fried – Michael Eats

Flamin’ Hot Chicken Sandwich from KFC

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

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

For the last few years, it feels like KFC has been asking themselves “would this item be out of place in a carnival?” whenever they come out with a new menu item.

In case it’s not clear, I am 100% on board with this philosophy. All fast food should be an affront to good taste. If it isn’t, what’s the point??

And yes, good taste has been affronted. The Flamin’ Hot Chicken Sandwich, as per KFC’s website: “Craving some heat? The Flamin’ Hot Chicken Sandwich features KFC’s juicy, crunchy, signature triple-breaded chicken fillet turned up with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos heat. Coated in bold Flamin’ Hot seasoning, drizzled with spicy Flamin’ Hot sauce, and topped with crunchy Flamin’ Hot Cheetos for an extra fiery kick in every bite – all served on a soft potato bun.”

This is exactly what you want it to be: stupid, but tasty. The sauce is pleasantly zingy with a mild cheesy tang, and the Cheetos (which are generously applied) add an extra dose of crunchiness to a sandwich that’s already quite crunchy. It’s good.

It’s not particularly spicy, which is a shame from something with “Flamin’ Hot” in its name, but it does have a mild kick.

As with everything from KFC, the quality of the sandwich depends quite a bit on whether the chicken was freshly fried, and in my case, it was hot and fresh.

I also tried the Flamin’ Hot Fries: “The Flamin’ Hot Fries feature our crispy golden fries turned up with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos heat. Tossed in bold Flamin’ Hot seasoning for a fiery, crave-worthy bite every time.”

I won’t lie: these were terrible. I got lucky with a fresh piece of chicken, and very unlucky with these fries, which tasted like they had been sitting out for several hours. They were also so lightly seasoned that if I had eaten these blind, I don’t think I would have guessed that they were supposed to be Flamin’ Hot.

(Or maybe my palate was just blown out by the sandwich — it’s not exactly subtle, that’s for sure.)

And of course, I got an order of the Flamin’ Hot dip: “Turn the heat wayyyyy up with our Flamin’ Hot dip. A creamy, spicy dip packed with the bold heat of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Perfect for dunking fries, chicken, or anything that could use a little extra flame.”

This was the exact same sauce that’s on the sandwich, and I’ll admit that it works better as a condiment on a sandwich than as a dip for fries.

It’s weirdly thick, and its one-note zesty flavour gets tiresome when you don’t have a whole bunch of chicken and bread to mellow it out (though the fact that the fries were borderline inedible certainly didn’t help this dip’s case).

They also have a Cheetos Dirty Soda as part of this promotion, but it’s just a normal orange soda with Cheetos on top, so I skipped it. Give me a Cheetos-flavoured soda, you cowards.

I should note that all this stuff is currently supposed to be exclusive to the KFC app until August 31, though I was able to order it on the website without downloading anything. You definitely can’t order it in person for now, however (at least not at the KFC I visited, which didn’t even have any signage up for the promotion).

Olive Garden Probably isn’t as Good as you Remember

Published on July 19, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1 Bass Pro Mills Drive, Vaughan (inside Vaughan Mills)
Website: https://www.olivegarden.ca/

Olive Garden left Ontario well over twenty years ago, and clearly there’s a lot of nostalgia for the place; they opened recently at Vaughan Mills, and the waits are reportedly up to two hours long.

Note: I am not immune to this nostalgia. I certainly remembered liking Olive Garden back in the day, and I was pretty excited for its return. I showed up on a Saturday just after they opened at 11:00am, and even at that hour, there was about a twenty minute wait for a table.

The menu consists mostly of a variety of pastas. I went with the Tour of Italy: “Three OG classics all on one plate! Chicken Parmigiana, Lasagna Classico and our signature Fettuccine Alfredo; all with homemade sauces made fresh every morning.” Go big or go home, right?

Famously, all of their entrees come with an unlimited serving of soup or salad and breadsticks. My dining companion and I both went with the salad, and they brought a giant bowl that you can serve yourself from.

The salad is a pretty standard iceberg / cabbage / carrot mix topped with onions, a few tomato slices, a bunch of croutons, and, if you want, freshly grated cheese. The dressing is something along the lines of Kraft Italian. It’s exactly what you think it’s going to be. It’s pleasant.

The breadsticks are extremely Wonder-Bread-esque, but they’re served warm and taste fresh; they’re pleasantly greasy and mildly garlicky. In retrospect, these were the highlight of the meal.

As for the entree, all three items were about on par with something you can get in the freezer section of the supermarket for a couple of bucks. Very Michelina-coded, as the kids might say.

The chicken parmigiana was nice and crunchy at least, even if it was so overcooked that when I struggled to cut into one of the edges, I assumed I had hit a bone (it’s boneless).

The fettuccini alfredo was just blandly rich, though if you combine it with the intensely salty chicken parmigiana, they kinda cancel each other out.

The lasagna was maybe the most Michelina of the bunch, with a mushy texture and a deluge of middling sauce that tasted extremely jarred.

I should note that I’m coming off quite negative here, but I didn’t hate it, I guess? I mean, I finished the plate, so clearly it wasn’t too offensive. If this had been like twenty bucks (max), I wouldn’t have been mad about it. But $31.29 (!) is an upsetting amount to pay for this caliber of food. Yes, I ordered the dish that comes with multiple items, but all the pastas here range from the mid 20s to early 30s.

If all you’re after is quantity over quality, you’ll get much better bang for your buck at a buffet (RIP Frankie Tomatto’s — forever in my heart).

A Delicious (and Gigantic) Meal at Brown Donkatsu

Published on July 3, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 487 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://browndonkatsu.ca/

Brown Donkatsu serves the Korean version of tonkatsu, which is quite similar, but with a sweeter sauce.

Before checking this place out, I had read a few references to how big the portions are, so I was expecting a hefty meal. I was unprepared.

Wow, it’s a lot of food. I got the combo katsu, which comes with half brown katsu sauce, and half cream sauce. You can choose from chicken or pork; I went with pork.

Every order comes with two fried cutlets, and I’m not sure if you can get a sense of the scale from the photo, but they’re surprisingly massive. One of these would be enough for any reasonable person. Two is… a lot.

I think the reasonable thing to do is to eat one and take the other to go. The problem here is that they’re very, very good. So once I started eating, I couldn’t stop. The crispy exterior is substantial enough to give you a very hearty crunch, but light enough that it doesn’t overwhelm the pork. And the pork is nice and tender. It’s seriously tasty.

I finished it, but I didn’t feel good about it, that’s for sure. It’s the type of meal where you feel like you have to go lie down to recover.

I will say that I’ll probably just stick with the brown sauce if I ever find myself back here. It complements the meaty pork quite well, with a nice sweetness that helps round things out (it’s also quite different from the curry or tonkatsu sauce that you might expect). The ultra-rich cream sauce, on the other hand, is a bit one-note heavy. I certainly didn’t dislike eating it, but a little of it goes a long way. I would have liked about 90% brown sauce, and 10% cream sauce for a little bit of extra richness.

As for the other stuff on the plate, the sweet, creamy dressing on the cabbage is nice, and the corn and rice are corn and rice.

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.

An Amazing Fried Chicken Sandwich at DownLow Chicken

Published on June 2, 2026June 2, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 538 Manning Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.dlchicken.com/

DownLow Chicken is a Vancouver fried chicken chain (well, maybe “chain” is overstating it — they have three locations there, and now, one here) that specializes in Nashville hot chicken.

They’ve only been open in Toronto for a few months, but just based on this visit? Strong contender for the best fried chicken sandwich in the city. Absolutely stellar.

They have a variety of tenders and chicken pieces on the menu, but the specialty seems to be the sandwiches. I went with the OG: “Nashville Dusted Chicken, Pickled onions, Cole slaw, Pickles, DL Sauce.”

You can pick from seven spice levels; I went with hot, which is right in the middle. They also asked if I wanted dark meat or white, which I don’t think I’ve ever been asked when ordering a fried chicken sandwich. I went with dark.

Wow, it’s good. It actually reminds me a lot of how Chica’s Chicken was a few years ago, before the quality went downhill.

Every element here is on point: it’s got a perfect level of exterior crunch, the meat is super juicy, it’s perfectly seasoned, the ultra-fluffy and slightly sweet bun has just enough heft to stand up to the substantial sandwich, and the toppings are all great.

There’s a great balance between the zippy slaw, the sweet pickles, and the creamy sauce. And the Nashville spices are right where you want them to be (though “hot” is a bit mild for me — it’s still got a decent amount of heat, but I’ll probably go one or two notches higher next time).

And I can’t say enough about how perfect the chicken itself is — it’s just so tender, juicy, and satisfying.

I also got an order of the slaw, and it has a nice vinegary bite and is pleasant enough, but it’s not on the level of the chicken. That sandwich, though.