Sweet Chili Junior Chicken at McDonald’s

Sweet Chili Junior Chicken at McDonald's
Location
1001 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke 
Websitehttps://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

The Sweet Chili Junior Chicken is probably the least interesting of the three sandwiches on McDonald’s new Remix Menu, but I’ve tried the other two, so sure — why not?

Sweet Chili Junior Chicken at McDonald's

McDonald’s describes this thing by saying “your tastebuds will be singing a whole new tune with a remixed Sweet Chili Junior Chicken made with Canadian-raised crispy seasoned chicken, topped with crunchy shredded lettuce, tangy sweet chili sauce and mayo-style sauce, all on a toasty bun.”

Spoiler alert: this did not make my tastebuds sing.

Sweet Chili Junior Chicken at McDonald's

The problem is the sweet chili sauce.  I really wish it were more chili, less sweet.  It’s sweet. Like, dessert sweet.  A sauce that sweet basically works as a dip for McNuggets, because you can control how much (or how little) you get in each mouthful.  Here, where it’s just globbed into the sandwich, it’s too much.  It’s overpowering.

Unless you really love that sauce, there’s zero reason to get this over a standard Junior Chicken.

Chicken Cheeseburger at McDonald’s

Chicken Cheeseburger at McDonald's
Location
1001 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke 
Websitehttps://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

I recently wrote about the Surf ‘N Turf Burger, which features a double cheeseburger and a Filet-o-Fish patty crammed into one thing.  It’s part of McDonald’s new Remix Menu, which is all about cramming things together to see what happens.

Chicken Cheeseburger at McDonald's

The Chicken Cheeseburger is basically a Junior Chicken and a cheeseburger crammed together.  McDonald’s describes it as “a combo of two classics featuring a crispy chicken patty made with Canadian-raised seasoned chicken and a juicy 100% Canadian beef patty, all topped with a slice of melty processed cheddar cheese, a tangy pickle, onions, ketchup and mustard on a toasty bun.”

Chicken Cheeseburger at McDonald's

Like the Surf ‘N Turf Burger, it’s fine.  It’s more of a fun novelty than something you’d likely want to go back for, but it’s okay.

The combo of fish and beef in the Surf ‘N Turf Burger was vaguely off-putting, so I guess this one is a bit better in that there’s nothing befuddling about it.  The slight crispiness and peppery flavour of the chicken patty complements the cheeseburger reasonably well.  But the beef and the chicken both want to be the star  — they can’t decide who should be a supporting player, so the whole thing feels a bit neither here nor there.

Surf ‘N Turf Burger at McDonald’s

Surf 'N Turf Burger at McDonald's
Location
: 1001 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke 
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

McDonald’s recently introduced a “Remix Menu,” featuring a few fun combinations of regular menu items.  Yes, this is all technically stuff you could have been ordering all along, but that would require either:

  • Ordering two separate items and then winding up with a bunch of extra bread, or
  • Trying to explain an unnecessarily complicated custom order to an overworked cashier who has no time for — or interest in — your nonsense.

I didn’t particularly want to do either of those things, so this promo is actually kind of exciting to me.

Surf 'N Turf Burger at McDonald's

The new menu consists of a burger/chicken combo, a Junior Chicken with a sweet chili sauce, an apple pie McFlurry, and the one I tried: the Surf ‘N Turf burger, which features all the stuff you’d normally find on a McDonald’s cheeseburger (cheese, ketchup, mustard, pickles, and little onions) with a Filet-O-Fish patty crammed in.

Surf 'N Turf Burger at McDonald's

It’s… fine?  It’s not offensive to eat, but it turns out there’s a reason the cheeseburger / fried fish combo isn’t a thing.  The two items don’t particularly complement each other.

McDonald’s beef isn’t super flavourful, so most of the taste here comes from the Filet-O-Fish patty.  But the texture of the burger is much more prominent.  So you’re basically eating a sandwich with a beef texture and a fish flavour.  It’s weird.  And again, it’s not gross, but I can’t see a scenario in which I’d ever want to order this again.