McDonald’s My Burger Sweet Chilli Fiesta
Review of McDonald’s My Burger Sweet Chilli Fiesta
Website: http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/product_nutrition.beef.1312.sweet-chilli-fiesta.html
What they say:
Harry Lloyd has combined 100% beef, maple-cured bacon, cheese with peppers and shredded iceberg lettuce with red & yellow peppers topped with crispy fried onions and a habanero sweet chilli sauce. All finished with a paprika-topped bun.
Price: £3.99 for the burger only (subject to variation).
Calories: 685 kcal.
Burger Lad® returns to McDonald’s for week two of the My Burger promotion and under our scrutinising gaze this week is the Sweet Chilli Fiesta.
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| Outside the drive-thru… |
We reported this was to be one of the five winning burgers way back in September.
An online search revealed what must have been the creator posting that their Volcano Fragment had been picked.
So the name has been changed and the sweet chilli sauce which was available on the My Burger customizer has had habanero added to the description.
But with the ingredients listed above I’m quite optimistic about the flavour combinations of the Sweet Chilli Fiesta.
The Big Uno was certainly enjoyable enough but like we said in our review last week, it’s just so similar to the New York Classic.
We were really hoping of getting some variation during this promotion.
After all there was a vast array of burger toppings which were available but have not made it on any of the final five. So fingers crossed for this winning burger as it looks to satisfy that craving for something “different”…
It was a bit of a wait in week one as we were at the drive-thru early so having learnt our lesson arrived slightly later.
This was wishful thinking though as despite being considerably past that breakfast cut-off point I was told to wait in docking bay 94.
At least I knew this was going to be assembled freshly and not sat around becoming a victim of the dreaded burger slide…
After about 6 or 7 minutes I went inside (just in case my order had been handed to the wrong customer) and straight away I was presented with my bag. “I’ve put some free fries in the bag for you, sorry about the wait.”
You can’t argue with that… to coin a phrase I was lovin’ it…
So here we have the Sweet Chilli Fiesta…
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| First look at week 2… |
The smell coming from week two’s burger was fairly good.
We filmed our latest episode of Burger Lad® TV which you can see below and took some explicit shots of our latest model.
As you can see from the pictures below it had been built fairly respectably although it had suffered from a bit of grease on the bun and the inside lid of the box.
My first bite definitely gave me a hit of that maple-cured bacon but it was the mixture of peppers and that sweet chilli sauce which gave me a taste of something relatively different I had been looking for from a McDonald’s limited time offer.
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| McDonald’s Sweet Chilli Fiesta… |
Let’s have a look at each individual component:
Paprika topped bun – not bad, I was expecting something a bit like the Mexican Fiesta bun and apart from the lattice style on the aforementioned burger it was pretty close.
Today mine suffered from that splodge of grease but with the ingredients involved it can happen. Which brings us to…
Maple-cured bacon – this was, I think, the culprit of the grease.
It was very chewy and I noticed more than the average amount of fat on it. That saying, it really worked well with the beef and that cheese.
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| Significant lack of crispy onions… |
Cheese with peppers – I was looking forward to this component and I liked it. Not overly impressed and was hoping for more flecks of pepper in it.
Definitely a contributing factor to the overall spiciness of the Sweet Chilli Fiesta. That said I wouldn’t grumble seeing it feature on promotional items in the future…
Habanero sweet chilli sauce – alright I might mention in the video that BK did something similar but that was Honey Cayenne sauce. It must have been the excitement being here on day one.
Anyway. It was good! I had my reservations about sweet chilli and beef together (normally associate it with chicken or seafood) but it was sweet, spicy and lends an enjoyable heat level to the experience.
Seasoned chilli heads will not flinch but I imagine someone favouring something blander would find this slightly hot.
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| More pepper in the cheese? Yes please… |
Crispy onions – shame, shame we know your name. Well this is definitely one of my favourite burger toppings but unfortunately I literally had about 3 or 4 pieces maximum.
Looking forward to our ranking experiment tomorrow in the hope this is rectified on later builds. With treble the amount I got today this would elevate the Sweet Chilli Fiesta. More next time please!
100% beef patty – standard oval fare, a bit dry but expected. Represents reasonable good value and in my opinion you get what you pay for.
Shredded iceberg lettuce – the salad of choice from Ronald and friends… crispy, fresh, plenty of it and providing a bit of crispness to the bite.
Red & yellow peppers – again another ingredient I was looking forward to and seen before on the Cajun Crispy Chicken Sandwich.
I found these ones quite oily – reminded me of the variety you get in jars often labelled as Antipasti in supermarkets and delis.
Quite a distinct flavour and worked very well with the sauce. With the sun shining (briefly) outside today it was almost like having a taste of summer. Almost…
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| Lifting the lid on the My Burger promotion… |
Overall, this was a very respectable addition to the McDonald’s limited time offer family and the My Burger promotion.
I had a quick scan on Twitter before writing up my final review and saw a few negative comments. “Bland” was one which I wouldn’t agree with. But then different people have different tastes.
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| 685 calories for you there… |
I sampled some of the sauce on its own and was pleasantly surprised with the heat level of it so today McDonald’s you definitely did provide me with something different.
In fact, it definitely has some spice to it as I must have rubbed my eye shortly after and felt a slight sting for the rest of the afternoon. This is not to be replicated in your local restaurant, drive-thru or wherever else you might sample the Sweet Chilli Fiesta.
In the meantime, we’ll leave you with a rather rushed and flustered Burger Lad® TV – we’ll be back on form next week and you can count on that!
Oh and if I didn’t mention it on the video, we got free fries today. And without a shill as well… the urban burger adventures continue next week when we reveal our thoughts on The Ultimate Supreme…
Burger Lad®
Well I hastily dubbed last week's Big Uno as a Big Oh-no, but after the Sweet Chilli Fiesta I may have to retract that comment. I thought the Uno was pretty tame to be fair. I will hold my hands up and admit I had to ask for one to be made up without the mayo, but I'm Miss Milkshake, not Miss Mayonnaise…. The overall feeling of the Big Uno could be likened to playing a game of Uno with yourself. No excitement in there at all.
However, it delivered a crisp crunchy freshness (thanks, onions) which I must have enjoyed more than I thought, because I didn't get that feeling with the Fiesta. That left me disappointed. It was nice to have something with a *little* hint of spice, but ever since those Atomic Fallout Wings I really need to turn up the heat to even give me a tingle. *wink*
I would've preferred a chilli & chive bun (not biased, honest!) as the paprika one didn't really do it for me, although thankfully they omitted the grease on mine! I thought the textures were great, with the peppers and the crispy onions (blatantly got more on mine than you did, ha!) and all in all the flavours worked well. Bonus points for not having an almost-obligatory mayo-based sauce on too! For the first time in a long time I was able to order a special and not have to ask them to make it up differently. A rare occurrence for me.
So far I'd give them 3 out of 5 at most, but part of me think that's being a little generous for the Uno. But, if the two of them morphed into one (think Bill & Ted Station-style) I reckon it'd be my new McFavourite. Can't wait for week 3!
Well I hastily dubbed last week's Big Uno as a Big Oh-no, but after the Sweet Chilli Fiesta I may have to retract that comment. I thought the Uno was pretty tame to be fair. I will hold my hands up and admit I had to ask for one to be made up without the mayo, but I'm Miss Milkshake, not Miss Mayonnaise…. The overall feeling of the Big Uno could be likened to playing a game of Uno with yourself. No excitement in there at all.
However, it delivered a crisp crunchy freshness (thanks, onions) which I must have enjoyed more than I thought, because I didn't get that feeling with the Fiesta. That left me disappointed. It was nice to have something with a *little* hint of spice, but ever since those Atomic Fallout Wings I really need to turn up the heat to even give me a tingle. *wink*
I would've preferred a chilli & chive bun (not biased, honest!) as the paprika one didn't really do it for me, although thankfully they omitted the grease on mine! I thought the textures were great, with the peppers and the crispy onions (blatantly got more on mine than you did, ha!) and all in all the flavours worked well. Bonus points for not having an almost-obligatory mayo-based sauce on too! For the first time in a long time I was able to order a special and not have to ask them to make it up differently. A rare occurrence for me.
So far I'd give them 3 out of 5 at most, but part of me think that's being a little generous for the Uno. But, if the two of them morphed into one (think Bill & Ted Station-style) I reckon it'd be my new McFavourite. Can't wait for week 3!