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

McExtreme Pulled Pork at McDonald's (World Menu Heist)
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.

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

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.”

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

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.

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

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.

Solid Tacos at Contigo Taco Bar

Contigo Taco Bar
Location
: 6465 Millcreek Drive, Mississauga
Website: https://contigos.ca/

I wanted to check out Contigo Taco Bar after reading about it in Toronto Life, and yeah, it’s good.  Do you need to stop what you’re doing and check it out immediately?  Probably not, but it’s a solid taco joint.

I tried a few things.  First up were a couple of tacos: chorizo, and BBQ pulled pork.

Contigo Taco Bar

These might have been the messiest tacos I’ve ever eaten; the tortillas (flour, if I’m remembering right?) are a bit on the small side, and they absolutely load them up.  They definitely do their best to give you your money’s worth, that’s for sure.

Contigo Taco Bar

I liked both, but the pulled pork, which featured a generous amount of tender pork shoulder doused in a pleasantly zesty BBQ sauce, was my favourite of the two.

Contigo Taco Bar

The aforementioned Toronto Life article specifically mentioned the fries supreme, so I got an order of that as well.  This featured a very generous amount of melted cheese, cheese sauce, sour cream, and a whole bunch of veggies on top of a bunch of relatively well-prepared frozen fries.  It’s not gourmet, but it hits the spot.

Solid Ramen at Men-ya Inoichi Ramen

Men-ya Inoichi Ramen
Location
: 1177 Central Parkway West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/menyainoichi/

Not every restaurant has to serve the best version of a dish that you’ve ever had; sometimes,
“pretty good” is good enough.

Enter: Men-ya Inoichi Ramen in Mississauga, which isn’t going to knock anyone’s socks off, but which serves some pretty good ramen.

Men-ya Inoichi Ramen

They have a few other Japanese dishes on the menu, like omurice and katsu, but the ramen is their specialty.  I ordered the Original King Butao ramen (“Bone Broth Flavor. Includes: Soft Boiled Egg, Agaric, Sweet and Sour Radish, Green Onion, Salad”), which comes with either a tonkotsu (pork) or chicken soup base.  I went with tonkotsu.

Men-ya Inoichi Ramen

Nothing in the bowl particularly stands out, but it’s all thoroughly tasty, with a rich, savoury broth and some very pleasantly chewy noodles.

Men-ya Inoichi Ramen

The fact that it’s in Mississauga helps; the ramen explosion that happened in the GTA over the last decade or so left Mississauga mostly untouched, so if you’re looking for a better bowl of ramen, it’s going to be a bit of  drive.

Quick Bites: Bear Steak Sandwiches, Pizza Cantina, Pizza Karachi

Original Steak Sandwich from Bear Steak Sandwiches
Original Steak Sandwich from Bear Steak Sandwiches

I’m a big fan of Bear Steak Sandwiches, though I’ll admit that a recent experience there was a bit unfortunate.  I ordered the special, which was a steak on rye sandwich, and… it was basically inedible.  The rye bread it was served on was so stale and dry that it crumbled into bits the second I picked it up.  I took a couple of bites, and then brought it back for a refund, which is something I basically never do.  Not great!  On the plus side, they seemed to know it was an issue and immediately offered to replace it with an original steak sandwich, which they assured I’d like much better.  And they were correct — I’ve previously raved about this sandwich, and yeah, it’s still stellar.  A bit too greasy, but otherwise the combo of the ultra-tender steak and zippy chimichurri (and non-stale bread!) is a big winner.

Diavola Stinger from Pizza Cantina
Diavola Stinger from Pizza Cantina

Pizza Cantina, a pizza joint in the Junction, seems to be pretty well regarded, so I was excited to try it.  I went with the Diavola Stinger (“San Marzano tomato sauce, hot soppressata, mozzarella & hot honey drizzle”), and it was tasty enough.  Certainly, I didn’t dislike eating it.  The crust was odd, however.  I don’t know if it was supposed to be like that or if something went wrong, but it was extremely stiff and cracker-like, with the ends being full-out crunchy with no softness or chew.  It was a bit too much for me, but if you like a crunchy pizza, it was otherwise pretty solid.  My only other complaint is that I found the hot honey to be a bit too aggressively applied — but then I find honey on a pizza to work best in small doses.  Others may disagree.

Pizza from Pizza Karachi
Pizza from Pizza Karachi

As you’d gather from the name, Pizza Karachi serves pizza with a Pakistani flair.  I tried a couple of pizzas (the Mirchi Sauga and… another one whose name is currently escaping me), and both were solid.  They were pan pizzas (somewhat Pizza Hut-esque), and while the vaguely gummy crust was nothing to write home about, the vibrant Pakastani flavours actually worked pretty well.

Tasty Pastries at Barburu

Barburu
Location
: 1000 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/barburu_bakery/

Barburu is a delightful little bakery and coffee shop in Yuan Ming Supermarket’s food court.  They mostly specialize in various filled croissants, though they have a few other types of pastries as well.

Barburu

I went with the pistachio croissant, and it was quite satisfying.  In particular, it’s got a very generous amount of pistachio filling that has a tasty pistachio flavour.

I know it seems odd to complement pistachio filling for tasting like pistachio, but the pistachio flavour just isn’t quite there in a lot of croissants like this.  This one definitely doesn’t have that problem.

Barburu

There’s also a sweet, creamy pistachio spread on top of the pistachio filling, which is a nice touch.

Barburu

My only real issue here is that the layer of croissant surrounding the filling is quite thin.  It’s got a nice crispy exterior and the whole thing is certainly very satisfying, but I would have liked a bit more croissant and a bit less filling.  The ratio is off.  It’s tasty enough that I’m not going to complain too much, but it’s still a shame.