chicken – Michael Eats

Chicken Parmi Burger at McDonald’s (World Menu Heist)

Published on August 20, 2026 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 30 Courtneypark Drive East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

I guess it was inevitable that at least one item in the World Menu Heist would be a dud, and this one is definitely it.

The Chicken Parmi Burger, as per the McDonald’s website: “Straight from Australia, the Chicken Parmi Burger has landed in Canada. Crispy seasoned chicken layered with marinara sauce, creamy parmesan sauce, shredded lettuce, and white processed cheese, all on a soft potato bun. Rich, saucy, and just the right amount of indulgent. Get it before it’s gone, mate.”

It’s that marinara sauce. Wow, it’s bad. Its smell hits you as soon as you pop open the box, and it tastes so much worse than it smells.

It tastes like the cheapest jarred sauce you can find at the supermarket — but even that isn’t this bad. It tastes like an off-putting cross between the worst tomato sauce you’ve ever had, and the worst salsa you’ve ever had. It’s acrid and horrible.

It lingered on my palate for hours afterward. I’m actively upset at McDonald’s for inflicting it on me.

Otherwise, everything else here is pretty standard McCrispy stuff, and is fine.

Well, I suppose there is the creamy parmesan sauce, but the marinara was so overwhelming that I couldn’t taste anything else (it’s also possible that they accidently gave me mayo instead of the parmesan sauce, but then nothing could have made up for that horrific marinara, so who cares?).

Olive Garden Probably isn’t as Good as you Remember

Published on July 19, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1 Bass Pro Mills Drive, Vaughan (inside Vaughan Mills)
Website: https://www.olivegarden.ca/

Olive Garden left Ontario well over twenty years ago, and clearly there’s a lot of nostalgia for the place; they opened recently at Vaughan Mills, and the waits are reportedly up to two hours long.

Note: I am not immune to this nostalgia. I certainly remembered liking Olive Garden back in the day, and I was pretty excited for its return. I showed up on a Saturday just after they opened at 11:00am, and even at that hour, there was about a twenty minute wait for a table.

The menu consists mostly of a variety of pastas. I went with the Tour of Italy: “Three OG classics all on one plate! Chicken Parmigiana, Lasagna Classico and our signature Fettuccine Alfredo; all with homemade sauces made fresh every morning.” Go big or go home, right?

Famously, all of their entrees come with an unlimited serving of soup or salad and breadsticks. My dining companion and I both went with the salad, and they brought a giant bowl that you can serve yourself from.

The salad is a pretty standard iceberg / cabbage / carrot mix topped with onions, a few tomato slices, a bunch of croutons, and, if you want, freshly grated cheese. The dressing is something along the lines of Kraft Italian. It’s exactly what you think it’s going to be. It’s pleasant.

The breadsticks are extremely Wonder-Bread-esque, but they’re served warm and taste fresh; they’re pleasantly greasy and mildly garlicky. In retrospect, these were the highlight of the meal.

As for the entree, all three items were about on par with something you can get in the freezer section of the supermarket for a couple of bucks. Very Michelina-coded, as the kids might say.

The chicken parmigiana was nice and crunchy at least, even if it was so overcooked that when I struggled to cut into one of the edges, I assumed I had hit a bone (it’s boneless).

The fettuccini alfredo was just blandly rich, though if you combine it with the intensely salty chicken parmigiana, they kinda cancel each other out.

The lasagna was maybe the most Michelina of the bunch, with a mushy texture and a deluge of middling sauce that tasted extremely jarred.

I should note that I’m coming off quite negative here, but I didn’t hate it, I guess? I mean, I finished the plate, so clearly it wasn’t too offensive. If this had been like twenty bucks (max), I wouldn’t have been mad about it. But $31.29 (!) is an upsetting amount to pay for this caliber of food. Yes, I ordered the dish that comes with multiple items, but all the pastas here range from the mid 20s to early 30s.

If all you’re after is quantity over quality, you’ll get much better bang for your buck at a buffet (RIP Frankie Tomatto’s — forever in my heart).

Solid Tacos at Ghost Taco

Published on July 11, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 151 East Liberty Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.ghosttaco.ca/

Ghost Taco is a solid taco joint in Liberty Village. It’s affiliated with a brewery (Something in the Water Brewing Co.), so if you’re in the mood, you can get a beer to go with your taco. The menu even gives you beer pairing suggestions for each taco.

I tried a couple of tacos. First up: Alabama Chicken (“fried chicken, Bama sauce, corn salsa, shrettuce”).

This was pretty solid. The fried chicken tender tasted like something you might find at a fast food chain, but it was freshly-fried, crispy, and satisfying. And the combo of the zippy salsa and the creamy Bama sauce worked well. This didn’t knock my socks off, but I enjoyed it.

Next up: Vampire (“fried cheese, pickled jalapeno, braised pork, tortilla, guac & pico, sriracha aioli”).

This was definitely my favourite of the two. It’s that fried cheese on the exterior. It’s crispy, chewy, and immensely satisfying. The rest of the taco is solid, with a nice balance of flavours, but that cheesy shell is where it’s at.

Bonus: the tacos are generously-filled and $5.50 a piece, so it’s a great deal.

Tasty Saj Wraps at Shawarma Anas

Published on May 26, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 488 Eglinton Avenue West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/shawarmaanascanada/

Most of the time when I pass by a restaurant that looks interesting, I’ll pull it up on Google Maps to see what people are saying about it. I kinda do it by reflex at this point. If people seem to like it, I’ll add it to a running list of restaurants I want to check out. And if people really I like it, it goes to the top of that list.

Shawarma Anas, as I write this, has over 5000 reviews and 4.9 out of 5 stars. Shenanigans? Probably! But it’s still a high enough ranking that I felt compelled to check it out.

They have the usual assortment of shawarma and falafel that you can get on a plate or in a wrap (with pita bread or saj). I went with the chicken shawarma saj wrap, and got it with the “original” toppings, which is just garlic sauce and pickles.

Yeah, that’s a tasty wrap. It’s quite possible there are shenanigans afoot with their inflated Google ranking, but clearly, they’re doing something right. The shawarma is pretty solid; it’s nicely spiced with a decent amount of crispy bits. But it was also a bit dry, which was unfortunate — it tastes like it’s all white meat, and it was slightly overcooked. But there was enough of that tasty garlic sauce that this mostly didn’t matter.

And the saj was quite nice, with a decent chewiness and a nice crispy exterior from the griddle. If the chicken had been a bit juicier this would have been one of the better shawarma wraps I’ve had in Mississauga, but even as it was, it was very tasty.

Satisfying Chicken Rice at Thai Nyyom

Published on May 24, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1419 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.thainyyom.ca/

Thai Nyyom has a delightfully focused menu. Outside of the appetizers and desserts, they serve just three things: chicken rice, khao soi, and a rotating special. The chicken rice and khao soi are both available in vegetarian versions, but that’s it. If you don’t want one of those three things? Too bad, go somewhere else.

Honestly, I wish more restaurants would do this. Just serve a handful of things and do them really, really well rather than spreading yourself thin with a huge, padded-out menu.

I went with the chicken rice, which is an abundantly simple dish, consisting entirely of poached chicken served on top of chicken-infused rice. It comes with a container of hot sauce on the side, but otherwise, this is about as simple as it gets.

It’s really good. In particular, that rice is pretty much perfect, with a really fragrant, chicken-packed flavour that’s profoundly satisfying.

I wish the chicken were a bit better — it doesn’t quite have the silky texture that you’ll find in the best versions of this dish, and has a mildly leftovery flavour — but the rice is so good that it basically didn’t matter.

Plus, any issues with the chicken basically disappear once you add some of that zingy, garlicky hot sauce. That stuff could make anything taste great.