New Product Testing

Sighted at a secret testing facility in North Wales an, Ops Shakedown for the below products. Details are sketchy although evidence can be found in a numnber of European countries of the advance of these products. The appear to be budget products but it seems a little early to be challenging the hegemony of the recently introduced 'Rollers' Perhaps they're being scaled up to produce exciting new TLOs

The ITwist.......Below is the USA marketing blurb

Strapped for cash but sick and tired of the same old cheap eats? Remix your value menu routine with KFC’s new iTwists – delicious, snack-size wraps packed with KFC’s famous chicken and exciting flavor for only 99¢! Each iTwist features a 100% all white meat Extra Crispy strip, fresh lettuce, and a blend of 3 cheeses, all wrapped up with a signature sauce in a colorful, flavorful tortilla.

Try one of our 2 new iTwists today for only 99¢ each!

•Kickin’ Jack – Sundried Tomato Tortilla and Spicy Pepperjack Sauce

•Sweet n’ Spicy – Cheddar Tortilla and Sweet n’ Spicy Sauce

The second product sighted was:

The triple dip, with special new packaging, holding 3 types of exciting dip which could herald a return for UK KFC to the glory days of multi dipping, remember zinger mayonnaise anyone or Honey Mustard dip amongst others. Rest assured, KFB will keep you informed or any further developments

TLO Fajita Wrapstar

We've had the standard Wrapstar, we've even had the Tex Mex Wrapstar and in a similar but more delicious vein we now have.......... for 6 weeks only......... the Fajita Wrapstar.

Tender crispy strips encapsulated within a hand crafted uniquiley shaped tortill wrap along with,

Salsa

Tostada

Sour Cream

Fajita Spices

Grated Cheese

The great thing about the Wrapstar is its elimination of wrap syndrome. and how such an unassuming product with its entire quota of ingredients hidden from view by the enveloping wrap can deliver such an epicurian delight when eaten.

The first couple of mouthfuls merely hinted at what lay within. I ate my way around the edge and moved in for the kill. Flavours mingled, & taste buds tingled, spices danced across my palette. this is the best TLO since the Boxmaster.

Have one for lunch

Double Down Recreation

Anyone with even the slightest interest in the fried chicken food market will surely have heard the news about the "Double Down", the fabled double chicken sandwich which was rumoured and being tested by KFC as far back as last August. If you aren't aware (and if you're reading this you really should be) the Double Down is a chicken sandwich/burger of monstrous construction...I'll leave it to the official KFC US website description and promotional pic to explain the details:

The new KFC Double Down sandwich is real and it's coming April 12th! This one-of-a-kind sandwich features two thick and juicy boneless white meat chicken filets (Original Recipe® or Grilled), two pieces of bacon, two melted slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese and Colonel's Sauce. This product is so meaty, there’s no room for a bun!

Well, the good news is they are actually making it and you can go into any KFC and buy one...delicious! The bad news...it's only coming out in America *sob*. We here at KFB have investigated and called in to the mothership, at UK KFC headquarters in Woking. Our contact there told us in no uncertain terms:

"...we have no plans to bring the Double Down to Britain at present."

A great shame, but we can hope that if it's a huge success in the states, we might at least see it tested in the UK eventually. Here at KFB however, we can't resist the allure of a new KFC product - especially one that has sparked so much interest and caused such controversy. If only there was a way we could try a Double Down in the UK....oh but wait, there is a way! We have the ingredients, let's recreate it!

So today I set foot into KFC in Bethnal Green, London to pick up the ingredients. There are admittedly a few limitations here: firstly, Bethnal Green KFC is a halal branch and as a result, doesn't sell any product with bacon. I would have to leave this out for the recreation. Secondly, I would have to settle for the single cheese slice that comes in the Fillet Tower burger, rather than the Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack cheese slices in the real DD. Finally, we are missing the crucial Colonel's Sauce. One BIG plus though...I could throw in the hash brown from the Fillet Tower burger to sweeten the deal.

So, taking the Original Recipe fillet breast of chicken from a Fillet Burger and Tower Burger, plus the cheeses slice and hash brown from the Tower Burger, I was able to recreate what is essentially a modified Double Down.



The big question: How did it taste? Biting into the Double Down (recreation) was like a dream come true. With any normal burger the bun serves as a mere containing vessel for the contents, the real meat (as it were) of the meal. Of course, we love the kasier bun used in the Fillet, Tower and Zinger burgers but when all is said and done, the peak of flavour and taste comes when you hit the filling. With the DD, the taste sensation is immediate and the Original Recipe flavours are the first thing you experience. This is complimented finally in a climactic sensory overload by the delicious filling (in my case, hash brown and cheese). I can only imagine what the real thing would taste like with the Colonel's special sauce.



Ignoring health and dietary implications (as we always do here at KFB), the DD as sampled by my recreation is everything we have come to expect from the Colonel, but doubled up. The Double Down is set for huge success, and I for one welcome the day when it arrives on our shores. Next up, a recreation of the Double Down with the same filling as the real thing...and while we're at it...how about a Zinger version??

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.

TLO BBQ Rods Box Meal

The TLO is dead, Long live the TLO

As the Spicy texan boxmaster is consigned to the annals of history (and KFBs Archive for your viewing pleasure) so the BBQ Rods Box Meal arrives to take its place and serves as a great reminder of the sizzling summer ahead.

If you like BBQ, you're gonna love this. This TLO consists of

1 x BBQ rod: 4 skewered mouthfull sized pieces of crispy chicken slathered in BBQ sauce.

1 x Fries

1 x BBQ beans

1 x Drink

1 x BBQ beast burger: Your choice of Zing or OR breast fillet on a toasted sesame kaiser bun with lush lettuce and generous helping of deluxe BBQ sauce.

The only thing missing? a BBB dip I think.

I grabbed this on Tuesday before work and the wait was torturous, nearly 10 minutes, but I was rewarded with a small popcorn chicken for my trouble.

BBQ is always the dip I go for and I really quite enjoyed the Buffalo wrap TLO feat. BBQ sauce so I was pleased to see this offering appear. I have to admit to being more of a gravy man than a bean man so I opted for this as my side, and was well rewarded with a tasty steaming hot rich dark brown three step.

But enough of this gravy talk.

The Rod, as ever was tender although it seemed strange as the Zing was absent. These are truly mammoth chunks of Chicken however which present a real satisfying challenge for a man. The rod it seemed had been dunked in a vat of BBQ and was literally dripping. However those boffins at KFC HQ had planned it perfectly. The ratio of BBQ covered surface area to chicken was spot on, providing a great BBQ taste and satisfying Chickeny notes without being too sweet and cloying.

The main event

It looked great, the bread was just how I liked it, soft and a bit squashed, BBQ sauce oozed from the edges. The chicken when I took my first bite was firm against my bite but moist on the pallet.

With this TLO there were no surprises, does exactly what it says on the box.

6..5/10