Mississauga – Page 7 – Michael Eats

Pickle Sandwich and Fried Pickle Chips at KFC

Published on August 27, 2025August 27, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

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

The last time I had a pickle-themed fried chicken sandwich, it was the Pickle Glaze Chicken Sandwich from Popeyes, and it was legitimately one of the worst things I’ve ever eaten. So I won’t lie: I was a bit wary to try what KFC had cooked up.

Thankfully, KFC’s version of the pickle / fried chicken sandwich was actually pretty tasty. Which is a good thing, because they’re really going all in with the pickle-themed menu: they’re also serving Fried Pickle Chips (which I tried), Pickle Pepsi (???), and Loaded Pickle Fries.

The Pickle Sandwich, as per KFC’s menu: “KFC’s Pickle Sandwich is made for true pickle lovers—because there’s no such thing as too many pickles. Featuring our crispy, hand-breaded chicken, it’s topped with crunchy dill pickle chips, sweet bread and butter pickles, creamy mayo, and bold dill pickle seasoning—all on a toasted potato bun.”

It’s good! Maybe it was my rock-bottom expectations, but I liked everything about this. The pickle flavour is pronounced but not overwhelming, with a nice balance between the actual pickles, the crunchy fried pickles, and the punchy pickle seasoning. It seems like it should be too much pickle, but the pickle-explosion flavour contrasts well with the creamy mayo and the fried chicken (thankfully, I got lucky and got a piece of chicken that was hot and fresh).

I also tried the Fried Pickle Chips: “Made for serious pickle fans, crunchy & tangy Fried Pickle Chips topped with dill pickle seasoning and paired with dipping sauce.” I’m a fan of fried pickles in general, and this was a good version of the dish. Sometimes fried pickles come in spears, and that is incorrect — with the slices that they’re serving here, you get a much better ratio of crispy fried exterior to pickle interior.

It comes with a little tub of ranch for dipping, which seems like a missed opportunity for yet another pickle-themed component — but maybe that would officially tip over into too much pickle? Either way, the creamy ranch works quite well with the enjoyably crunchy, somewhat sweet fried pickle slices.

Tasty Kuwaiti Food at Walima

Published on August 4, 2025August 4, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1185 Dundas Street East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/walimarestaurants/

I’ll sometimes browse Google Maps when I’m looking for new restaurants to check out; generally speaking, the ratings tend to hover between 4 and 4.5 out of 5. Walima, on the other hand, is sitting at a cool 4.7 with over 1800 reviews as I write this. I’m assuming the restaurant has encouraged their customers to submit 5-star reviews, but still, I felt like I had to check the place out.

They serve Kuwaiti cuisine, and the majority of the menu consists of lamb, fish, or chicken served on rice. I went with the maqlooba, which comes with your choice of lamb or chicken (I went with lamb). It seems a bit pricey at 27 bucks — until you realize that this is a shareable platter rather than a dish for one (it can easily feed two or three).

Yeah, okay — I get the rating. It’s a tasty dish. It’s maybe a bit on the oily side (I think the rice is cooked with the fatty lamb, and it’s absolutely suffused with grease), but it tastes quite good, and the pieces of lamb are melt-in-your-mouth tender.

The dish also features fried onions and creamy chunks of eggplant, which both complement the lamb quite well. It comes with a couple of hot sauces on the side — a red chili oil, and a green chili sauce. They both do a nice job of kicking up the rice and meat.

There’s also a little bowl of tomato soup on the side. I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be eaten separately or with the rice; I ate it with the rice, and I’m still not sure if that was the intended way to eat this, but it was tasty regardless.

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.

Pickle Glaze Chicken Sandwich from Popeyes

Published on May 1, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 7080 Saint Barbara Boulevard, Mississauga
Website: https://www.popeyeschicken.ca/

I’m not sure how many fast food burgers and/or sandwiches I’ve eaten in my lifetime, but it’s a lot. Hundreds? Thousands?? Okay, probably not thousands, but the number is in the upper hundreds, certainly.

All that is to say that it means something when I make this statement: the Pickle Glaze Chicken Sandwich from Popeyes might be the worst fast food sandwich I’ve ever had.

Here’s how Popeyes describes it: “Our classic chicken breast fillet in a tangy, sweet dill pickle glaze with Louisiana herbs and seasonings, hand-battered and fried to golden brown perfection topped with barrel cured pickle slices.”

It was clear something was amiss as soon as I opened the bag; the smell of dill was immediate and overpowering.

I’m going to be generous and assume that something went wrong with the pickle glaze in my sandwich, because I cannot imagine that anyone would think what I was served should be fed to human beings. It must have been a mistake. I need to believe it was a mistake. But hey, I was served what I was served. Obviously I’m going to write about it. I need my sacrifice to mean something.

The flavour was acrid and off-putting. It tasted like someone in a lab took the flavour of dill, did a mediocre job of replicating it, and then multiplied it by a million.

It tasted like they took the amount of concentrated dill flavouring meant for a hundred sandwiches and dumped it into one.

It tasted like something that isn’t meant for consumption, like trying to swig a bottle of perfume. Every time I took a bite, I was like “I don’t want to be eating this! I should stop!” But I was on my lunch break from work and didn’t have any other food, and what was I going to do, throw it out and buy a second lunch?? What do I look like, Jeff Bezos???

The sad part is that the rest of the sandwich was actually pretty good. The bun was nice and fresh, and the chicken featured a satisfying balance between the crunchy exterior and the relatively juicy meat within. I had another fried chicken sandwich from Popeyes pretty recently, and this one was much better.

That flavour, though. It’ll haunt my dreams.

Tasty Noodle Soup at Tokasu Ramen Laksa Bar

Published on April 6, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 755 Queensway East, Mississauga
Website: https://tokasuramen.com/

Tokasu specializes in ramen and laksa, which strikes me as a bit of an odd combo. I mean, I guess they are both noodle soups, but the resemblance kinda ends there. Still, they’re both delightful, so why not?

I ordered the laksa, since it’s quite a bit harder to find in the GTA. They actually have six different varieties of the dish; I went with the chicken white santan laksa, which they describe as their “signature laksa bowl featuring a fragrant coconut chicken broth, shredded chicken, tofu puffs, bean sprouts, and noodles.”

It’s quite good. The broth doesn’t quite have the complexity of the best versions of the dish, but it’s nice and creamy, with a zingy tanginess that helps to cut through its richness.

The noodles were a bit on the soft side, but the chicken (which comes sliced rather than shredded) is nice and tender and the tofu puffs do a great job of soaking up the broth.

It might not be the best I’ve ever had, but it’s a solid bowl of laksa. I’ll definitely have to come back to try the ramen.