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Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich at McDonald’s (The International Menu Heist)

Published on June 29, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 377 Burnhamthorpe Road East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

Well, I’m three items deep into the International Menu Heist (I’ve tried the Biscoff McFlurry, the McPizza Bites and the Garlic Mayo-Style Sauce), and everything’s been pretty tasty so far, so I guess a dud was inevitable.

Enter: the Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich from Japan (“The Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich has a breaded seasoned chicken patty, covered in a delicious, sweet and tangy teriyaki sauce, topped with shredded lettuce, mayo-style sauce, and a sesame seed bun. These mix of flavours will have you reaching for another bite. And another. And another, and somehow it’s all gone!”).

It’s basically a McCrispy with teriyaki sauce.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a McDonald’s chicken sandwich that was dunked in sauce rather than just topped, so that’s interesting I guess?

But also: too much sauce. This wouldn’t have been an issue if it were tasty, but the overly sweet, gloppy teriyaki sauce here is a bit of a whiff.

It’s just way, way too sweet, with a mild hint of teriyaki flavour and a whole bunch of in-your-face sugariness. If you hadn’t told me it was supposed to be teriyaki, I’m not sure I even would have guessed. It’s overwhelmingly sweet.

Also, I don’t know if my sandwich was over-dipped or if it was supposed to be this saucy, but holy cow, it was a mess. It was easily the sloppiest sandwich I’ve ever had from McDonald’s, and maybe the messiest sandwich I’ve ever had, period? My hands were basically soaked in sticky teriyaki sauce by the time I was finished.

Biscoff McFlurry at McDonald’s (The International Menu Heist)

Published on June 29, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, Montreal
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

The International Menu Heist continues! Seriously: I love this. Can we just make this a permanent thing? One new menu item a month from an international McDonald’s location? Forever? Yeah, let’s go ahead and do that, McDonald’s. Thanks.

I recently tried the McPizza Bites from Italy, which I thought were pretty decent. Up next: the Biscoff McFlurry from Belgium (“Think creamy vanilla soft serve swirled together with Biscoff cookie crumbs. Now you can picture yourself wandering cobbled streets of Bruges while tucking in to this deliciously sweet treat”).

Do I need to describe this? If you’ve had Biscoff cookies and you’ve had vanilla soft serve, then there are no surprises for you here. It’s crushed up Biscoff cookies in soft serve. It tastes exactly what you think that’s going to taste like, which is to say: quite delicious! I’m a big fan of Biscoff’s distinct spiced caramel flavour, so yeah, I enjoyed this.

Also: I had this on a layover in the Montreal airport, and I don’t know if the soft serve at McDonald’s is tastier in Quebec or if it’s just better than I remembered, but it was creamy and satisfying. It was a great McFlurry.

McPizza Bites at McDonald’s (The International Menu Heist)

Published on June 28, 2025November 19, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, Montreal
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

McDonald’s is currently running a promotion called “The International Menu Heist,” and I feel like it was pretty much made for me personally? Aside from the fact that I get oddly excited whenever McDonald’s does stuff like this, I also make it a point to visit a McDonald’s and try at least one or two of the unusual local items when I’m travelling.

(For those who are unaware, McDonald’s always has a few menu items in each country that are supposedly tuned to the local palate.)

Perhaps the oddest item in this particular promo: the McPizza Bites, an import from Italy. Here’s how McDonald’s describes these things: “The taste of Italy is here with McPizza Bites, the antipasto you’ve been waiting for. Made with melt-in-your-mouth mozzarella cheese and rich tomato sauce, all wrapped in a delicious, toasted pizza dough – good enough to make you say bravissimo! It’s time for a pizza party, and you’re all invited.”

I should note that if a pizza exists that’s good enough to make me say “bravissimo!” it certainly isn’t at McDonald’s.

The last time I had a pizza-pocket-esque concoction at McDonald’s, it was the horrifically bad Veg Pizza McPuff in India, so my expectations: not high!

This was totally fine, however. I don’t think it’s particularly different from something you can get at the freezer section of the supermarket, but for what it is, it’s tasty enough. It’s probably like 90 percent sauce and 10 percent cheese, but the sauce is pleasant and the cheese has some nice gooiness.

The crust has some extremely mild crunchiness, but is mostly just there as a vehicle for the sauce and cheese. Like everything else about this, it’s perfectly acceptable.

The menu suggests that this and the Garlic Mayo-Style Sauce from the UK are “great together,” and yeah, the menu is not wrong. It’s a very good dip; it’s creamy, it’s got a nice zestiness, and it’s garlicky without being overwhelming. It completely overpowers the flavour of the McPizza Bites, but it’s tasty enough that I’m not complaining.

Grilled Cheese Cheeseburger at Wendy’s

Published on May 20, 2025May 20, 2025 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

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

Wendy’s has apparently been in Canada for 50 years, and to celebrate, they’re serving a cheeseburger with two grilled cheese sandwiches for buns. As you do.

No, grilled cheese sandwiches as buns isn’t exactly the most original or fresh idea at this point, but it’s still the type of novelty fast food nonsense that gets me through the day. Most new fast food burgers just add a different sauce or whatever, and it’s like, come on, guys. I know you can do better than this.

Wendy’s: I commend you. I don’t think the burger was particularly good, but hey, you tried.

Here’s how Wendy’s describes the Grilled Cheese Cheeseburger: “A quarter-pound of fresh, 100% Canadian beef topped with cheese, caramelized onions, and mayo all between a grilled-cheese bun on top and another on the bottom. Three sandwiches. One burger.”

The biggest issue here? I don’t think anyone gave the person who made my burger the memo that a grilled cheese sandwich is supposed to be grilled. I mean, maybe I’m out of the loop, but I’m pretty sure that’s how grilled cheese is supposed to work? Otherwise it’s just a cheese sandwich?

Both sandwiches had been lightly toasted on one side, but not enough to particularly melt the cheese. The bottom one was partially melted, but the cheese in the top bun was fully cold.

This means that you’re getting double the bread for no reason. It’s a lot of bread! And because it was mostly untoasted and fully unbuttered (and slightly stale), it’s all very, very dry. Between the mega-dose of bread and the not-especially-juicy burger patty, it was legitimately hard to eat. It was like the Wendy’s version of the saltine challenge. If my bites were too big, my mouth dried out. I was reaching for my drink between every mouthful.

And I like caramelized onions, but the combo of the sweet onions and the punishing amount of mildly sweet bread meant that the burger really needed some pickles or veggies or something to break up the one-note flavour.

I really wanted to like this, but no. I’m sorry, but no. This burger seems like it should be fun, but my life is now appreciably worse for having tried it. Thanks, Wendy’s.

Tasty Eats at Shake Shack x MIMI Chinese

Published on May 17, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 10 Dundas Street East, Toronto
Website: https://shakeshack.ca/

Shake Shack is currently doing a limited-time collaboration with Mimi Chinese. It ends on May 26, so you’d better hurry if you want to check it out (and trust me, you want to check it out). They’re serving a chicken sandwich, seasoned fries, and a black sesame milkshake; all three are thoroughly delicious.

First up: the Málà Chicken sandwich (“Crispy chicken spiced with MIMI’s signature chili oil, charred scallion relish, green chili mayo, tangy pickles and lettuce”).

In Chinese cuisine, “mala” refers to a flavour that’s simultaneously spicy and numbing (thanks to Sichuan peppercorns), and yeah, this sandwich nails that. It’s not the spiciest thing you’ll ever eat, but it’s got a good kick and a noticeable tingliness from the peppercorns.

The sandwich is otherwise nice and zippy, with a great balance of flavours. It was kind of a bummer that the piece of chicken in my sandwich only filled half the bun (it was basically a hefty chicken strip), but the quality was great, with a crispy exterior and a very juicy interior (particularly impressive, given that it’s white meat).

And everything here was so tasty that even the condiment-only half of the sandwich was still satisfying.

I also tried the Shaokao Fries (“Crinkle cuts, street food–style—dusted with cumin, chili, and Sichuan peppercorn. Served with green chili mayo”).

The fries themselves were standard-issue crinkle cut fries, but that tasty seasoning really elevates them, with more of that hot/numbing flavour. And the dip is a great combo of creamy and zesty.

I wasn’t planning on getting the milkshake, but if you’re already getting the sandwich and the fries, I guess you may as well go all the way and get the shake, too. The Black Sesame Coconut Shake: “A nutty blend of black sesame and coconut inspired by traditional Chinese desserts.”

And hey, what do you know — this was pretty great, too. In particular, the pronounced black sesame flavour actually works really well in a milkshake, which was nice and creamy without being overly thick.