World Taste Tour – Michael Eats

Mexican Bacon Queso More-Ning McWrap at McDonald’s

Published on July 20, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 85 Ellesmere Road, Scarborough
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.ca/

This is it — my final stop on the McDonald’s World Taste Tour. It’s been fun? I guess?

Well, the McFlurry was pretty good, at least.

And the Mexican Bacon Queso More-Ning McWrap isn’t bad. It consists of bacon, scrambled eggs, lettuce, tomato, and queso sauce wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla.

The biggest surprise here is the generous serving of scrambled eggs, which are actually pretty well prepared. You kind of assume it’s going to be dry and rubbery, but shockingly enough, it’s neither of those things. They weren’t the best scrambled eggs I’ve ever had, but they were tasty.

And while the queso sauce didn’t taste particularly cheesy — it tasted more like a zesty mayo — it did a good job of brightening up the eggs and adding a very minor dose of spice.

The biggest issue here is something you (probably) won’t have to worry about. There wasn’t any bacon. I kept thinking the bacon would reveal itself in the next bite, or that it was all clustered at the end of the wrap, but it was MIA throughout. By the time I realized that the wrap was bacon-free, I was too lazy to get up and do something about it.

I’m actually impressed that I enjoyed this as much as I did, considering that one of the primary ingredients was missing (it’s right there in the name).

Aussie BBQ & Egg Burger at McDonald’s

Published on July 17, 2018 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 5310 Dixie Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.ca

Well, here it is — Australia, the last stop on McDonald’s World Taste Tour (though there’s also the Mexican breakfast wrap, which I guess I should try at some point).

McDonald’s describes the Aussie BBQ & Egg Burger as coming topped with “a fresh cracked egg, crispy beet chips, processed cheese, leaf lettuce and a smoky BBQ sauce on a brioche-style bun.”

I’m not even going to bother complaining about the burger patty itself. It’s not good — but then it’s McDonald’s, so no one should be surprised by this. I will say that I really wish they’d use the thinner patties from the regular hamburger and the Big Mac on all of their burgers. When it comes to the beef at McDonald’s, less is more.

But then no beef patty could have saved this burger — it’s easily the worst of the World Taste Tour. It’s mostly pretty good: an egg is always welcome on a burger, the beet chips and the lettuce add a satisfying crunch, and the gooey cheese helps bring it all together. But the smoky BBQ sauce (which is mayo-based, unlike a standard BBQ sauce) completely ruins it. It’s the absolute worst. It’s cloyingly, aggressively sweet, with no smokiness at all. It’s just awful.

BBQ sauce tends to be quite sweet, but with a vinegary bite to help balance things out. No such balance here; just in-your-face sweetness.

The burger kind of reminded me of the trifle Rachel made on Friends, but in reverse. It’s got a bunch of tasty burger ingredients… and a sugary-sweet sauce that would be more at home on a slice of cake or a scoop of ice cream. It’s one of those things that’s so bad, you have to wonder if anyone even tasted it before they added it to the menu.

Italian Pesto Chicken Sandwich at McDonald’s

Published on July 4, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5310 Dixie Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.ca

Next stop on the World Taste Tour: Italy, with the Italian Pesto Chicken Sandwich. This is a McChicken patty topped with a pesto aioli sauce, shaved parmesan, arugula, and tomato. It’s served on a “toasted focaccia bun sprinkled with rosemary.”

It’s actually not bad. It’s definitely a lot better than the Chinese Szechuan Burger, and probably about on the same level as the French Creme Brulee McFlurry.

Like with the Szechuan Burger, the biggest issue here is with the meat itself.

The chicken patty is what it is. It’s spongy, salty, ultra-processed, and has about as much resemblance to an actual piece of chicken as a Hyundai has to a Ferrari. They’re in the same general ballpark, but they’re really not the same thing.

It’s junk, but then anyone walking through the doors of a McDonald’s knows exactly what they’re going to get. Again: it is what it is. It’s fine.

And everything else was pretty good. The pesto aioli sauce has a surprisingly vibrant pesto flavour, and the shaved parmesan isn’t bad at all. Parmesan, pesto, and peppery arugula are a boffo combination, and McDonald’s doesn’t mess it up. The whole thing is aggressively salty, but other than that it tastes pretty good.

There wasn’t much rosemary flavour from the bun, but it was fresh, hearty, and a little bit chewy. It suited the sandwich nicely.

French Creme Brulee McFlurry at McDonald’s

Published on June 20, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 195 North Queen Street, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.ca

The world tour (via McDonald’s) continues! And after the sub-par Chinese Szechuan Burger, this one’s actually not bad.

McDonald’s attempt at French cuisine is the Creme Brulee McFlurry: vanilla soft serve with caramelized sugar bits and “Crème Brûlée sauce” mixed in.

I guess ice cream is harder to mess up than a hamburger (or I have a higher tolerance for mediocre ice cream), because I enjoyed this.

There’s no custard flavour here — the sauce and the caramelized sugar bits are both trying to replicate the crispy shell of a creme brulee rather than the entire dessert. But it’s tasty enough for what it is; the sugar retains its texture even when mixed into the ice cream, and the sauce has a surprisingly rich, almost burnt caramel flavour. The whole thing is too sweet and the ice cream isn’t the best, but it’s not bad.

Chinese Szechuan Burger at McDonald’s

Published on June 19, 2018June 19, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 195 North Queen Street, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.ca

McDonald’s has just started a “World Taste Tour,” in which they’re offering items loosely inspired by China, Australia, Italy, France, and Mexico.

I’m not gonna lie — I get more excited than I should probably admit when fast food joints (McDonald’s in particular) do silly promos like this. I can travel the world? Via McDonald’s? Sign me up!

They’re staggering them out over the next couple of months, but the first burger they’re offering is the Chinese Szechuan Burger, which is topped with Szechuan sauce (no, not the Szechuan sauce that caused Rick and Morty fans to lose their minds — a different Szechuan sauce), crispy wontons, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, and mayo.

It’s not the best. The biggest issue here is the patty itself. It’s the luck of the draw, of course; you might get a relatively fresh patty, or you might get one that’s been sitting in the meat drawer for a while. On this particular visit, I got the latter. It was super dry, even by McDonald’s not-so-great standards.

Everything else was decent. The Szechuan sauce is basically just a vaguely spicy version of a typical Asian sesame dressing — it’s sweet, with a sesame-infused flavour and a spice level that’s so mild you’ll question that it’s even there.

The crispy wontons add a nice hit of texture to the burger, and the grilled onions are actually quite tasty. The whole thing would have fine if it weren’t for that patty — but it was surprisingly substantial and dry AF.