KFC New Zealand: 2015 Review

Avid readers will recall that back in the heady days of 2011, Paulbot published a review of KFC NZ as part of his celebrated world tour series. 4 long years had passed though and we felt it only right that we travel once more to this far flung land to provide you with an update.

This time we opted to visit a branch in the South Island adrenaline capital Queenstown, a town known chiefly for being the home of extreme sports such as bungy jumping, skydiving and jetboating. The branch, situated on one of the main high streets, was a two level affair with the welcome addition of an outside balcony area affording spectacular mountain views - a first as far as we can recall.

We opted for the bacon avocado burger, chiefly because it wasn't something we've encountered before. In addition to the OR fillet, we were presented with avocado, bacon, crispy onions, lettuce, tomato and creamy aioli. First impressions were positive:

Once we bit into the burger though we were disappointed to find that the fillet was very much on the small side compared to offerings from the UK and nearby Australia - something that Paulbot mentioned in his previous review. This (rather major) issue aside, the burger was pretty tasty if not exactly mind-blowing. The bacon was packed with flavour and definitely complimented the avocado well. We weren't huge fans of the crispy onions, something we've previously experienced in Australia's Kentucky Jack burger. 

The disappointment of the size of the fillet, combined with some pretty average fries combined to make something of an average meal, though the benefit of eating outside with a fantastic view can't be overlooked. Perhaps next time we should try the Hawaiian Zinger burger, though given the fact that it has pineapple in it, perhaps not.

KFB in Australia - Zinger Tower Stacker review

It’s all about the hash brown. No, really. Somehow this unassuming potato-based delight has the power to elevate a burger that’s already a solid 8/10 into the heady realms of 9s and 10s. 

Regular followers of this blog will know just how much we love the UK’s Tower Burgers. To our minds, the perfect combination of taste, size and value. So you can probably imagine our deep sadness upon realising that Towers weren’t an option over in Australia. In fact, and to add insult to injury, they were removed from the menu shortly before our arrival down under. Thankfully though, the Colonel has seen sense and has recently brought Towers back. This ain't no ordinary Tower though - eagle-eyed readers will know that the Stacker monicker refers to the presence of TWO chicken fillets. Yes, you read that right: TWO.

The Zinger Tower Stacker did not disappoint. In fact, it was one of the finest KFC offerings we've ever had the pleasure of sampling. The overly-sweet tomatoey sauce from the regular Stacker has been replaced here with something more savoury and far less overpowering. The chicken was juicy and tender. The hash brown was truly wonderful. If we're nitpicking, there was a construction issue that we had to address: you'll notice in the above photo that the hash brown was placed at the top of the assembly rather than between the two fillets. This was quickly addressed with our nimble fingers:

Taste: 10
Value: 8
Innovation: 5

Overall: 9

To make sure we weren't being overly swayed by the hash brown's ability to transport us back to the familiar KFCs of London, we recruited two Aussie reviewers who had the following to say:

Dave 'Gainz' G:

Cluck cluck cluck- That’s the sound of one happy chicken. A tender, juicy fillet combined with fresh, crisp lettuce, a zingy mouth-watering sauce and not to forget the addition of the humble potato made for one pretty delightful combination. I was blown away by the flavours unravelling in my mouth. Its safe to say that this was a meal fit for a king. I don’t think I’ve ever actually left a dining venue with a smile as big as the one I had spread across my face… In  fact- I’m still shaking my head, grinning at the thought of the entire experience. KFC- I’ll see you soon. You nailed it!!! 5/5

D 'Mafioso' Libs:

The combination of zinger patty and hash brown is an eclectic mix of flavours that combine to satisfy any chicken aficionado 4.5/5

KFC BBQ Boss Meal Review

I have to admit I was a bit trepidatious about today's expeditition to try the latest Time Limited Offer (TLO), the BBQ Bacon Boss Box Meal to give it its official title.

The reason for my sense of foreboding? I had opted to try what one commenter has called 'Worst KFC in the UK' accompanied by a slew of similar comments around 3 years ago. However a later comment posted a year ago paints the place in a better light, but it was time for KFB to check it out.

Why had I chosen this particular branch? Knowing that this TLO contains bacon, I knew a couple of my more regular haunts are halal branches which don't sell the bacon. I presumed, correctly as it turned out, that a small market town in the middle of a national park would not have the ethnic diversity to warrant a halal conversion.

After a number of fairly innovative recent TLO's the product design teams seem to be taking a break and have thrown together this burger from existing ingredients pretty quickly before adding an alliterative moniker to capture the attention:

When ordering I stuck with the Original Recipe (OR) fillet so I could enjoy this burger as Colonel intended. I opted for a side of gravy too and was delighted when the branch supervisor agreed to substitute my piece of chicken on the bone for a mini fillet ( although she said she wasn't supposed to, when I whipped out my Colonels Club card with it's swollen points total, I think she knew she was rewarding a real fan).

Following the comments I wasn't expecting much but was presented with a well constructed burger, just a couple of minor gripes, the hash brown was a little too brown and the bun had hardly seen the toaster, so was rather cool. The fries too looked a little overcooked but in fact were very nice and the gravy was an incredible three step that passed the standing chip test:

The Burger itself was exactly what you'd expect although I have to say it was well balanced with each of the key ancilliary ingredients (Cheese / Bacon / BBQ) coming through nicely. I just had one bite where the the BBQ was a little overpowering. The OR, so often overlooked by KFB in favour of Zinger was also very tasty although given I was tucking into this at about 13:20 not as fresh as it could have been.

The Buxton branch I have to say exceeded my expectations, It was clean with good service and helpful friendly staff.

Although there's a lack of innovation here, this is a solid contender hot on the heels of some good TLO's therefore earns itself a solid 6.5 out of ten.

KFC's of Europe - KFC Belarus

When researching my trip to Belarus; a country popularly labelled as Europe's last dictatorship; I was unable to determine whether or not there was a KFC here. A google search turns up little but a number of articles expressing the opinion that a KFC will be opened sometime in 2015. The other results are in cyrillic script and as this in not a strong suite of mine we were going in blind.

In the late September sun, having strolled round most of the capital's main thoroughfares and having seen no evidence of one existing I was suddenly bouyed by a glorious sight:

However this led to a further problem. Belarus is not blessed with many gifted English speakers so we were on our own. Apart from the delicious looking burger, featuring - look closely - a base of gherkin slices; the thing that excited me most about this billboard was the clue to this branches whereabouts in the bottom right corner.

Having spent a few days in the city I had learned to discern signs for the city's metro system and could even navigate it. I followed the billboard's instructions and travelled to the very end of the line.

And ended up at this very busy intersection with no KFC in sight:

I looked around in earnest I asked passers by who gave me blank looks and finally (due in part to a less dedicated travelling companion - Not a member of the blog writing team) I conceded defeat and went back to my hotel defeated.

Since my return I have researched again and there appears to be a fully fledged website and evidence that the branch is exactly where I was. I could see no evidence of either any building under construction or an open restaurant.... I am hoping that the cyrillic text in the billboard said 'Coming Soon' but know this Colonel... I tried

If anybody who reads the blog goes to this branch we'd love to know more.

KFC's of Europe - KFC Poland

My First KFC in Poland was pre KFB, back in 2005. I have dim but happy memories, and remember a fellow traveller remarking with a note of jealous wonder in her voice, after I consumed my burger with a certain veracity that she'd 'never seen anybody eat chicken like that'. Regardless of the intent I wore the comment as a badge of honour.

The branch itself is located near the Warsaw Central Sstation, and, unusually given the different parent companies shares premisis with a burger king, their kitchens merely seperated by a glass panel and the restaurant seating available to patrons of either brand.

Due to some unfortunate timing, we were forced to have KFC for breakfast and I was very happy to see the branch open and serving a full menu at 09:30am.

The menu had a lot of traditional favouries, Wraps, Boxmasters, Zingers and towers as well as a couple of innovative chinese inspired menu items not too disimmilar from our own current UK Time Limited offer (TLO) ricebox.

Due to hangover and a desire to get the measure of the branch in terms of the quality of their bread and butter items I opted for something a little more familiar, taking a fairly standard wrap whilst my travelling companion sampled the Boxmaster (here called the Mega Pocket). Both were made using good quality ingredients throughout:

I have to say that the qualty of the branch was all to a high standard, as was the food and weighing in at around 16 Zlotych for a standard meal this came in at around half the price of it's UK counterpart for comprable quality.

Not content with scoring highly on all of the above and great early opening to boot, the Polish KFC had one more excellent boast - Beer as a drink option. I see a bright future for KFC in Poland