Review of McDonald’s My Burger McPizza Pepperoni Burger
Website: http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/product_nutrition.beef.1314.mcpizza-pepperoni-burger.html
What they say:
This Italian-inspired delight from Charlotte Butcher takes a classic 100% beef patty, adding mozzarella cheese slices, a premium ketchup, pepperoni and chopped iceberg lettuce all topped off with tomato & smoked paprika sauce in a cheese-topped bun.
Price: £3.99 for the burger only (subject to variation).
Calories: 681 kcal.
Welcome to week four of the McDonald’s My Burger promotion and on the menu this week is the Italian-inspired McPizza Pepperoni Burger.
Now I must admit that this and week five are the limited time offers I have been looking forward to the most from the Golden Arches.
After the generic items of week one and week three this pretty much ticked every box in terms of my requirements and hopes for My Burger.
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| McDonald’s Promotional Picture… |
This is not the first item to be branded a “McPizza” by McDonald’s Corporation.
In the US from around the 1980’s or 70’s depending on the “sauce” you use, the big M actually sold regular style pizzas in some of their restaurants.
I’m not going to go into too much detail and you can read more about it here.
The only other burger I thought of when major chains combine pizza and patty is the calorie-laden BK Pizza Burger (which was available in the now defunct NYC Whopper Bar and Japan briefly).
This will NEVER see a release in the UK due to it being a whopping 2,500 calories. Oooft.
Back to our review… any High Street Burger we were going to sample after the amazing burgerworks was going to struggle, but any comparisons with this burger are unfair as they are on opposite ends of the review spectrum.
I’d sampled another Ultimate Supreme since our exclusive analysis last week and this time it had red onion on it.
This was a minor improvement but we are here to talk about the McPizza Pepperoni and back at our regular secret burger location I was confident we’d pay 10p more than last week and have every listed ingredient.
And I was correct…
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| First look at the McPizza Pepperoni… |
So I managed to get to the drive-thru slightly later again today but it was worth it as I had to park in one of the bays to get my order as it would be made up from scratch.
Just how I like it… But just how was this today…?
Opening the container I actually thought the bun looked quite small compared to the patty which is a common occurrence with the oval variety.
The smell coming from the McPizza Pepperoni was inviting and it looked like it had been put together with an element of care.
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| The real McPizza Pepperoni… |
We filmed our latest episode of BLTV which you can see below. You’ll have to excuse my appearance today as I’ve not been feeling 100% in the last 24 hours… but like a legend we’re still there on day one!
The first taste for me was the mozzarella which was a great addition to this burger and a welcome change from the standard offering.
It was fairly creamy and did manage to stand out ahead of some of the stronger flavours on-board. I was impressed with this and with the cheese-topped bun gave the McPizza Pepperoni that cheesy pizza element throughout. Like it.
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| A different product from McD’s… |
For me the next flavour that plays on your palate is the sauce.
It’s pretty much impossible to detect where the “premium” ketchup ends and the tomato & smoked paprika sauce begins but overall it has a sweet taste, I almost detected a basil hint to it but that might have been my senses playing a trick on me.
I liked the attempt at a pizza-style sauce and it was not too dissimilar from the bravas-style one seen on the Spanish Grande with Chorizo.
The 100% beef patty was up-to its usual standard and benefits from the sauce and cheese to help it from being classed as inoffensively dry.
What I really did love however was the two slices of pepperoni which were tucked away under the beef and this is what really delivered in terms of replicating a pizza.
Gone was the standard issue bacon and replaced with something we’ve not seen (I think) since the Arizona Nacho Grande – still one of my favourite promotional burgers!
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| Lifting the lid on week four… |
The pepperoni was cut fairly thin but did not lose any of that characteristic smoky taste.
Some people are not a fan of this but I’d definitely have the McPizza again based on this ingredient alone not including how well it works with the sauce and that mozzarella.
We’ll be sampling it again tomorrow in our taste test experiment where four people not associated with this website rank each burger – we’ll be revealing the expert statistical analysis on our final My Burger review in week five.
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| One of my favourites for 2014… |
Overall, I really liked the McPizza Pepperoni and it certainly delivers what it says on the box (or website).
My only minor grumble would be the addition of lettuce.
I know it’s there to give a slight crunch but for me lettuce and pizza is not a common association – perhaps that’s why I’ve added a few pounds in 2014.
Weighing in at nearly an eye-watering 700 calories for the burger alone, this is not one to have on a daily basis.
However, it’s certainly one of my favourite items from McDonald’s in 2014 and sets us up nicely for week five and the Big Spicy Bacon – the first McDonald’s burger in the UK to feature McDonald’s on it… I mean Jalapeños.
If you don’t know what I’m going on about just watch the video below…
Burger Lad®