 |
| McDonald's Korea - Salsa Chicken Burger |
Purchased on 30 June 2014 in Sunae Station, Bundang, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Consumed on 1 July 2014, in Singapore
Price - 4400KRW = $4.28USD
Calories - ~650kcal
The Salsa Chicken Burger was the second of two World Cup promo burgers sold in Korea in June 2014. This burger launched about 3 weeks after the original Samba Burger, and since both burgers only ran until 13 July, meant this burger only had about a 3 week life, making it one of the shortest Korean promo burgers in recent memory. I didn't think the Samba was all that impressive, and my wife said any mention of it on Korean blogs was also pretty negative. Since both burgers were flown in to Singapore to review, I was able to eat them both at the same time, rather than a 3 week gap like most Koreans, so I didn't have the a long wait after my initial disappointment of the Samba.
This burger used the same black sesame seeded bun, and was topped with bacon, tomato, and (according to my wife) copious amounts of lettuce that my Samba Burger had. The chicken wasn't special for Korea, but it was special for me, since it had a lightly breaded piece of all white meat chicken, which is a welcome change from the fatty and oily pieces I have to endure in South East Asia. (Although that might be changing with the first Skinless chicken that I had on the Satay Burger, right here at home in Singapore) As the name implies, what was special about this burger was the Salsa that was used to top the respectable piece of chicken. When I lived in Korea, salsa was one of those small luxuries where either I kept a stash of jars at home that I bought from western countries, or I paid extravagant prices for some bought within Korea...if you could even find it. When you did find an overpriced jar somewhere, it was undoubtedly watery, light, made-for-export salsa. Since I've had salsa on a number of McDonald's burgers before including the El Maco, the Hot Hawaiian, Kampung Burger, and more recently, the Argentina Burger dba Brazil Burger, and they've all been somewhat watery. When I want salsa, I want it as chunky as possible, so I wasn't expecting much from a Korean take on Salsa, even if the promo photo showed large tomato chunks. Unfortunately my wife already somewhat spoiled the surprise by telling me the salsa was great and that I would really like it (since if you read the Samba Burger review, you'll know she only brought me half the burgers, since she ate the rest in Korea). Not only was the salsa thick, but it was also rich with flavours that you would actually expect to taste in salsa, this wasn't just crushed tomato posing as salsa. Since it was Korea it wasn't shy with the spice, but it was still far from being considered "spicy".
Even if the photos below don't make the burger look all that appetising after it was flown into Singapore, it was still a very well deserved:
4/5
