McDonald’s Thai Special

Review of McDonald’s Thai Special with Sweet Chilli Sauce

What they say:

Succulent chicken breast fillet in a crispy coating, Sweet Chilli sauce, Thai Mayo, shredded lettuce and red onion, in a toasted rectangular bun.

Price: £3.99 for the burger only.

Calories: 517 kcal.

Great Tastes of the World returns to McDonald’s and the chicken option for the 2016 promo is a taste of Asia with The Thai Special with Sweet Chilli Sauce.

Coming in its own promotional box, The Thai Special will run for the entire duration of GTW from Wednesday 12th October to Tuesday 22nd November – ending just in time for the switchover to the Festive menu.

Let me say this from the offset, the guys in development have absolutely nailed it with this sandwich, it’s that incredibly good! McDonald’s have really hit the ball out of the park with this one!

Texture-wise it’s a crispy burger with a pleasurable semi-crunch to the exterior of the lattice-style bun. When you get through that, you are rewarded with more crispness from the coating of the Chicken Legend patty and the tangy onion. Very satisfying.

Aesthetically, The Thai Special isn’t much of a looker. Well mine wasn’t… with lettuce protruding all over the place. But you do get glimpses of those welcoming red onion rings and Thai Mayo which is on the crown bun.

And let’s talk about that mayo…

I must confess that this is quite possibly THE BEST sauce I have had from McDonald’s or any of the fast food chains. Put simply, it’s brilliant!

The mayo has got a hint of lime and lemongrass and possibly coconut and coriander in there too. Whatever is in this sauce though it really does give you a taste of Thailand and is basically like a Thai Green Curry mayonnaise. It is perfect in my opinion.

It’s spicy too. Yes there’s a definite kick to The Thai Special. Not blow your face off silly but it has a lovely warm glow. I really cannot recommend trying this burger enough but please if you are expecting super spicy don’t raise expectations too high. For a fast food chain though, I reckon the spice levels are spot-on with this build.

The lettuce is there just being lettuce, but as mentioned above, The Thai Special benefits from the additional red onion – a marvellous burger all-round and very nearly faultless.

My only minor gripe was the lack of Sweet Chilli Sauce. Ironic considering that is the one ingredient in this burgers full name.

I thought McDonald’s would cheap out with The Thai Special and just lump some Sweet Chili Sauce from the Sweet Chilli One onto a Chicken Legend patty. Unfortunately this one element was sadly lacking. But… that actually didn’t matter one bit as it is the Thai Mayo that truly makes it.

As you will see from the scoring below, this is arguably one of the tastiest burgers I’ve encountered in my time reviewing McDonald’s.

Most definitely, this now rivals my long-term favourite, The Chicken & Chutney Indian as my all-time favourite chicken item from McD’s. Easily.

Overall, The Thai Special is certainly that… special! I can’t recommend it enough and it truly delivers a taste of the country it is inspired by, be that a fast food McDonald’s version of it. It’s spicy, full of flavour and texturally it’s great too. And weighing in at a shade over 500 calories is a pretty healthy option.

People often criticise Great Tastes of the World burgers to have the most tenuous of links to their associated country but The Thai Special is not one of these. You’ve got a warm glow of chillies mixed with the fragrance of lime, coriander and coconut making this a memorable burger from The Golden Arches.

The Thai Special is running for six weeks and today’s early lunch could certainly be the first of many I’ll be sampling!

Burger Lad®

Website: http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/product_nutrition.chicken.1874.the-thai-special.html

The Thai Special

£3.99

8

Taste

9.5/10

Look

7.0/10

Price

7.5/10

Hot

• Thai Mayo
• A taste of Thailand
• Great texture

Not

• Slight lack of Sweet Chilli sauce

McDonald\'s