Honey Lemon Drumlets - Singapore - February 2013

McDonald's Singapore - Honey Lemon Drumlets - February 2013

McDonald's Singapore February 2013 Promos

Consumed on 21 February 2013

Location - McDonald's Centrepoint Mall, Singapore

Price - $2.00SGD = $1.62USD

Calories - Unknown

Never had this type of small bag before.  When did they switch over from brown?

McDonald's Singapore Receipt

I have McDonald's Singapore as one of my Facebook "Likes", and they've been pretty quick update when they introduce new promo items, as their website usually is a week behind, or never updates at all.  Last Thursday afternoon (shortly before I wrote the review for the Prosperity McFizz), I saw a promo shot for their new "Saver Menu" items.  The 3 new items were the Taro Pie for $1 (which I've had in HK and China previously, and reviewed here), the Blueberry Sundae for $1.50 (which I missed in Korea a couple years back, but mentioned here), and the most interesting to me at least, the Honey Lemon Drumlets for $2.00.  Not sure if they have ever been on the menu before, or if they are a totally new thing, but they seemed interesting enough for me to want to go out to try that evening.

My wife and I were walking around Orchard Road trying to decide what to have for dinner.  As we need to take the purple (North-East) line to go home, we normally walk to Dhoby Ghaut station rather than getting a red line train at Orchard or Summerset and then have to transfer.  As we were walking, we stopped into Centrepoint Mall to use the toilet, and since we decided to skip the restaurants and just cook at home, I thought I'd be able to quickly try the Honey Lemon Drumlets as a snack, and it wouldn't ruin my dinner. The Centrepoint Mall branch of McD's is normally pretty busy, but it seemed that we caught it in a lull as at ~19:15 there wasn't a queue to order, nor was there a struggle to find an empty seat.  I ordered my food, and through I didn't ask for it as takeaway, they provided it in a small white bag.  I've never noticed the bleached white takeaway bags before, I always picture them in my head as brown bags, is this just a Singapore thing?

The bag seemed heavy enough as I carried it to the table, but when I opened it and looked inside I actually laughed because I was so shocked at the size of the 'drumlets'.  I guess I never really thought about the name, as 'drumlets' do lead you to believe that they are going to be small, but judging from the promo photos, I expected them to be bigger. Each one was about the size of my thumb and neither had all that much meat on the bone.  They would have been slightly larger than a single chicken nugget, but really, with the bone, each one only has as much meat as a single nugget.  It's McDonald's, and its on the value menu, I never expected them to be huge, but at $1.00 each, they should be significantly bigger.  If they can sell a double cheese burger (McDouble), or a McChicken sandwich for the same price, these should at most be $1.00 for two.

Nearly finished after one bite.

At least making up for the lack of size, they had a surprising nice flavour to them.  You could certainly taste, and smell the lemon, and though the honey wasn't stand-out, there was a definite glaze on the outside that wasn't just oil.  The meat, though small, was of respectable quality, though you could easily finish the entire drum stick in a bite and a half.  The meat was not overcooked, and it had a decent texture and it was still juicy. When I was finished my hands were sticky, though I didn't feel like I had eaten a lot of grease, so it must have been the honey glaze. McDonald's must realise the markup they have on these, as not only did they have a big poster outside the restaurant promoting these, but also a large poster next to the standard menu, as well small stand alone promo on top of every cash register.  When a man next to me was ordering a Big Mac combo, they asked if he would like to add them to his meal for "only" $2.  He agreed.

My wife was sick, so I had to have my photo taken this time.  

I wasn't going to bother to scrape the last tiny pieces of meat off the bone.

If I was just judging the flavour, it would have been an easy 5/5, they tasted great!  The only problem was the size.  They could have sold them at half the price, and I still might have felt a bit ripped off.  When I can get a whole meal at a Hawker Centre for $3, I expect more than 3 bites of food for $2, even if at McDonald's.  I'd say give them a try once if you want to experience the flavour, but don't bother coming back for more next time, just get the $2 McChicken instead.  

Rating - 3/5