KFC Thailand: a review

Thai food has become a major institution in the UK over the past couple of decades, with even the dodgiest of boozers offering up plates of Green Curry or Pad Thai. On a recent trip to Thailand then, KFB needed to try something totally different in order to satisfy their culinary urges. We wanted to sample Thai KFC. After a day of searching, a branch within a shopping centre was stumbled upon. It was time to dine.


First impressions were good - the restaurant was packed and the smells eminating from inside were certainly alluring. We made our way to the front of the queue and snapped a pic of the menu (which we were promptly told wasn't allowed). We were excited to see most of the usual mainstays alongside some delicious looking new additions. Fish donuts, anyone?


It was only upon closer inspection though that we noticed a serious problem: there was no Zinger Tower on the menu. Zinger burgers yes but the hash brown and cheese was sadly absent. Determined not to give up, we ordered a selection of treats from the menu. First up was a Zinger meal with an accompanying shrimp donut.

Zinger burger meal and shrimp donut
Disappointing. That is the sad sad truth about the Zinger burger at Thai KFCs. With careful scientific analysis we were able to quickly arrive at the reason for the let down - no breast meat. Yes you heard that right folks - it's all dark meat in this here burger. Now I know what you might be thinking - 'But KFB, everyone knows dark meat has the most flavour - surely the Thai Colonel has struck gold with this idea'. Unfortunately if you were in fact thinking along these lines you'd be wrong - very wrong in fact. We could tell from the first bite that something was amiss - namely: flavour and texture. This was one chewy burger. And the lack of a flavour hit as a pay-off was most disappointing. In fact, the act of consuming this burger might best be described as similar to masticating a stringy piece of cardboard.

Onto the shrimp donut then. What a concept this is - breaded mozzarella cheese stuffed with shrimp and deep fried until a crisp golden brown. A great shame then that this too was a let down. The problem here was again in the lack of flavour - mozzarella is at the best of times a mild cheese but combining it with tiny shrimps and tasteless breadcrumbs and it's a bland result all round. Still, there is some novelty factor in telling people you've eaten a shrimp or fish (which we didn't sample) donut.

New Orleans Chicken Fried Rice

Not to be confused with American Fried Rice which I would strongly encourage you to read about, this seemed a concoction of egg fried rice with vegetables and a side serving of chicken glazed with something akin to Teryaki sauce. I am very pleased to report that it was very tasty indeed and suffered from none of the dryness that commonly afflicts similar dishes. Again the

meat was brown rather than white but we'd wager that it would make a tasty burger nonetheless if they ventured down that path.


Shrimp balls/Popcorn shrimp
Our final accompaniment came in the form of small round fishy balls but don't let the description put you off. Actually, scrap that, do let it put you off. These round morsels suffered from the same issues as the shrimp donut in that they were filled with cheese and basically tasteless.

So overall, something of a disappointment. We here at KFB love KFC because of the hugely flavoursome food with a perfectly balanced mixture of textures. This simply wasn't the case over in Thailand. It might have all sounded intruiging on the menu but in the eating was as bland as an old shoe. Their one saving grace? You can order your chicken (or shrimp!) online using the KFC Thailand website. Now that is an idea we need to see over here in the UK immediately.