McDonalds Spanish Grande

Review of McDonald’s Spanish Grande

Website: www.mcdonalds.co.uk/

What they say:

A paprika topped bun with a 100% beef patty, chorizo, roasted red and yellow peppers, a mature cheddar cheese slice, crisp Batavia lettuce and a bravas-style sauce.

Price: £5.19 as part of a value meal, 40p extra to go large.

Kcal: 650 for the burger only.

McDonald’s kicks off a four week ‘Great Tastes of the World’ promotion promising us ‘4 great tastes to discover’. First up on this tour is ‘The Spanish Grande with Chorizo’.

I was accompanied to McDonald’s by a fellow reviewer and to our dismay found the drive-thru completely shut and undergoing refurbishment so we knew it would be busy inside. It was. Finally we got served and for our efforts, decided to pay the additional 40p to get the large meal.

The burger took longer than a Big Mac or Quarter Pounder would take and I put this down to the fact they’d probably not have many of these pre-made so the assumption is they were made-up fresh. A good start…

After battling through the hoards we managed to find a decent window table and opened the box with almost a little trepidation.

The burger looked like it had been carefully put together and did not look too far from its promotional picture. In fact it was mighty impressive looking!

First off, the actual burger. This was a decent sized burger and the 100% beef patty was lightly seasoned which gave it a good taste. What I did notice from my first bite was a real ‘beefy’ flavour to it. I’m not sure if this burger has been used in previous promotional items but I liked it. This leads us to the rest of the ingredients.

The chorizo and mature cheddar cheese slice really fused well together and they both contributed to the overall taste of the Spanish Grande. My fellow reviewer added that the chorizo gave a nice lingering aftertaste. I especially noticed that the cheese was not melted which seemed to give it a stronger, more enjoyable flavour. It wasn’t until the third bite that I discovered the roasted red and yellow peppers which give the burger a distinct and fruity flavour and not something I would normally associate with the Golden Arches.

The bun was also a contributor to the success of the burger and a lot of the flavour comes from this. We both agreed that the paprika was very much a dominant flavour. My next thought was the bravas-style sauce. As people may know I am not a fan of ketchup so this was the one aspect of the burger I had reservations about. I was expecting a strong tomato or ketchup taste but this was more of a smoked paprika/BBQ taste to it but very difficult to distinguish. It certainly isn’t as strong as a regular BBQ dip but hints at it slightly.

The only disappointment was the crisp Batavia lettuce. It was far from crisp and was slightly wilted and sad looking. Because of the strong flavours throughout you didn’t really notice this and it didn’t detract from the overall enjoyment. I imagine with it being crispy it would give the Spanish Grande a nice crunchy texture.

Overall The Spanish Grande has a smoked Mediterranean taste with the chorizo and peppers being the main culprits. It was something to have when thinking ‘out of the box’ and I would normally pass on but I came away pleasantly surprised and eager to share my experience.

I guess it may not appeal to most tastes but overall this was a clean tasting and different McDonald’s burger to the norm. Not amazing but more ‘grand’ than a thousand pounds (OK maybe not but I had to get that one in).

We are the people’s burger website™

Enjoy!

Burger Lad®