fried chicken sandwich – Page 7

Satisfying Fried Chicken at Burger Legend

Published on March 18, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1086 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke
Website: https://burgerlegend.ca/

Burger Legend recently opened a new location in Etobicoke; I tried the burger at their original Streetsville location a few years ago, and thought it was pretty solid.

I had the fried chicken sandwich this time, which they serve in various styles (Buffalo, Nashville, Cajun, etc.). I ordered the Nashville hot chicken, and it was pretty tasty.

It’s very hard to go wrong with a crispy, freshly-fried piece of fried chicken, and yeah, it was quite good. The white meat was a bit on the dry side and the chicken itself was underseasoned, but it was otherwise a solid fried chicken sandwich.

It is, as you’d hope from Nashville hot chicken, pretty spicy. It’s not going to blow your face off, but the spice level is noticeable. It’s topped with coleslaw and something they call “Bawss sauce,” and both are quite tasty and complement the chicken well. They also do a pretty good job of bringing the chicken some much-needed flavour.

The nicely toasted bun is soft, fresh, and holds up nicely to the substantial piece of chicken. It’s not a sandwich that’s going to rock anyone’s world, but it’s thoroughly tasty.

Unique Fried Chicken at Rick’s Good Eats

Published on December 23, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 6660 Kennedy Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.ricksgoodeats.ca/

Tucked away in an industrial area of Mississauga, Rick’s Good Eats is a delightful hidden gem serving tasty Indian fusion dishes. I had the burger there a few years ago and quite enjoyed it, and I just tried the fried chicken sandwich and liked it even better.

Rick’s Fried Chicken Sandwich, as per the menu: “Battered, double-fried Tandoori Chicken dressed with signature Ting Tang sauce, Achari Mayo, lettuce, chopped tomato and onion, pickles and cilantro.”

The woman behind the counter also asked if I wanted to add bacon, and of course I said yes. I’m not gonna say no to bacon; what am I, a maniac?

(Though as it turns out I safely could have said no to the bacon — there are so many bold flavours and textures here that the bacon is pretty much completely lost.)

It’s a phenomenal fried chicken sandwich. In particular, the idea of crossing tandoori chicken and fried chicken is actually kind of genius. The very tender chicken has a pronounced marinated tandoori flavour and an intensely satisfying exterior crunch. It’s very, very good.

Everything else is just as good, with a great contrast between the zippy Ting Tang sauce and the creamy mayo, additional crunch and freshness from the veggies, and a fluffy bun that does a good job of holding it all together. It’s easily one of the better fried chicken sandwiches I’ve had in a while.

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.

Tasty Buffalo Chicken at Harry’s Charbroiled

Published on April 20, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 293 Palmerson Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.harryscharbroiled.com/

Though Harry’s is mostly known for their cheeseburger (which I didn’t care for when Grant van Gameren first took over, though it has supposedly improved in the interim), they’ve recently added a fried chicken sandwich to the menu (because are you even a restaurant these days if you don’t serve a fried chicken sandwich?).

The sandwich, which consists of fried chicken tenders rather than one piece of chicken, comes topped with pickles and ranch, and can be optionally tossed in spicy Buffalo sauce, which is what I went with.

It’s a tasty sandwich. The fried exterior has a good amount of crispiness, and while the white meat within is a bit dry, it’s so thoroughly doused in sauce that it barely even matters. This might have literally been one of the sauciest sandwiches I’ve ever had. It was constantly dripping the entire time I ate it.

The bun (a potato bun, I think), was nice and fresh, and held up quite well to the sauce-drenched chicken.

I’m a sucker for the Buffalo/ranch combo, so yeah, I quite enjoyed it. I wish it were spicier — they call it “spicy Buffalo,” but the level of heat here is basically a mild tingle. It’s flavourful enough that this isn’t a huge deal, but I wish they’d give you the option to crank up the spice a bit.

I also tried the fries, which are outstanding. They’re thicker than the norm, which could be trouble (there’s nothing worse than a thickly-cut fry that’s chalky on the inside), but these are perfect: they’re crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

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.