fast food – Page 7 – Michael Eats

Big Arch at McDonald’s

Published on August 27, 2024 by Michael Nusair5 Comments

Location: 1001 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

The Big Arch is kind of a big deal for McDonald’s. They’re making a pretty big deal about it, at least, and apparently it’s going to be rolling out internationally soon, though right now it’s limited to a few countries.

The idea was to make a bigger, “more satiating” burger, and they’ve certainly succeeded on the size front. It’s a big boy, that’s for sure. Just looking at it, it’s substantially heftier than your typical McDonald’s fare.

(For comparison’s sake, the Big Arch is 1065 calories, the Big Mac is 570, and the Quarter Pounder with Cheese is 530.)

The Big Arch, per the McDonald’s website: “Two quarter pound 100% Canadian beef patties, layered with three slices of white processed cheese, and topped with crispy onions, slivered onions, pickles, lettuce and delicious Big Arch sauce, served on a toasted sesame and poppy seed bun.”

I should note that I got lucky. My burger was well assembled, and the patties were fresh and a little bit juicy (a juicy burger? At McDonald’s??). As always at a fast food joint, your mileage may vary. But I really enjoyed this thing.

The element that stands out the most is the Big Arch sauce. It’s similar to Big Mac sauce, but like five or six times zestier. It’s got an almost citrusy brightness to it that actually does a pretty great job of cutting through the richness of the patties and the cheese. It’s quite tasty, which is a good thing because this is a saucy burger; they put two napkins in my bag and that was just barely enough.

Everything else works quite well. I’m normally not a fan of raw onions, but here there’s so much stuff going on that you can barely taste them. They mostly just add crunch (and the crunchiness from the fresh onions and crispiness from the fried ones are a nice combo).

I liked this way more than I thought I would. It McDonald’s-y in all the best ways. I guess the idea is that this will become a permanent part of the menu, and I hope that’s the case. It feels like it could happily live alongside McDonald’s classics like the Big Mac and the Quarter Pounder.

KD Mac & Cheese Chicken Sandwich from KFC

Published on August 21, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3517 Dundas Street West, York
Website: https://www.kfc.ca/

I’ve gotta give it to KFC: they know exactly what I want out of a fast food joint. If they keep pumping out carnival-style food, I’m gonna keep trying it.

I think the massive success of the Double Down might have broken something in the brains of all the KFC executives, because they’re clearly still chasing that high (the Festive Chicken Sandwich, the Gravy Lovers Sandwich, etc.), and I’m very happy to be along for the ride.

As per the KFC website, “the KD® Mac & Cheese Chicken Sandwich features our signature Chicken fillet, topped with KD macaroni noodles and creamy KD cheese sauce brought together to deliver on the ultimate Cheesy experience!”

It’s actually not bad, though calling it “the ultimate cheesy experience” might be a bit of a stretch. I don’t know if Kraft Dinner is way more bland than I remembered or if they just didn’t put enough sauce in this particular batch, but it mostly just tasted like plain macaroni (despite having that distinctive orange glow). I think there might have been a tiny bit of the “creamy KD cheese sauce” on top, but not enough to make much of a difference.

Still, I got lucky and got a reasonably hot and fresh piece of chicken, so just as a normal sandwich, it was tasty; the chicken was reasonably juicy, with a nicely crunchy exterior. The mac and cheese mostly just added some creaminess and — if you really concentrate — the vaguest patina of cheesy flavour. So no, it doesn’t add a whole lot, but it doesn’t detract, either.

Firecracker McCrispy at McDonald’s

Published on July 27, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1001 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

I wasn’t a particularly big fan of the regular McCrispy, which I thought was fine, but way too plain to be particularly worth thinking about. But a spicy version? Yeah, now you’re talking.

The McDonald’s website describes this as “a crispy chicken sandwich topped with a creamy sweet and spicy sauce and crispy jalapenos. Made with tender and juicy 100% Canadian-raised seasoned chicken and served on a soft potato bun.”

You can get it with or without bacon; the signage outside of the store advertised the bacon version, so that’s what I got.

It’s pretty decent. It’s a big upgrade over the standard McCrispy, that’s for sure. The sweet and spicy sauce is, as advertised, very sweet and a little bit spicy. It’s borderline too sweet, but with all the other stuff, it works.

The crispy jalapenos add some extra crispiness and a tiny bit more heat, and the patty itself is what it is. It’s fine.

The bacon is probably unnecessary, though. Something a bit thicker likely would have enhanced things, but the bacon here was so thin that it kinda got lost among the other components of the sandwich.

Chinese Fast Food at Bingz Crispy Burger

Published on June 28, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3401 Dufferin Street, North York (inside Yorkdale Mall)
Website: https://www.bingzcanada.com/

Bingz is a Chinese chain that sells a variety of sandwiches made with a crispy, flaky bun, along with a handful of side dishes.

I went with the signature pork, and it’s delightfully simple — it’s just braised pork shoulder on a bun. That’s it. Want any condiments? Go somewhere else!

It’s quite good. It’s very no-frills, but the pork is meaty, flavourful, and super tender. The crispy bun is a good mix of flaky/crispy and chewy, and suits the pork perfectly.

(Also, this probably goes without saying, but this thing is absolutely not a burger in any appreciable way, making the name a bit of a head-scratcher.)

And it’s only six bucks, which is actually a pretty great deal; they manage to cram a decent amount of meat into that thing. For something from a food court in a mall, it’s way better than it needs to be.

Creamy Parmesan & Bacon Quarter Pounder at McDonald’s

Published on June 2, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1001 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

Why aren’t these limited-time-only burgers at McDonald’s ever a Big Mac? Why are they always Quarter Pounders? A Big Mac with some kind of different sauce in it? I’d try it!

Alas, here’s another Quarter Pounder, though I quite enjoyed this one, so I guess I shouldn’t complain.

The Creamy Parmesan & Bacon Quarter Pounder: “A quarter pound of 100% Canadian beef topped with a creamy parmesan and black pepper sauce, hickory-smoked bacon, crispy onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard and 2 slices of processed cheddar cheese served on a toasted sesame seed bun.”

I’ll admit that I got quite lucky with this one; a burger that’s hot, fresh, and well-assembled at a fast food joint is far from a sure thing, but that’s what I ended up with. A burger at McDonald’s can be juicy, apparently! Who knew?

The main thing that makes this stand out is the creamy parmesan and black pepper sauce, which is actually pretty tasty. It’s quite ranch-esque, but it does have a bit of a parmesan flavour (pepper, on the other hand, I didn’t particularly notice). Put this on a Big Mac, please.

Otherwise, crispy onions and bacon are always welcome on a burger, and everything else is standard Quarter Pounder stuff. It’s a solid fast food hamburger.