokiness at all.  It’s just awful.

Aussie BBQ & Egg Burger at McDonald's

BBQ sauce tends to be quite sweet, but with a vinegary bite to help balance things out.  No such balance here; just in-your-face sweetness.

The burger kind of reminded me of the trifle Rachel made on Friends, but in reverse.  It’s got a bunch of tasty burger ingredients… and a sugary-sweet sauce that would be more at home on a slice of cake or a scoop of ice cream.  It’s one of those things that’s so bad, you have to wonder if anyone even tasted it before they added it to the menu.