KFB in Australia - Boneless Hot & Spicy Box review

To bone or not to bone? That is the question posed by every man, woman and child upon first casting their eyes over the Colonel's menu boards. It's a highly controversial subject even here at KFB headquarters. For some, chicken on the bone represents the OG - the truest expression of that special flavour. After all, it led to the 'Finger-lickin' good' slogan back in the day. For other, bones simply get in the way and take up unneccessary extra space and weight. To my mind, there's a time and a place for either option and last Friday, that time and place led me to go boneless and try KFC's new Boneless Hot & Spicy box here in Melbourne.

It's at this point that I should point out that I was severely hungover at the time of sampling the box of delight. As we've previously covered on KFB though, there's nothing finer than KFC when it comes to curing all but the most extreme of hangovers. It was game on.

Now I know what you're thinking - what right does a bread roll have to be in the mix when it's not part of a burger? We'll get back to that later. For now let's focus on the chicken: 3 sizeable chunks that were reasonably well-coated in ETC (extra tasty cripsy) rather than Original Recipe.

It was time to delve in. We've said it before and we'll say it again: thigh meat just isn't as well-suited to being used in a boneless dish such as this or a burger. While it was relatively fat and certainly sinew-free and even though it was clearly well-marinaded, it just didn't have that firm, bouncy texture we love from a good hunk of breast. Something to note: according to KFC's site, the boneless pieces could be either thigh or breast - my colleagues and I however were all served the former.

So let's get back to the bun. I was reliably informed by an Aussie chum of mine that the bun was to be filled with all the other boxed ingredients, thereby turning it into some kind of elaborate sandwich. This of course had to be tried.

The result? It was delicious. Though the bun itself was overly sweet, it complemented the saltiness of the fries and chicken well. The mash and gravy, though still not anywhere near as good as a pot of UK 3-step gravy, added some interesting extra flavour.

So what was missing you might ask? More chicken of course! The UK's Boneless Banquet For One not only features mini breast fillets coated in Original Recipe but also adds a small tub of Popcorn Chicken to the mix. Close then, KFC Australia, but not quite what we'd hoped for.

Oh, the hangover? Yup, pretty much cured post-chicken. The Colonel strikes again.

Taste: 7
Value: 6.5 ($10.95 for the meal or about £5.50)
Innovation: 3

Overall: 6/10

The Double Down Dog launches in the Philippines

Today the internet has quite rightly dropped to its knees in order to worship a revolutionary new KFC product: the Double Down Dog. We thought the Double Down was something unique, something incredible. Then along came the Hash Brown Double, proving that you can indeed improve on perfection. And of course we can't forget Korea's Zinger Double Down King which adds a beef burger into the mix.

Well now the Colonel's only gone and added a sausage into the mix. Devastatingly, this delectable creation is apparently limited to a mere 50 per store and only available over the next couple of days. KFC Philippines is no stranger to innovative new products that haven't seen the light of day elsewhere but we can only hope that the PR it's generated will convince Harland to bring it to the rest of the world. 

So many questions remain about the Double Down Dog - what is the sauce on top? Just how do they bend the chicken to fit so neatly around the pork? Will they release a special edition with added bacon? Until we're able to sample one, the closest we can come is this photo of what might possibly be the world's most delicious snack spotted in the wild:

This is the totally absurd KFC Double Down Dog, spotted in the wild. From @TheDaddest: pic.twitter.com/pMaOWAlWv0
— Kim Bhasin (@KimBhasin) January 26, 2015

KFC in Australia - Zinger Pie review

Upon first moving to a new country lots of small details strike you as unusual - these are mostly insignificant to the locals to the extent that they'll express surprise if you point them out. In the case of Australia, it was things like the clicking traffic lights, washing machines that play tunes when they finish a cycle and the obsession with banana bread and pies. Now don't get me wrong, us Brits bloody love a good pie. But you'd normally only find them in fish and chip shops, the odd pub and 'British' restaurants. Over in Oz, you'll
encounter them in every convenience store, you'll see rows and rows in the freezer aisles dedicated to them or even whole chains of shops (PieFace being the best known) dedicated to this humble snack. The thing is, most of them are pretty poor thanks to sludgy, measly fillings and soggy pastry.

Step up the Zinger Pie: the first of its kind we'd encountered on our global travels and making its second appearance in Australia after a limited edition run this time last year. First impressions were good - the pie was a deep golden brown colour and nice and flaky on top.



The initial bite was more rewarding than we'd anticipated thanks to a surprisingly decent amount of chicken and gravy which was packed full of flavour. In fact there was so much filling that our hands soon became covered in it (not that we're complaining) - finger licking good indeed.

The chicken itself reminded us of the pre-marinaded breast pieces you'd find in supermarkets except of course for the fact that this was a marinade like no other - a Zinger marinade. And very tasty it was too.

At $3.95 (about £2.10) the pie itself represented great value for money. To ensure a full review however we felt it necessary to 'box it up' and add an OR chicken piece, fries, a drink and mash/gravy bringing the total up to something more like $11. Unfortunately we found the mash very bland and the gravy a big disappointment but we're here today to talk pies, not potato. Speaking of potato though, there's also a Kentucky Pie on offer which includes aforementioned mash and gravy within the pie itself. As lifelong Zinger devotees though it just didn't appeal.

Taste: 6.5
Value: 8
Innovation: 9

Overall: 7.5

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