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| That little tab is almost all that makes this a promo! |
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| It's been 4 months and they still can't get rid of all those Banana Pies |
Consumed on 09 August 2014
Location - McDonald's City Square Mall, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Upsized Combo Price - 12.15MYR = $3.82USD
Calories - ~400kcal
This is another review I've been putting off on writing, it had so much promise too. In August 2014, my wife and I made out bi-weekly trip over to Malaysia, and I tried the new "GCB Pedas", which launched in late July 2014. The "GCB" is a grilled chicken burger which was initially a promo burger in early 2013. For those of you that haven't figured it out, GCB = Grilled Chicken Burger. It's simply a grilled chicken patty, topped with mayo, lettuce, shredded purple cabbage and carrot, and since grilled chicken isn't all that special, I gave it a pass on it's first promotional run. It's also been kicking around Hong Kong a couple of years now as a regular menu item, but I believe the 2013 launch was the first time it came to Malaysia. It preformed so well, that it became a regular menu item sometime in mid-2013. Since then, it hasn't really been promoted all that heavily, nor do I see many people order it. The number one chicken dish at Malaysian McDonald's is the Ayam Goreng McD - aka a KFC knockoff + rice, and I never really see anyone else ordering the GCB. This is the first promo version they've released of the GCB, and unfortunately, I should have read into it a bit more before ordering it, as it wasn't all that special.
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| Due to the harsh overhead lighting in this branch, my wife never lets me take her photo |
I like to think that after travelling to Malaysia so often over the last couple of years, that at least I'd picked up a couple words, but apparently I didn't learn the meaning of "pedas" which is simply "spicy". Yep, this was a spicy GCB. I probably would have put two and two together had they simply used a seasoned patty, but that orange sauce in the promotional photos lead me to believe that this was an all-new special sauce. Well, it kind of was, since it was the exact same sauce used on their Spicy Habanero World Cup Promo burger in June and July. Looks like McDonald's had a decent supply of this sauce leftover, and since they couldn't sell it on the football burgers, they re-purposed it on the GCB. I have no idea how much of this sauce they must have ordered, since the first burger came out at the beginning of June 2014, and when I'm writing this review in September 2014, this 2nd burger is still available.
I will admit, the sauce was more noticeable this time around since the grilled chicken patty, although still covered in skin, was lighter than the beef burger. Since it was more prominent of a flavour, I could feel the heat even more. I thought it was respectively spicy the first time around, and I was even more impressed this time. It also went together surprisingly well with the cabbage and carrot mix. Although I'm a bit disappointed they didn't have a completely new sauce, it wasn't a bad burger, and that sauce probably isn't as boring as I thought it was when I first had it in June. I'll be sure to try any other promo GCBs that come through, but I'll definitely pay closer attention to what actually makes them special.
Rating - 3/5