T.G.I Friday’s – The French Canadian
Review of The French Canadian from T.G.I Friday’s, Cheltenham
Website: http://www.tgifridays.co.uk
The reviews are coming fast and furious – hot off the grill here is a guest review of the French Canadian from T.G.I Friday’s…
Special thanks to Burger Lad for that fine introduction to our latest jaunt – TGI Fridays.
Having eaten at a TGI’s before, I was expecting a raucous atmosphere with it being the last day of Gold Cup racing in Cheltenham……..and it wasn’t far off the mark. In my ‘youth’ I’d have found the attentiveness and friendly nature of the staff to be overbearing but viewing from a parents eyes (the joys of Kondiment Kids), I thought they hit the spot just right. Mustard was particularly delighted with the constant honking of a clown horn from one particularly friendly waiter. Given that I suffer from coulrophobia (thanks to Pennywise), I was on edge for most of the evening. Though this could have been nerves as I was about to embark on my first (and possibly last) review for this ill-thought, occasionally amusing but mostly annoying website.
What they say:
French Canadian – Not your boring chicken burger. A grilled chicken breast basted with sweet Canadian maple syrup and topped with crispy bacon and creamy melted French brie, on a classic toasted bun with cos lettuce, beef tomato and red onion. Served with a creamy garlic mayo.
Cost £10.99 including fries and dipping sauce.
I kicked off our Friday feast with an ice-cold Corona which went down a little too nicely. The ever helpful waitress had left the cocktail menu within arm’s reach and after several minutes of scanning, I was delighted to discover that they served Skinny Long Island Tea made with agave syrup instead of sugar. Weighing in at less than 100 calories a glass it was an easy decision to make. At the time I commented that the alcohol content seemed a bit lacking but my hangover the next day proved me wrong. I’ll be back for more of these and if I can brave the calories, one of their fantastic Silver Mercedes as well.
Onto the burger…..
I considered my choices carefully. The Wild Boar tempted me for a while but the French Canadian edged out as the winner at the final hurdle. Grilled chicken breast, topped with bacon and melted Brie, crisp fresh cos lettuce, red onion and a slab of beef tomato glued to the bun with creamy garlic mayo. The chicken is described as “basted with sweet Canadian maple syrup” but I’ll be honest and say that it wasn’t noticeable when eating the burger.
The creamy dreamy garlic mayo and sticky oozing Brie made my heart and arteries pound. I was grateful for the fresh and generous salad topping which offset some of the guilt. The chicken breast was HUGE – tender and juicy and a good nutritional choice. TGI’s don’t publish nutritional values for their meals but I estimated the French Canadian at approx 569 calories. This doesn’t account for the extra pot of garlic mayo on the side of the plate however, not that I am complaining about that!
The bun was your standard sesame topped offering which was cut quite thin at the base. It started to give way after a few bites which was a disappointment but not surprising given the size of the breast. The Brie was melted perfectly, sticky, sweet and a classic pairing for the crisp salty bacon. As previously mentioned, the maple syrup baste wasn’t noticeable but the marriage of flavours worked well regardless.
I agree with Burger Lad (something I never like to do) – the fries should have been hotter and crispier – but I will let it go just this once. Overall it was a good meal, a bit pricey given the quality (and quantity) of fries but the overall atmosphere and attitude from the staff made up for this.
Massive thanks for this excellent review, we’ll let our Head of Legal analyse the comments regarding this website before taking further action. We may let it go…just this once though.
Burger Lad®
