KFC Cambodia

Cambodia boasts only eleven branches of KFC. Ten of these are clustered in the capital Pnomh Penh, we decided to head to the provincial town of Siem Reap to see what KFC in the provinces was like.

Located in a grand Colonial building on the main commercial artery in Siem Reap KFC's air conditioned interior provided welcome respite from the tropical heat outside. Although we arrived outside of the lunchtime rush somewhat disappointingly our only fellow diners were other westerners, suggesting either the cuisine or the price hasn't swayed local diners.

Although the official Cambodian currency is the Riel, in practice everyone uses US dollars, to the extent that the menu is also in dollars.

There were some interesting choices and so we went for a Waikiki Burger and a Zinger Max burger. This was the first time I'd seen Pineapple on a burger since in Australia at the turn of the century on a burger I used to love. I was heartened by reference to 'Chicken Fillet' due to having had bad experiences in Asia in the past with brown meat.

We ordered and after quite a considerable wait were presented with our food:

And here on in started the disappointment. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that pineapple ring is on the bottom.... the opposite of how this should have been constructed. Still, I thought, at least all of the ingredients are there. I tucked in, to find that 'Chicken Fillet' was (and I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt here) a mistranslation of  'slimy brown bits of chicken'.

I ate as much as I was able but was left feeling truly unsatisfied. The only ray of hope.....  the unimaginably dirty 'Cheezy Wedges' slathered with that luminous fake squirty cheese that probably wouldn't set in a freezer and looks disgusting but if you're in the mood tastes incredible!

KFC Cambodia has to be praised for its extensive and interesting menu and with the right Chicken this could be great, but right now this doesn't cut the mustard.

KFC Trilogy Box Meal - Quick Review

Just in time for Christmas, this period's Time Limited Offer (TLO) is a real gift. It's not the first time that we've seen the Trilogy Box Meal, and with its trilogy of  chicken items being akin to the Holy Trinity, the festive period is the perfect time for it.

For £5.99 you get a Zinger burger, Small Popcorn Chicken, a Mini Fillet (tiny in my case) Fries, a drink, a regular Side (Gravy) and a dip (2Hot4U). Tower up for 50p and you have a feast that will well and truly fill you up.

I ordered this at 6:45pm on a Tuesday night at the Goldenhills branch in Stoke-on-Trent. After a short wait I was presented with a treat, although I did have to remind my server about my dip.

At my table I discovered a well constructed Burger with a hot fresh fillet, (although the bun had only been shown the toaster and was a touch cold) a very tasty and fresh Mini Fillet (However this was tiny and I considered complaining), excellent crispy fries, decent Popcorn Chicken and an acceptable gravy (good consistency, but lacked taste)

Although this TLO does lack innovation it is more than made up for by sheer brute volumes of chicken

Value 8/10
Taste 7/10

Merry Christmas

KFC Vietnam

At KFB we never like to let our fans down, and so it was with much regret earlier this year, after the promise of a Vietnam KFC review we were unable to visit the intended branch due to inaccurately posted closing times. KFB was determined to make up for this crushing disappointment (trust us, it was worse for us than for you) and resolved to go back there.... and so we have! KFB recently visited Vietnam's flagship Hoan Kiem branch in Hanoi to sample their wares. Mindful that we'd let you down we then went on to visit a KFC in neighbouring Cambodia to see how it compared.

KFC has been in Vietnam for 14 years having opened its first branch in Ho Chi Minh city, better known as Saigon in 1997. Compared to some Markets we've visited this makes KFC vietnam positively middle aged and we hoped that with that maturity had come distinction and refinement.

From the outside, housed alongside a global financial institute in a grand colonial building boasting balconies with commanding views over the central lake it certainly looked the part.

We entered into what was a small vestibule containing the tills and the entrance to a stair well that took us up to the restaurant. We were greeted by two smiling team members with a good standard of english who make for a pleasent transaction. The whole meal cost me nearly two hundred grand (dong that is, the Vietnamese currency of which there are about 33,000 to the £)

We made our way up the stairs into the main restaurant which extended over a further two floors. We were confronnted with a food pick up area, although as we weren't visiting at peak time and our food was not yet ready, with broken English the staff let us know they'd bring it over to us. We took our seat on the balcony and watched the chaos below whilst we waited for our food.

We didn't have to wait too long before it was served to us on bespoke KFC plastic crockery with raised plastic ridges to neatly compartmentalise our food with a scoop of mash and gravy in one, fries in another and our burger in a third. Drinks were served in branded glasses (which I sincerely regret not bringing one home) and there was a perfectly presentable condiment station.


Asians in general seem much less squeamish about colour , presentation and texture of meat than us in the West and are happy to strip a carcass to the bone. I am unhappily at the other end of the scale, A cross that is in fact very bearable in the UK due to our delicious chicken breast fillet burgers. However, when in Asia on business I've frequently felt how I imagine vegetarians may feel in Texas, picking carefully at my food and taking tentative bites to see if the food is palatable. Unfortunately again in Vietnam as elsewhere in Asia even the burgers consisted of hunks of the dark meat lumped together into a patty shape and fried in original recipe.

I shan't dwell on the burger although it was clearly the weak link in the meal, there were redeeming features. Shoestring fries that were nicely browned and crispy were accompanied by a smooth mash and tasty gravy. And he best part of the meal? Pudding - egg custard tarts based I assume on the Chinese copy of the Portuguese colonial treat 'Pastel de Nata' that now seems to have spread across the whole of East Asia from the original Portuguese enclave of Macau. These were hot, fresh, crispy and delicious.

In comparison to the west the prices were very reasonable with two meals and pudding being about half the cost you may expect to pay in the UK. In comparison to the local prices, this was maybe a little pricey, but bear in mind this is a city where you can buy a beer for 15p!

KFC vietnam

Value 5 /10
Taste 4/ 10

A long way to go!

KFB in Australia: Hash Brown Double review

perfect

adjective

ˈpəːfɪkt/

1. 1.

   having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be

Perfect may well be how one might describe the famed Double Down - an innovation so significant we've dedicated several posts to it. You can't improve on perfection of course. At least that's what we thought until we saw the incredible Zinger Double Down King from South Korea. Eagle eyed readers though may have spotted another interesting product in that article: the Double Down Maxx which added a hash brown to the mix. Well we're pleased (not to mention very excited) to announce that a very similar product is now available in Australia: The Hash Brown Double.

We sampled the Hash Brown Double at the Bourke St branch in Melbourne. Something for connoisseurs to note: you're given the choice of fillet or Zinger varieties. We opted for the latter and added a pot of gravy for good measure (we also received free large fries owing to an serving error that caused a delay). The cost was $10.95 without the gravy.

Let's break the 'burger' down for you: sandwiched between two Zinger fillets you'll find two slices of cheese, a slice of Australian style bacon and the all important hash brown. Supercharger sauce is the lubricant of choice.

Construction was solid with the cheese acting as the usual binding agent. The packaging acts as a handy hand guard of sorts to help with grease transference but wasn't hugely effective. On first bite the cheese taste was most dominant which was a worry. The saltiness of the bacon however soon helped cut through the cloying initial flavour and made for a nicely balanced mouthful.

As we've often noted, the hash brown is a very welcome addition and adds an extra element of texture. It was crunchy and piping hot here as it should be. If we had to make one suggestion though it would be that we'd replace the Supercharger sauce with the salsa found in the UK Zinger Tower to help further cut through the otherwise extremely rich flavours.

Overall the Hash Brown Double was a very tasty and filling if not mind-blowing addition to the menu out here in the land down under. Perhaps we'd bigged it up too much before the sampling but the addition of the hash brown wasn't as revolutionary as we'd hoped.

Finally, a word on the gravy. Though it passed the standing chip test with flying colours it was of the stodgy, peppery variety similar to that found in KFC Hong Kong and elsewhere and really wasn't very tasty.

Taste: 6.5

Innovation: 6

Value: 8

Overall: 7.5

Korean Double Down Wows with Triple Meat Combo

KFC fans will have undoubtedly already heard of the legendary Double Down, a conceptual product released in 2010 that replaces the bun element of a burger with 2 chicken fillets, sandwiching a delicious filling of bacon, cheese and sauces in it's midst. When it was released, we were so jealous that we went to great lengths to recreate that DD experience, before eventually managing to secure a full review. And it was superb. Surely, then, nothing could top this insane meat feast?

Incredibly, KFC South Korea have done just that. The product in question is the Zinger Double Down King, which features 2 chicken fillets, 1 beef burger patty, plus bacon, cheese and sauce in some kind of sexy three-way meat sandwich. Yes, that's right readers, the holy trinity of chicken, beef and pork has at last been combined into one revolutionary fast food offering. "Wait a minute, beef?? I hear you cry. Yes! Beef!

Last year, they also impressed with the Double Down Maxx, sandwiching a hash brown inside the comforting embrace of breaded chicken. What will they think of next??

So how does the Zinger Double Down King taste? We're in the process of booking our flights to Korea to give it a whirl, but in the meantime we can't help but wonder if we could recreate this monster here in the UK, with a little help from a fast-food clown-based rival chain...look out for a special feature coming soon!

KFB in Australia: Kentucky Jack review

Here at KFB we're big fans of innovation and the addition of new ingredients as you'll notice from our coverage of the recent pulled chicken range in the UK and specials such as the Nacho Stacker. It was with some excitement then that we came across the Kentucky Jack limited edition burger in Australian KFCs.

Let's break it down for you: we've got an Original Recipe chicken fillet surrounded by crispy fried onions, two slices of white cheese, bacon, coleslaw (yes, IN the burger) and smokey BBQ sauce.
When we first unwrapped the burger we were worried - 'juice' from the slaw has seeped out into the wrapper and bun leaving some very soggy edges. Construction was otherwise solid - KFC UK should take note that bacon out here in Oz is most certainly NOT of the streaky variety (something that we felt marred the Big Daddy somewhat). Cost-wise it was cheaper than the Zinger Stacker by a couple of bucks, probably owing to the lack of the extra chicken breast.

And so onto the tasting: the first bite was full of real contrast - sweet (BBQ sauce) but salty (bacon), crunchy (onions, slaw) but soft (bun). There's a great balance of flavours going on in here. Even the cheese, which is Australia is of a white variety, packed some real punch.

There was something about the flavour though that we couldn't just put our...tongue on. Something that took this reviewer back to childhood school lunch halls. It was a certain tang, it was...SKIPS! For readers who aren't from the UK, Skips are prawn cocktail flavoured tapioca-based snacks (which taste a lot better than they sound). And somehow the Kentucky Jack was very reminiscent of this flavour profile. If we had to guess we'd say it was the combo of the crispy onions and the BBQ sauce. Do note however that despite sounding like an odd addition to a burger, we thoroughly enjoyed this throwback taste.

And as we've come accustomed too here at KFB we do have to ask the key question: would it be better with a hash brown? Actually for once, given all the contrasting flavours and textures going on, we're not sure it would.

Value: 7
Flavour: 8
Overall: 7.5

KFB in Australia: Zinger Stacker review

Welcome, KFB readers, to the land down under. I've been sent on special assignment to the other side of the world so expect a special series of Aussie KFB posts coming your way. And be sure to check out our previous Australia write-up here.

Upon arrival in Melbourne I was excited to find not one but two special edition burgers on the menu. The intriguing sounding Kentucky Jack (complete with coleslaw and crispy fried onions) will be covered in a separate review but for today our focus is on the Zinger Stacker. Let's address the elephant in the room first: yes the Zinger Stacker features TWO Zinger fillets in one burger, bringing it up to Double Down levels of chicken provision. But unlike its well-known American cousin, this bad boy is sandwiched, quite literally, in a bun. Other ingredients include 2 slices of cheese, spicy salsa, lettuce and Supercharger sauce. I opted for the combo meal which set me back $10.95 (about £5.90 at current exchange rates)

As you can see in the above photo, construction was solid, with the white cheese binding the fillets to both each other and the bun. 

The first bite was a good one - this is a whole lot of chicken. Compared to the UK Zinger fillets though I couldn't help but find the chicken slightly lacking in flavour and kick. The Supercharger sauce is the same as has been found in the UK and is a kind of richer, tasty mayo. The lettuce was unremarkable. 

The spicy salsa, as seen in the above photo was less chunky than the UK equivalent and mustier in taste. It was also quite sweet but not in an unpleasant way. Sampled by itself it had a decent kick which was sadly lost in among the other ingredients.

Overall, and as we've frequently noted, this burger was missing something and that something was a hash brown. In fact, I'd go as far to say that I'd rather they swapped the additional fillet with a hash brown or in some kind of dream wonderland, added a hash brown to the two fillets on offer here. That variety in texture and flavour is very important. 

A quick word on the fries: it was as if I'd gone into some kind of time machine and emerged in the UK back in the depths of 2013, for the fries on offer in Australia are of the thicker and slightly floppier variety we were so accustomed to in the UK. They were hot, fresh and came in a strange carton rather than a paper packet but were nothing to get overly excited about. 

Taste: 6/10
Value: 7.5/10
Overall: 6.5/10

KFC Japan reveals chicken themed keyboard, mouse and USB stick

According to a recent post by Kotaku, KFC Japan are giving away 3 incredible items to 3 extraordinarily lucky Twitter followers. First up is a chicken-based keyboard which we can't help but feel would make typing far more...delicious:

Then comes a surprisingly ergonomic looking mouse:

And finally a drum(USB)stick:

Here at KFC HQ we've been racking our brains to think what they might have in store next. If you're reading this guys, how about a range of hair gel in the gravy pots? We can only dream.

TLO Review - Pulled Chicken Ultimate Burger Meal - Hazel Grove branch

The most eagerly awaited KFB product of this decade has finally gone nationwide. KFB originally reported on the arrival of KFC Pulled Chicken some months ago when it was undergoing an 'Ops Shakedown' in Scotland. This is a trial period that irons out the kinks in the product and its preparation, service and presentation.

Although no members of KFB were able to sample it during this period we had some good feedback from blog posters and we've been eagerly awaiting it ever since.

KFB were even happier when KFC got in touch to offer some exclusive 'Chicken Cheques' so we could trial the new product.

Chicken Cheque in hand I sidled into the Hazel Grove branch on the first day of release for what was billed as the Ultimate Burger Meal:

For £5.39 you get the Ultimate Burger (Toasted Brioche Bun, Paprika 'Slaw, two Mini Fillets, Cheese, a portion of Barbecue Marinated Pulled Chicken and Lettuce, not just iceberg either - the good stuff ) a drink and fries.

Perhaps a tad expensive, but let's deconstruct this burger that has been built from the ground up:

The Brioche Bun is totally new and is not used in any other product; the glazed plain top is visually a little reminiscent of one of McDonalds buns but this had a subtle sweetness.

The Southern Style Paprika Slaw - Strangely 'slaw has never made an appearance on a burger before but instead of taking the easy route and opening tubs of the coleslaw used as a side, this is a new development. It's a colourful and crispy blend using red cabbage to liven up the visual appeal of the burger somewhat. The crisp veg is in a light subtle mayonnaise and although the Paprika doesn't really shine through this gives a nice texture, flavour, colour and moisture to the burger - a real linchpin around which the other ingredients hinge.

The Two Mini Fillets were coated in delicious Original Recipe and were hot, fresh and juicy.... need I say more.

The Cheese Slice was possibly the lost ingredient in this burger although it probably served a more structural purpose being employed in more of a binding role.

The Lettuce is not your common or garden type, there are some varieties in there which lend this burger a visual touch of class and provide a crisp topping.

The BBQ Pulled Chicken is an entirely new concept. The marketing blurb - To Get Something Special Takes Time - could be taken by the cynic as an allusion to the length of time it has taken to come up with a 'pulled' product which seem to have been ubiquitous elsewhere for the last 12 months. I would counter that although undoubtedly 'pulled' has perhaps been the preserve of the gastro movement, KFC have been the first of the 'big three' to bring this type of product to market, so it would seem that the marketing is in reference to the time that the chicken has spent marinating in what is a subtle BBQ sauce that allows a nice meaty flavour to shine through and maintains a nice moisture that doesn't cloy.

Put it all together and what have you got ...... The Ultimate Burger?

For those who've read carefully you'll have noticed that I've described a lot of the ingredients as 'subtle'. That was totally intentional, and as a result KFC have come up with a perfectly balanced burger. The moist Slaw and Pulled Chicken found top and bottom counter the ever so slight dryness of the Brioche Bun. The pleasantly salty Original Recipe Chicken at this burger's heart is counteracted by the sweetness of the BBQ marinade and the bun, whilst the slaw again comes into play with its opposite ingredient, the Lettuce, to provide a refreshing crispness.


Whilst I've been impressed with the long called for innovation, it seems that all effort was directed at putting this thing together, whilst the name was hastily pulled out of the bag at the last minute. Hard as I try, the 'Ultimate Burger' moniker conjures up images of a standard beef burger that's been pimped up to earn it's 'Ultimate' accolade.

Overall this seems to be a great addition to the range, which due to its ingredients will be good at even quiet periods of the day when you sometimes have chicken that's become a little dry, this on the other hand will always remain moist.

It's great to see KFC Coming up with new ingredients rather than re hashing old ones. I enjoyed this burger, and for the first time in a long time am going to award an 8 out of 10.


Enjoy

KFC - Carnival Box Meal

Just In time for the World Cup, Monday saw the launch of the Carnival Box Meal. This consists of:

Carnival Fillet Burger
Small Popcorn Chicken
Mini Fillet
Fries
Regular Side
Rio BBQ dip
Regular Drink

At £5.99 it's not cheap, but then that is a lot of food. It seems quite a heavy meal for mid summer so it's a good job it's not been too hot yet or I shouldn't have wanted to eat that much.

Dispensing with Fancy packaging the burger was wrapped in colourful paper bearing the slogan Viva la flava, a bit weird considering Brazil is South America's only Portuguese speaking country.

Most of the constituent parts are known quantities, so I'll focus on the unknowns , the Carnival Burger and Rio BBQ sauce.
The Burger features its own unique bun topped with herbs, they didn't make too much contribution but i did get one or two hints of flavour during a couple of bites. The bun enveloped an original recipe fillet burger, lettuce and some Fiery carnival chilli mayonnaise. I tried some of this new mayo on it's own and it was good, with a satisfying savoury flavour and some heat, sadly the scant amount on my burger was lost and made no real impact.

The second unknown was the Rio BBQ sauce. which i must admit I was expecting to simply be repackaged ordinary BBQ sauce but this was much fruitier than usual and as someone who can usually take or leave BBQ sauce i found myself using chips like spatulas to ensure nothing was left in the pot.

I have to say I enjoyed this and it was build quality rather than lack of vision that ultimately let it down. Although nothing groundbreaking this would have been a 7, however in light of poor construction I can only award it a 6.

Quad Wrap and Secret Recipe Fries

KFC has another new Time Limited Offer (TLO): the BLT Quad Wrap, aimed squarely at the lunch time menu. However, perhaps the most interesting news is that of the introduction of Secret Recipe Fries - Standard fries liberally sprinkled with the lauded eleven herbs and spices that make up the Secret Recipe.

KFB on this occasion chose to visit the Liverpool Road branch in Newcastle Under Lyme on a busy Bank Holiday Monday night.

The order was for two Quad Wrap meals, (good value at £4.79 each) a pot of gravy (a great 3-step....delicious!) and in order to get hold of the Secret Recipe Fries, a Streetwise snackbox with a 20p upgrade to Secret Recipe Fries. They're not available with all products and this was the easiest way to try them.

The meal arrived, and straight off there was no evidence of any Secret Recipe - disappointing as I'd gone out of my way to explain what I wanted when ordering. I headed back to the counter and was quickly dealt with and had my snack box exchanged.

TLO's come and go but the Secret Recipe Fries were the thing I was most excited about. As a Zinger Tower fan, my physician told me recently that I don't have enough Original Recipe in my diet.... what a great way to rectify it.

I opened the box and was greeted with this:

Not a particularly satisfying sight. 20p is quite a lot to pay for what appeared to be about a single solitary gram of recipe. It hadn't been evenly applied so the flavour was concentrated in one corner leaving many fries totally untouched. To consider there is no cost difference between an OR or a Zinger fillet which has been marinated in a further batch of spices makes one wonder if this is truly worth 20p?

Well the proof of the pudding they say is in the eating so I dived in. Those fries that had taken the bulk of the application were undoubtedly deliciously salty but with another satisfying flavour that caused me to involuntarily suck the inside of my mouth clean of all the lingering flavour particles. However, this level of cover only applied to a handful of fries whilst the rest of the box teased me not quite giving the flavour I craved.

In all, a great idea, and if a little more liberally applied one that KFB could endorse.

Next I moved on to the BLT Quad Wrap... I'm not entirely sure what puts the 'quad' into this product as there are only two mini fillets and three acronymed ingredients the B the L and the T. Perhaps the shape should put one in mind of a some sort of varsity quadrant but there's no allusion to this in the advertising.

I was doing well with this meal. Hot fresh fries, thick dark three step gravy and now I was pleased to be holding a soft tortilla which had a mouthfeel redolent of  rural Mexico's halcyon days where the oxymoronic well-off peasants lived off the land in health and happiness grinding flour by hand to produce this unleavened offering/ This quickly gave way to tasty chicken that was firm to the bite and encased in a gooey cocoon of melted cheese that sought to bind the bacon that provided the final savoury taste ready to be balanced by the fresh lettuce and juicy chopped tomato... sounds good right?......except there wasn't a single solitary piece of tomato to be found. The name of this product has a T in it to denote the presence of said tomato. In a normal restaurant when a key ingredient of a dish is unavailable the staff make you aware of this but it was not until I was a couple of bites in that I realised.

At once all my enthusiasm evaporated, I plowed onwards through the meal. It would be disingenuous to say it was all anything other than very nice but in all good conscience I cannot reward such failure.

KFC to launch slow-cooked pulled chicken products soon?

Word has reached us that KFC is carrying out a regional test of an all-new product line: slow-cooked pulled chicken. Apparently, trials are currently underway in Scotland. If rolled out across the UK, this will mark the first time KFC has launched a 'new' cooking technique into branch since the Brazer line of griddled chicken.

From the picture you'll find above, you'll notice that the burger appears to contain a standard looking chicken fillet in addition to the pulled chicken. That's double chicken, folks. And who can forget the wonderful result of the previous double chicken product line?

Check out the line yourself in this charming new ad and let us know if you manage to locate and sample this mysterious new beast.

We've reached out to KFC and will update the post with further information if available.

Daredevil Bites Review

KFC's Daredevil Bites are the latest offering for the UK market, and are available as part of the new Saucy Bites Variety Bucket, Daredevil Bites Box Meal, and also as a simpler meal option with just chips and a drink. Reminiscent of Hot Rods (albeit without the rod) and about three times the size of standard Popcorn chicken, these bite-sized morsels come doused in one of three hot sauces of your choice; choose from Sweet Chilli, Fiery Buffalo and Piri Piri Inferno, depending on how much heat you like. I ventured down to the Bethnal Green KFC branch to investigate.

I opted for the 2 Daredevil Bites meal, which included 2 sets of bites, chips and a drink. Staff at the Bethnal Green branch were helpful and knowledgable, clearly displaying a mastery of the current menu by offering up the choice of mixing and matching daredevil sauces - a nice touch. I ordered the Sweet Chilli and Piri Piri Inferno bites, collected my meal, and grabbed a table in the seating area.

The Daredevil Bites come delivered in separate lidded tubs, each containing 4 of the breaded chunks and with a pool of your chosen sauce at the bottom. There was enough sauce in both of my tubs to allow me to dip the bites at will, liberally coating them as I so wished. The crispy coating was more akin to ETC (Extra Tasty Crispy) than OR (Original Recipe). First up were the Sweet Chilli bites - as expected, the sweet chilli sauce was very mild (not even a hint of heat) but it did have an enjoyable taste, just like the popular asian condiment.

Moving on to the Piri Piri Inferno bites, I half expected these to be equally as mild, but I was pleasantly surprised. The first couple of bites were coated in just a drizzle of the spicy sauce, and failed to produce the desired punch I was hoping for, but upon mopping up the last of the sauce with the final bite, I soon realised my mistake as the heat kicked in. I wouldn't go so far as to call it an inferno in my mouth, but it was certainly a slow-burner and combined with the peppery, paprika flavours, produced a satisfying sensation. I think this is a brave move from KFC, as too often fast-food products labeled as "spicy" are far from it, and are actually tailored for the weak, mainstream consumer who thinks of a Chicken Korma curry as adventurous.

All in all, although the Daredevil bites aren't particularly exciting on their own, they do add an extra dimension to the existing menu and if I were to order them again I would go for the box meal or share the Saucy Bites bucket with friends. I would like to see the sauces (especially Piri Piri) put to use maybe as a topping for a Piri Piri style burger.

KFB Rating: 7/10

Have you tried the Fiery Buffalo bites? We'd love to know how they compare, let us know in the comments section below!

KFB Asian Odyssey Part 4: India

And so we reach the final stop on our travels: India. Land of ancient history, maniac autorickshaw drivers and more types of animals wandering the streets than you're likely to find in most British zoos.
India is intense in many ways, so it came as a welcome relief to spot the Colonel's smiling face while strolling down Jaipur's busy MI road.

The restaurant itself was similar to other branches we've encountered around the world - mostly clean, decked out in the usual red hues and air conditioned (something of a rarity in India). 

We walked up to the staff at the counter and ordered a Chicken Snacker with a 7Up and a Zinger Burger meal, both upgraded to include cheese.

First up: the Snacker. Similar in appearance to a Mini Fillet from back in the UK, the Snacker was a wallet friendly 39 rupees (39p) (15R extra for cheese).  The good news ended there though. We were presented with a squashed burger accompanied by some limp lettuce and mayonnaise. According to my fellow reviewer, the chicken itself was 25% meat, 75% batter. Not a great start.

The Zinger Tower, sadly, fared no better. As with Thailand and Hong Kong, the meat was of the leg rather than breast variety. As we've previously discovered though, this in itself isn't necessarily a
negative thing. The burger comprised the chicken itself, some lettuce, the cheese we added and some mayonnaise. No spicy salsa in sight. And as we'd grown accustomed to: no hash brown.

Flavour was sorely lacking. In fact, the strongest flavour came from the cheese rather than the chicken. And without that salsa or any trace of a marinade on the meat, the Zing was utterly absent. The real lowlight was yet to come. The fries were among the worst we've ever encountered at a KFC. Luke warm and clearly left for far too long under a heat lamp, they were chewy, depressing imposters for the much maligned KFc fry.  Oh and to make matters worse, there was a small piece of plastic in the bottom of the packet (see below). 

Were it not for the fact that we were in a huge rush and really really didn't want any more fries, we'd have complained and demanded replacements. The only saving grace for the meal was the price. We paid a very wallet friendly £3.32 For all the food that day.

Taste: 2Value: 4Overall: 3


Epilogue
And now comes the time for reflection. What exactly have we learned from our gastronomical voyage across Asia? Well the most obvious conclusion is that the KFC in the UK beats the socks off anything we sampled. Yes it's more expensive and yes we frequently bemoan the <<lack of innovation but when it comes down to it, we should count ourselves lucky that's it's almost universally delicious. For now,  our voyage to locate the globe's most finger licking chicken shall continue.