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!

The lengths people will go to to get KFC!

A great story published recently by the Guardian newspaper:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/shortcuts/2013/may/19/kfc-smugglers-of-gaza

KFC Croatia

Wracked by a brutal civil war less that 20 years ago, Croatia is slowly finding its feet. It's popularity amongst tourists grows year on year, yet one thing that hasn't developed at the speed the people would like is the number of KFC outlets in the country.

At the time of KFB's visit, this country of 4.2 million people all had to share just 1 KFC! To put this staggering fact into perspective, that's like us here in the UK having only 14 KFC's (thankfully we have closer to 800).

Things are however moving in the right direction with a further 2 branches having opened although still all in and around  the capital, Zagreb.

The country itself is oddly shaped, with Zagreb in the north whilst some of the nations other largest cities Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik are all on the coast to the south. Some people would have to drive 375 miles to their closest branch, (and I moan about 10 miles).

The first branch, and one that KFB visited was in the Arena Centar, a few miles south of the city centre and  less than one year old when we visited.

The branch was obviously very recently built and so well appointed on a par with other western European outlets. Sadly as you may see from the picture it shared space in the food court with a McDonalds

We opted for an Impressively named 'Grander' Burger that KFB have sampled in the past, and whilst it was good, it was clear that this was a country still learning how to produce the very best that the colonel has to offer (something which I'm always very happy to say, the UK has gone a long way towards achieving.)

The grander itself was a fillet, mayo, lettuce and toasted bun

Essentially this was a good effort and with the news that two further branches have opened in recent months, a sure sign of strides in the right direction!

http://www.croatiaweek.com/kfc-in-croatia-one-year-on/


And in case you were wondering, lack of KFC on a country can have serious effects on the population, in  the town of Mostar in next door Bosnia, a country still not home to a single KFC, people were literally throwing themselves off bridges in depair!

London's trendy chicken offerings vs. The Colonel: an epic battle

First burritos, then burgers, now...fried chicken. Yes folks, fried chicken is indeed the latest craze in trend-loving London town. Over the past 6 months we've watched with interest as a number of fowl establishments have popped up in various guises across our capital. 

Here at KFB we felt it was important that we tried as many of these offerings as possible in order to answer for our readers the ultimate question: can anyone do fried chicken as well as the Colonel? Here's how we judged - each venue is scored against 2 simple criteria: taste and value. All orders were compared to the equivalent offering at KFC - chicken burgers vs. Fillet Tower burger, classic fried chicken vs. Original Recipe chicken pieces and so on. Here's how they stacked up.

Rita's, Dalston

While they serve a variety of different American style dishes we were only here for one thing: the much lauded fried chicken sandwich. Famous food critic Jay Rayner had this to say about it:

“Rita’s Bar and Dining in Dalston is a serious piece of work. This will probably be the best fried chicken you’ve ever had.”

Bold claims indeed, Mr Rayner and not entirely unfounded. The chicken was indeed very tasty and incredibly crunchy, even giving Extra Tasty Crispy treats from the Colonel a run for their money. Ultimately though at £6.50 a pop it just can't hope to stack up to it's larger, more cheese and hash brown laden brethren - the Fillet Tower.

Taste: 4/5
Value: 3/5

Does it beat the Colonel? No
Big thanks to WhatJoannaAte for the pic.

Spit & Roast, food stall

We encountered these folks at a street food market in Dalston (we don't hang out there every day, honest). They were serving a buttermilk fried chicken burger with Korean sauce. Given that we had a slider, the closest comparison would be a Mini Fillet. And while the sauce was very interesting (and quite spicy), the mini burger cost about £3 (nearly triple the cost of the Mini FIllet). Still, a tastily different take on fried chicken.

Taste: 3.5/5
Value: 2.5/5

Does it beat the Colonel? No


Roost, Soho pop up

Operating out of a Soho pub's kitchen for a couple of months, Roost offered a wide range of chicken-based dishes. Clearly though it was the fried chicken that we had to sample. We opted for an off-menu buttermilk fried chicken burger with chorizo and aioli. While delicious and the coating very crispy, the combination of the two accompanying strong flavours was perhaps a bit much. We would however like to see the Colonel experiment with chorizo as an alternative to the usual bacon.

Taste: 3.5/5
Value: 3/5

Does it beat the Colonel? No


Wishbone, Brixton

If you follow the UK fast food scene you'll have no doubt heard of MeatLiquor - the restaurant (and travelling van before it) that could well be credited with kick-starting London's renewed interest in pimped-up fast food. Imagine our excitement then when we heard that some of the people involved were opening a chicken only shop in South London's Brixton village market. Then imagine our disappointment when we arrived only to find extremely cramped 'tables' (shelves sticking out of the walls) and sub par fries that tasted as if they'd come straight out of a freezer via an ALDI. The chicken didn't fare much better - we sampled the Thai and Buffalo thigh nuggets, both of which came in very vinegary sauces that went soggy all too quickly. Colour us disappointed.

Taste: 2/5
Value: 3/5

Does it beat the Colonel? No

Mother Clucker Soho pop up

In similar vein to Roost, these chaps are currently appearing at a Soho pub (the Endurance on Berwick St). The menu is a fairly sparse affair - we opted for the combo that included a buttermilk biscuit, some 'Cluster Clucks' which were similar to popcorn chicken, a drumstick and some waffle fries. As intriguing as they sound, waffle fries essentially equate to crisps and weren't particularly interesting. Better was the chicken - the popcorn style bites were the real winners - tasty and crunchy in equal measure. At £7.50 it did offer good value - though with a box meal at the Colonel offering a similar quantity of food at £2 or so less, they were never going to win out on the money front. Oh and the biggest disappointment - the lack of gravy. As all chicken fans know, a tub of lubricant to help the fowl slide down is essential.

Taste: 3.5/5
Value: 3.5/5

Does it beat the Colonel? No


Lucky Fried Chicken, Kentish Town pop up

Pop up. Pub. You may have spotted a bit of a theme here. The chaps who have in this blogger's opinion crafted London's best burger (check out http://www.luckychipuk.com/) were doing a residency above a pub in North London that has now sadly come to an end. First to draw our attention was the familiar effigy and tagline in use. Sacrilegious on the one hand, inspired on the other - we'll let you decide.

Between 4 of us we opted for 2 Jumbo boxes and a couple of fries and coleslaws for good measure. As it turns out this was a bountiful bevy of food. And oh what food it was. First off we sampled the coating. Though not hugely crunchy it was bursting with flavour. We're not sure what herbs and spices they were using (and certainly not the same as in Original Recipe) but damn, that was some serious taste. Then onto the chicken itself - we can safely say we've never before sampled chicken as juicy as this. In fact, we'd struggle to think of any kind of meat we've ever sampled anywhere that was this juicy. Much like the Colonel, though the sides were tasty, the chicken was absolutely the star of the show. And between the four of us, the meal came in well under £10 each, not including beer.

Is it wrong to say that we've found chicken better than that at KFC? Quite possibly. Is it true? 3 of our team sampled the chicken and in our expert opinions, we'd have to say yes. Now remember that this was a tiny pop up above a pub, not a huge international chain. And that it did indeed cost more than the equivalent at KFC. But we've got to hand it to them, the folks at LFC certainly know what they're doing. Colonel - we hope you're watching.

Taste: 5/5
Value: 4.5/5

Does it beat the Colonel? Yes, yes it does.