TLO Review - KFC Scorcher Box Meal - Festival Heights

I knew it was about time for a new Time Limited Offer (TLO), you can always tell by the smiles on people's faces as you pass them in the street. My sense was correct, for mere days later an advertising hoarding I frequently amble past on my way into the office was advertising this:

Regular readers are aware that the KFB staff have a particular penchant  for the Zinger Tower so our interest was piqued by a TLO that seeks to enhance one of the two tenets.... No tower, but a hell of a lot of Zing!

The KFB team also believe this is the Colonel's first flirtation with Peri Peri, a longtime Nando's mainstay.

Before I got too carried away I had to temper my enthusiasm, as much as hard core spice lovers would like to see a sauce made of Scotch Bonnets this is supposed to be a mass market product catering to the varied palettes of millions; so whilst I could expect a kick, I wasn't anticipating anything too overwhelming in the spice department.

Following the usual format of other box meals this incorporates fries, drink, side (always gravy) and ancillary chicken product. In this case that is boneless Hot Shots, a nice touch I thought because:

A, I don't like chicken on the bone.
B, Hot wings would have worked very with this.

However on top of that (does the Colonel's generosity know no bounds) a pot of delicious Sauce 2Hot4U to be slathered as the diner sees fit over fries, hot shots and even burger alike.

First Look:

Good - Nice box (added to the KFB - KFC product packaging archive) and truly first rate 3 step gravy. However you'll notice that service was sloppy, I wasn't given my drink or sauce 2Hot4U and had to go back and ask for it. Additionally they only had 2 of my 3 Hot Shots ready and brought the 3rd over a few minutes later. I'll let them off though - it was delicious.


By the time I got round to the burger it had 'rested' for a couple of minutes which can often be a boon as the steam and other vapours escaping the chicken penetrate the bun, both softening and warming it, improving its overall integrity and preventing it breaking apart mid burger.

Immediately it looked well made, although upon closer inspection and comparison against the advertising picture it was topsy turvy. The chicken breast should be nestled in a bed of Supercharger Sauce and topped with Peri Peri Relish. This burger was the opposite, although I cannot comment on whether it suffered as a result.

The burger itself was exquisite, hot and juicy chicken (which is harder to achieve for a Zinger breast) with nearly the perfect quantities of sauce top and bottom, although just a tad more Peri Peri relish wouldn't have gone amiss.

And the much anticipated spice? I think they'd got it about right. Instead of a deliberately hot sauce that immediately sets the taste buds aflame and prevents you from really enjoying your food, this was a fragrant fruity spice which leaves a satisfying heat in the mouth at the end of the last bite.

For £5.69 this is a good feed, filling you up without overfacing you. It's nice to see a truly brand new product incorporating some new ingredients, and apart from a couple of scruples with the service.... this probably deserves:

 4 Colonels out of 5

KFC Romania

Usually when KFB visits foreign shores in order to sample KFC's offerings the world over, some serious research needs to be done before the trip to pinpoint the often obscure; exact location of the few branches that exist in some of these places. Not so in the Romanian capital, Bucharest where KFC's abound.

In walking around this city for a couple of days without even trying, I stumbled upon at least 6 different branches. Unfortunately time was limited and I wasn't able to sample each one so I checked out this modern branch In Bucharest's not so modern main rail station the Gara de Nord.

As you can see from a closer look at the menu above it's fairly similar to that offered in Western Europe with even the brazer having made an appearance.

However in an effort to expand my horizons I opted to try a 'Booster' a double layered burger with two slices of cheese, an agreeable sauce and interestingly something we've not seen in the UK at KFC, but long a McDonalds mainstay..... the slices of pickle.

As regular readers may be aware, I'm quite picky when it comes to my chicken, opting to stick firmly to white breast meat. This is something you're assured of when ordering a burger in the UK, however at the periphery of civilization this is not something you can take for granted. Upon biting into the 'Booster' I soon discovered that the 'Chicken Patty' was formed from pieces of brown meat. Yes, I get the arguments, it's tastier, juicer etc but try as I might, it's not for me. I soldiered on, noting the tasty if indescribable flavour of the sauce and finding the pickles surprisingly worked quite well.

However, the most civilized thing about the whole meal and especially pleasing at ten past two of an afternoon.... the chance to wash it all down with a delicious chilled beer.... Very agreeable!