fast food – Page 10 – Michael Eats

A Healthy Food Court Option at Poulet Rouge

Published on March 29, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga (inside Square One)
Website: https://poulet-rouge.ca/en

I hadn’t heard of Poulet Rouge until very recently, but apparently it’s a Quebec-based chain that’s been around since 2012. They basically have one thing on the menu — grilled chicken bowls — though it’s extremely customizable.

You can pick the flavour of your chicken, the base (brown rice, quinoa, lettuce, or poutine — it is a Quebec chain, after all), the sauce, and various veggie toppings.

I ordered the mini size, which — true to its name — comes in a comically tiny container. It’s packed with stuff, though, so it’s enough for lunch if you want something that isn’t too heavy.

I got the volcano hot chicken on brown rice, and topped it with spicy mayo, olives, cucumber, hot peppers, and a scoop of avocado mash (which costs a bit extra).

It’s not bad at all. I wouldn’t say it blew my mind, but for something from a mall food court (that’s relatively healthy, no less), it’s pretty tasty. The ingredients taste fresh, the flavours are nice and zippy, and while the grilled chicken breast is a bit on the dry side, it’s got some nice char from the grill.

I don’t know if anyone is going to get too excited about this place, but it’s solid food court fare.

The McRib is Finally Back

Published on December 11, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 2439 Steeles Avenue East, Brampton
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/

The McRib! It’s back! Sort of — for some bizarre reason, McDonald’s has chosen to only bring it back to five random locations in the GTA, mostly in Brampton. But you know what? This is the first time in like a decade that the McRib has come back to Canada, so I’m certainly not complaining.

I seem to recall that the last time the McRib came back, it wasn’t as good as I remembered. But my McRib nostalgia is strong, so of course I had to try it again.

It’s good! I was wrong, it’s good. It helps that I got a freshly-prepared one — it was quite dry last time, and that definitely wasn’t the case here. It also helps that I ordered it without onions, and with extra pickles instead, and yeah, that’s the way to go. Raw onions are for jerks.

It comes absolutely slathered in a slightly smoky, sweet-but-not-too-sweet BBQ sauce, which is a pretty big part of its appeal.

Maybe I just got lucky and got a very well-prepared one, but I think is probably one of the better things on the McDonald’s menu. Hopefully it’s not another decade before they bring it back again.

Festive Chicken Sandwich from KFC

Published on November 22, 2023April 13, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3401 Dufferin Street, North York (inside Yorkdale)
Website: https://www.kfc.ca/

The Festive Chicken Sandwich at KFC is one of those things you pretty much have to try. Or maybe that’s just me? Maybe normal people don’t feel an odd compulsion to try every weird new thing from a fast food joint? Who can say!

The KFC website describes the Festive Chicken Sandwich as “buttermilk marinated chicken fillet and savory stuffing, drizzled with buttery garlic oil, plant-based mayo and cranberry sauce.”

It’s an amazing idea in theory, though in execution, it’s just okay. The main problem is that the fried chicken and the stuffing are both so salty that the whole thing adds up to a pretty serious salt bomb.

I’ve never particularly thought about how much KFC’s fried chicken kinda has the same flavour profile as cheap, store-bought stuffing — but once you’re eating them at the same time, it’s pretty much all you can notice.

The cranberry sauce is actually pretty essential to offset some of the sandwich’s saltiness and cut through the richness a bit, but there wasn’t that much of it, and there’s only so much it can do.

As for the “buttery garlic oil,” if it was there, it was completely overwhelmed by the chicken and the stuffing. I couldn’t taste it.

Otherwise, the sandwich was fine. The chicken itself was pretty dry and had obviously been sitting out a bit, and the overall flavour is very one-note salty. But it’s not unpleasant to eat, I guess.

Chicken Big Mac at McDonald’s

Published on March 7, 2023March 10, 2023 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 5453 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/

On one hand, the Chicken Big Mac is what it is: it’s a Big Mac, but with chicken instead of beef. There’s not much more to it than that.

On the other hand, I actually found it to be way more delightful than I was expecting. Apparently it’s a limited time thing that’s going away in April, but I think it’s tasty enough (and different enough from a regular Big Mac) to be on the permanent menu.

The patties are interesting. They’re not just the McChicken patties you might expect; they’re thicker than a McDonald’s burger patty, but thinner than a McChicken. They actually reminded me more of an oversized McNugget than an undersized McChicken.

This will depend on the location you visit, but the patties in my Big Mac were hot and crispy, and that texture actually added a lot of personality to the Big Mac template.

As for the taste, the milder flavour of the chicken lets a lot more of the zippiness from the special sauce and the pickles shine through; even the slice of cheese becomes more pronounced when you sub out beef for chicken. Between that and the fried crispiness, the Chicken Big Mac really feels like its own thing, and not just like a gimmick you’d only want to try once.

Solid Fast Food at Chick-fil-A

Published on February 21, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 336 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://cfaqueenstwest.ca/

Chick-fil-A opened in Toronto a couple of years ago and was immediately greeted with a whole bunch of hype and perpetual lines.

They’ve been here long enough at this point (and have enough locations) that the hype has mostly died down. This is a good thing, because the chicken sandwich here is tasty, but probably not worth lining up for.

You just have to temper your expectations; if you’re comparing it to local joints like the now Michelin-noted (!) Chica’s Chicken, it’s nothing special. But compared to its fast food competition, it’s a solid sandwich (the sandwich here is certainly leagues better than McDonald’s latest chicken creation, the McCrispy).

It’s got a much more subtle crunch than the norm, but it’s nicely seasoned and, on my visit at least, hot from the fryer and nicely juicy.

It’s also a bit unusual in how sparsely topped it is, with just a couple of pickle slices, a buttered bun, and nothing else. But I guess that’s part of its charm, and the chicken is flavourful enough that you don’t really miss the toppings.