Spicy Grand Chicken Burger - Dubai, UAE - December 2012

Consumed on 8 December 2012

Location - Mall of the Emirates, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Price (Upsized Combo) - 23AED = ~5.98USD

Calories - ~777kcal (No so lucky for my waist!)

Many more photos after the break.

Here's the first of a handful of new items that I promised.  My girlfriend and I made a 12 day trip to the Middle East, so this is the first of a few items we were able to try out.  Our first stop was Dubai, as they had the cheapest flights from Singapore.  I knew before that most of the Gulf countries have the same McDonald's menu items, as they all share the same website www.mcdonaldsarabia.com.  Prior, and actually throughout our entire trip, the website was promoting the Spicy Chicken Big Mac burger, but when we checked out the McDonald's in the Mall of the Emirates, the Spicy Chicken BM was no where to be found.  The new promo item was the Spicy Grand Chicken Burger, which although similar, was still a bit of a disappointment, as I've had quite a few spicy Chicken burgers before.  But, nonetheless, we tried it anyway.  We decided to split a upsized combo between the two of us, as we were still on Singapore time, and we wanted to have local food later.  Though I forgot that the gulf countries serve USA sized food portions, and the large fries and coke (thankfully, I ordered Diet) were massive.

The coke was noticeably larger than her head.

The McDonald's in the food court had the longest of any of the queue.  Not sure if thats because of popularity, or that it was one of the cheaper dining options.  Even fast food combos at other outlets were ~10-15AED more than a McD's set.  

The Grand Chicken is a regular menu item, that actually has 3 different variants, 'classic', 'special' (with cheese), and 'deluxe' (double cheese + turkey bacon).  To be honest, with the size of the portions I saw some people eating during our trip, I was surprised that McD's doesn't offer a double patty option, to go along with their Mega Mac (4 patty Big Mac) and double Quarter Pounder.

Bad eating photo #1

Bad eating photo #2

This was hands down the best 'Spicy' variant in recent memory.  One bite into the patty and I noticed that it was better than the last few I've tried throughout Asia.  This was lightly breaded, similar to a McChicken patty, but just a hint of added crunchiness and firmness, and it was bigger than a McChicken patty.  It probably was a bit smaller than the  chicken thigh patties you get in Asia, but the white meat still allowed it to be juicy enough.  After her first bite, my girlfriend asked me how they get the 'spicy' inside the chicken, when it wasn't made with a spicy mayo, but rather the juices running from the patty were a nice red colour.  This was actually the spiciest chicken I've ever had at a McDonald's.  I really hope that all the patties were like that and we just didn't get lucky.  The cheese was a nicer (but still processed cheese), it was similar to the Big Cheddar Burger that I had in London that promoted its cheese.  Unlike a lot of items we've tried lately, we actually finished the entire burger, though a nice portion of the huge, 500kcal of fries they provided us were left on the tray as we left.

The promo tray insert, one thing noticeably lacking in Asia

Rating - 4/5