fast food – Page 2 – Michael Eats

McExtreme Pulled Pork at McDonald’s (World Menu Heist)

Published on August 18, 2026August 19, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

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

The World Menu Heist! It’s back!! Is it sad that this is probably one of the highlights of my summer? Please don’t answer that.

As I was leaving the office at lunch today to head to McDonald’s, in my head I was like, we should all be chanting “Menu heist! Menu heist! Menu heist!” I believe this is a totally rational thought that doesn’t raise any troubling implications about my mental state.

For all the normal people out there who don’t get unreasonably excited about novelty menus at McDonald’s, the World Menu Heist is a promotion featuring various items pulled from McDonald’s locations around the world. This year, that includes France, Spain, Australia, Japan, and the Netherlands.

Obviously I’ll be trying everything (what do you think, I won’t be trying every item on this menu? Get out of here) but I started with the McExtreme Pulled Pork from Spain.

Here’s how McDonald’s describes it: “Pulled from Spain, now in Canada. Layers of pulled pork in BBQ sauce, beef, hickory-smoked bacon, white processed cheese, crispy onions for some crunch and creamy chipotle sauce for heat make for one delicious sandwich. One bite leads to another… and somehow it’s all gone.”

I’ve had some weird international McDonald’s menu items over the years, but somehow, pulled pork on a burger at McDonald’s strikes me as particularly weird.

It’s a tasty burger, though sadly, the pulled pork element is negligible. There’s a teeny-tiny amount of pulled pork on the burger, and it’s spread very thin over the large patty. You can taste the BBQ sauce, but I suspect if I had eaten this blind, I wouldn’t have even known the burger had pulled pork on it. There’s just too much other stuff going on.

I did try a little bit on its own, and it’s exactly what you think it’ll be. It’s pretty mushy and soaked in enough BBQ sauce to completely wipe out any pork flavour — but that sauce is tasty, and it’s pleasant enough as a burger topping.

Otherwise, this is probably one of the better burgers McDonald’s has come out with in a while. The creamy chipotle sauce is pleasingly zesty and very mildly spicy, and the BBQ sauce adds a nice sweet/savoury kick. The cheese, bacon, and crispy onions complement it well. It’s a solid fast food burger.

Dill Pickle Chicken Sandwich from Wendy’s

Published on June 12, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5250 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.wendys.com/en-ca

Pickle fried chicken sandwiches are definitely having a moment; Popeyes, KFC, and McDonald’s have all done their own version, and now here comes Wendy’s to hop on that bandwagon. Your move, Burger King.

Here’s how Wendy’s describes it: “A juicy, crispy chicken breast with dill pickle mayo, mozzarella cheese, and six (6!) pickle slices on a toasted bun. Your pickle craving doesn’t stand a chance.”

I’ll admit that I wasn’t crazy about this one. It has an unmistakable dill pickle flavour, both from the pickles and the zippy mayo, but otherwise the sandwich is just kinda one-note salty in a way that I found vaguely unpleasant.

It didn’t help that the chicken itself was dry. That’s always a crapshoot at a fast food joint; sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you get sad dryness. Oh well.

Smash Burger from A&W

Published on May 25, 2026May 25, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 75 Resolution Drive, Brampton
Website: https://web.aw.ca/en/home

A&W is a bit late on the smash burger trend, aren’t they? About a decade ago, it seemed like every other new restaurant specialized in that particular type of burger, but the fervor has calmed down quite a bit since then.

But hey, better late than never, I guess?

Here’s how A&W describes it: “A perfectly smashed grass-fed beef patty with melted cheddar cheese, tangy pickles, sliced onions and our secret sauce, on a toasted brioche-style bun.” You can get it as a single or double patty; I went with single, and skipped the onion.

It’s a perfectly decent burger.

The whole point of this style of burger is the dark brown crust on the patty, and as you can see from this photo, they did a moderately okay job of accomplishing this.

As you’d expect from a fast food joint, the patty is quite dry and bland. The slice of cheese and generous amount of sauce (which is aggressively zesty and a bit overwhelming) mostly compensates for this, but there’s basically zero juiciness or beefy flavour here.

The cheese is cheddar rather than the more traditional American — personally, I think that’s incorrect (American has the perfect level of gooiness for this style of cheeseburger), but I guess that’s a matter of opinion.

The sweet brioche bun mostly suits the burger fairly well, though it’s too substantial and throws off the beef-to-bun ratio. Again, if we’re talking about what’s traditional, I think the soft squishiness of a potato bun would work better.

I’m sure the substantial brioche here would be a better match for the double patty option, but then you’d be faced with twice the amount of dry, tasteless beef, so… I dunno what the solution is there.

(I’d say the solution is “go somewhere better,” though I guess that would be a bit harsh. The burger is not unpleasant.)

Strawberry Salad from Wendy’s

Published on May 14, 2026May 14, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5250 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.wendys.com/en-ca

A few years ago, pretty much every fast food chain started serving salads in a short-lived attempt to prove to everyone that they’re not just about clogging your arteries and raising your blood pressure. But healthy eats at a fast food joint is an affront to everything that is good and pure about the world, and the salads are pretty much all gone — except at Wendy’s.

I guess people actually order the salads at Wendy’s? Because not only are they still on the menu, but they’re adding new ones, too.

Here’s how Wendy’s website describes the Strawberry Salad: “Herb-marinated, grilled 100% Canadian grilled chicken breast topped with fire-roasted corn, sharp white cheddar, roasted pecans, greenhouse-grown strawberries and lettuce all finished with a sweet onion vinaigrette. It’s the best you’ll pick all year.”

It’s fine? It’s a pretty generic salad. I didn’t dislike eating it, but the guy next to me was eating a burger and I’ll admit that I was pretty jealous.

It mostly all works pretty well — in particular, the balance between the salty cheese, the sweet strawberries and candied pecans, and the zippy dressing is fairly satisfying. I was worried that the dressing might be too oniony, but it was fine.

The biggest issue here are the chicken pieces. I was hoping they’d use freshly-cooked chicken, but instead it’s those pre-cooked chicken breast pieces that you can find in the supermarket or at Costco. They get the job done, but they have a very processed taste and texture that I’m not crazy about.

Zinger Drip Sandwich from KFC

Published on May 6, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4559 Hurontario Street, Mississauga
Website: https://www.kfc.ca/

KFC recently came out with a “Zinger Drip” menu, which seems to have nothing to do with the Zinger Sandwich that they currently serve, aside from the presence of spiciness. But sure, I like spice — I’ll check that out.

There are three items to choose from: a sandwich, popcorn chicken, and hot wings, all coated in a spicy sauce.

I went with the sandwich: “The Zinger Drip Sandwich brings bold, saucy heat to a fan-favourite classic. Our Famous Chicken sandwich fillet fully coated in KFC’s rich Zinger Drip sauce, then layered with cheddar cheese and fresh lettuce – all served on a soft potato bun. It’s a spicy, satisfying bite from top to bottom.”

It’s tasty. The Zinger Drip sauce has a vinegary, Frank’s-esque base, but with some mild sweetness and a bit of a garlicky punch to round things out. It’s not particularly spicy, but there’s enough heat to give your mouth a tingle. It’s pretty satisfying, which is good because the chicken is absolutely drenched in the stuff.

The word “drip” in the name of this sandwich is extremely appropriate — this was one of the drippiest, messiest sandwiches I’ve eaten in quite a while. After I was done, I had to lather up my hands like a doctor preparing for surgery just to get the stickiness off them.

As for the rest of the sandwich, it’s all pretty standard KFC stuff. I will say that the cheese feels entirely superfluous — the Zinger Drip sauce is not subtle, and its flavour completely wipes out the cheese, which may as well not be there.