Consumed on 19 October 2014
Location - McDonald's Liang Court, Singapore
Price - Sakura McFlurry - $2.80SGD = ~$2.24USD. Red Bean Pie - $1SGD = $0.80USD
Calories - McFlurry ~ 380kcal. Pie ~250kcal
Despite the previous pathetic attempt for their last McFlurry, the incessant Singapore heat beat us down yet again, and my wife and I caved, and gave the Sakura McFlurry a shot on yet another hot and steamy day in Singapore. That's surely the reason why ice cream costs so much on this island, no matter how much it is, you are still going to pay it in order to cool down...
Luckily, this time the McFlurry wasn't mostly melted when they handed it to us. This McFurry was made at the main counter, by a manager, so it was served with a healthy amount of toppings. Most of the time in Singapore, the promo ice cream flavours are only available at the "dessert kiosks", which are standalone cashiers who only make and sell ice cream. I've come to find out that ordering any McFlurry at the "dessert kiosk" usually means you are going to get a poor attempt at one. I'm not sure if it's because they want to knock them out fast, or because they man the kiosk completely alone without any supervision causes them to get lazy, but they are always pretty poor, which might explain my love/hate relationship with McFlurries in Singapore.
The Sakura McFlurry launched alongside the 2014 re-release of the Samurai Burger (which I didn't review again). I guess they really wanted to stick with the Japanese 'theme' as Sakura is the Japanese name for a Cherry Blossom tree, a beautiful tree no question about that, but has absolutely nothing to do with Blackcurrant, the primary flavour in this McFlurry. Blackcurrants aren't grown, nor typically eaten in Japan, so this was clearly McDonald's Singapore grasping at straws. The flavour wasn't that bad, but it clearly wasn't 100% Blackcurrant syrup, there was more Raspberry flavour than anything else, and although there were a few Blackcurrant bits, it was obviously mixed together with Raspberry, most likely a cost cutting measure, as the very few times I've seen Blackcurrant jam in Asia, it's very expensive. The other topping on the McFlurry was small, extremely stale pieces of wafer. I had originally thought they just crushed some ice cream cone on there, and that probably would have been tastier than the rock hard bits of wafer they used. It was only marginally better than the completely unidentifiable Blackcurrant Strawberry McFlurry I somehow ended up with in China one day. I didn't order it, but that's what I ended up with...
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| Singapore - Why are you so reluctant to have promo packaging? |
My wife had an interest in trying the Read Bean Pie. I had tried it twice in 2010 when it was released in Hong Kong, and this was the first time we had seen it in Singapore. At $1SGD each, it wasn't as painful for the wallet to try as the McFlurries are, so we gave it a shot, even if we knew we weren't going to finish most of it. I'm not sure if this was because I tried it in Hong Kong before, but this was a lot less sweet than I remember. This time around the pie had a clearly Red Bean grittiness to it, and although it was still sweet enough to be a dessert, it wasn't overly sweet. We actually both quite enjoyed it, despite the heavily fried shell. Maybe if McDonald's Singapore can bring the Green Bean Pie over, I'll be able to re-review that one as well.
Rating:
Sakura McFlurry - 2/5
Red Bean Pie - 3.5/5