Black Pepper Flamer - Singapore - April 2013

McDonald's Singapore Black Pepper Flamer.  April 2013

McDonald's Singapore finally used a promo box!

Consumed on 18 April 2013

Location - McDonald's Kovan Station, Singapore

Price (combo) - $7.05SGD = $5.71USD

Calories - Unknown

World Class photography right there.

I don't particularly like the marketing McDonald's Singapore has used to promote their new burger, the Black Pepper Flamer. What they are trying to do is have people vote (though a very difficult to find webpage), which 'spicy' burger they prefer, the McDonald's Singapore standard menu item, the McSpicy, or the new Flamer.  In all of their promotional photos, they only promote the Double patty version.  Now, I stand by my previous review and saying that the McSpicy isn't really all that spicy, but at least it tries to be.  My biggest problem with the new burger is that it's not even trying to be spicy, its just seasoned...and that's a big difference. I could see what they were trying to do.  For the last 6 months, McDonald's Singapore has run promotions for their fillet-o-fish promos, Samurai burger, Prosperity burger, their $2 line, and a couple other items here and there.  They haven't been able to promote a regular menu item like the McSpicy for quite some time, so even though these burgers aren't really all that similar, they still seized the opportunity to market two burgers at once. 

Same size chicken thigh as the McSpicy, but un-breaded.

The Black Pepper Flamer, used a slightly different bun than the regular burgers which was a nice change, as many of the previous burgers here have just used the standard sesame seed bun.  Unfortunately the toppings were standard and pretty basic, just a sprinkling of lettuce, and standard mayo.  The bun was a decent size, and I didn't find it to take away from the taste of the meat, but there wasn't really anything special about the flavour.  The chicken patty wasn't battered, which was nice change, but as it was still fried, it I found it a little too oily as the thick chicken skin soaked up the oil it was fried in.

As McDonald's wasn't promoting the bun at all, the draw for this new burger was the Black Pepper seasoning.  At first, I thought it would be a little too similar to the Prosperity burger which only finished its overly long run just a couple months ago, but it was nice to see that it wasn't really a sauce the chicken was dipped in, but a seasoning that was put on the burger prior to frying. As much as I dislike frying whenever possible, a thicker breading on the patty mixed together with the sauce probably would have worked a little better.  Though the chicken thigh was still juicy, I felt the black pepper seasoning was overly salty, rather than just black pepper, its almost like the used a Black Pepper flavour McShaker to season the meat.

At $7+ for the combo, it wasn't cheap, but McDonald's in Singapore rarely is good value.  They also offered a couple other promo sides, Lychee McFizz, and the Citrus Thai Shakers, which I tried, so keep an eye our next week for their reviews.

Other promo sides - Lychee McFizz & Citrus Thai Shakers

Rating - 3/5