McDonald’s Miami Special

Review of McDonald’s Miami Special – Great Tastes of America

Website: http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome.html

What they say:

Inspired by the land of sunny beaches, palm trees and roller blades, we proudly present our 100% beef patty with Sunblush tomato sauce, bacon, two slices of cheese, shredded lettuce, onions and cool mayo, in an oval sesame seed bun. Welcome to Miami!

Price: £3.99 for the burger only (subject to variation).

Calories: 722 kcal.

WORLD EXCLUSIVE TO BURGER LAD®

Here we are with an exclusive, first look review of the new burger coming to McDonald’s from Wednesday 29th April.

Of course, the majority of the UK McDonald’s customers will be completely unaware of the Great Tastes of America promotion about to launch.

Instead they continue to bitch and moan about a lack of Monopoly stickers cause they won’t win any free grub. They’ll only know of Great Tastes when the full force of the McDonald’s advertising juggernaut smacks them in the face with it.

McDonald's Miami Special
Another Burger Lad exclusive…

Obviously the smart McDonald’s fans (like you who are reading this now) can read all about the full line-up here including the exciting news of the McShaker Fries coming to the UK!!

Despite trying all six of the 2015 range today we’ll be reviewing the burger available for week one – the Miami Special.

This is the highest calorie burger in the new promotion weighing in at 722 calories and is what can be described as a ‘safe-play’ release from the Golden Arches.

In essence, this is a bacon cheeseburger with salad… I can hear the groans and yawns now. Don’t be too quick to judge though. After all I am one of their biggest critics when it comes to churning out the same ingredients and re-packaging them under a different guise.

McDonald's Miami Special
First look at the Miami Special…

Now a quick Google Search on “Miami Cuisine” didn’t return any obvious choices, in fact it seems its culinary offer is strongly influenced by countries such as Cuba.

So could McDonald’s have released a Cuban Sandwich style burger?

Possibly, featuring a cold cut like ham or salami with Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard. You can imagine it… it’s not something the majority of the McDonald’s marauders would go with is it!? I can see the tweets now…

Instead I can see people really enjoying the Miami Special… in fact, I will prepare myself for the onslaught of Tweets proclaiming it to be the best thing ever from McDonald’s alongside the obligatory OK emoji.

And to be honest with you it is a pretty enjoyable burger, albeit nothing new or exciting apart from the star of the show on this build – the Sunblush tomato sauce.

McDonald's Miami Special
Great Tastes of America Miami Special…

Long-time readers/fans/sufferers of Burger Lad® will know that ketchup is never going to be one of my favourite condiments but the Sunblush tomato sauce they use here is actually very good.

Not sure that it makes me think of beaches and palm trees but it genuinely has a fresh and fruity flavour to it and is the best part of this burger.

The build is dominated by a plethora of fresh lettuce and white onions – these bring a pleasant crunchy texture to the burger which is offset by the meatiness of the burger and bacon and softness of the cheese.

It ticks absolutely every single box in terms of the textural requirements demanded by from the people at the top.

I actually really enjoyed the strong taste of the white onions that punch through the Sunblush tomato. It works well… it’s a classic combination and a good, entry-level burger for week one.

Those people looking for something different from McDonald’s should head straight to the Hot & Spicy Buffalo BBQ Chicken instead. Despite already sampling it we’ll be giving it the full BL® analysis when it is released Wednesday.

McDonald's Miami Special
Good sauce…

The Miami Special we had today was a tidy build but that’s expected when eating at Head Office (again). You might think that having that privilege makes for a biased review but this is my absolute honest opinion and I know the guys at McDonald’s would prefer that too.

The Miami Special is a safe bet build. You’ve got the blend of sauces with the classic beef, bacon and cheese combination alongside the fresh and crunchy texture.

Did it make me want to cruise along listening to the Hotline Miami 2 soundtrack in a Ferrari Daytona Spyder wearing a Sonny Crockett suit? Well no it didn’t… but despite staring the prospect of eating FIVE more burgers in the face I actually ate the whole thing.

McDonald's Miami Special
Cool mayo is on the crown…

We filmed our latest episode of BLTV which you can see below. Don’t worry we’ll be back through the drive-thru from Wednesday!

In the meantime, here’s one last look at the new Great Tastes of America Miami Special – nothing really new or exciting from McDonald’s and a tenuous link to Miami at best but that sauce is worth a special mention again. It’s actually very good and much better than the sweet standard ketchup they usually use.

McDonald's Miami Special
Week one promotion…

The Miami Special is on-sale from Wednesday 29th April until Tuesday 6th May.

The promotion runs for six weeks in total so don’t be too surprised if this burger returns for the final week.

Oh and to reiterate, our prays have been answered with the “great” news that McShaker Fries will be running alongside all the burgers – they are coming to the UK in the form of Smoky BBQ flavouring and they are excellent!!

My only hope is that they are popular and return with different variations in the future.

We’ll be back on Wednesday to review the Hot & Spicy Buffalo BBQ Chicken and believe me it is spicy…

Burger Lad®