Chocolate Orange McFlurry - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - January 2016

Chocolate Orange McFlurry, exactly as served

The misleading (on so many levels) promo photo

Consumed on 22 January 2016

Location - McDonald's Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia

Price - 5.25MYR = $1.25USD (Airport Premium)

Calories - ~390kcal

McDonald's Malaysia Receipt 2016

I'll just start off by saying that I was not in a good mood when I tried this McFlurry.  After a short trip to Kuala Lumpur I left the hotel, which wasn't even situated in Kuala Lumpur proper but closer to the airport, over 3 hours before my flight time.  The Uber driver I had followed the directions of some 3rd-rate GPS app, which first drove us down dead-ends, then over to a motorway that was closed for construction and finally into stand-still traffic, though it gave other "traffic ahead" notifications. This meant that my 45min-1 hour trip took well over 2 hours (Uber has it clocked at 2h42m) so I missed check in.  This fun also meant that Malaysia Airlines charged me $50 to get on the next flight, and it was only the 3rd time in over 500 flights I've been on that I've missed check in...Although since I missed that first flight, I was able to give the new Chocolate Orange McFlurry a try at the airport branch as the only branch I was able to find in the city the night before wasn't selling this at the time, but still had the standard "Prosperity Burger" sides, none of which I was going to try.

Now if you've looked closely at the first photos I posted, you might ask why I took the photo only after the McFlurry had melted?  In fact the photos I took of this McFurry couldn't have been more than a minute after it was served to me.  This was easily the worst looking McFlurry I've ever had, as it was served nearly completely melted.  At first glance I thought it might have been that they mixed the hot fudge from the sundae on it rather than just room temperature syrup, but that wouldn't have caused the entire cup of ice cream to melt in such a way.  I'm actually pretty shocked that the staff could look at that McFlurry and think it was suitable for serving to a customer, but the problem likely stems from this particular in-airport branch.  I've been there a few times now, and it's always absolutely heaving with customers as it's one of the few food options pre-security.  The service is slow, they have a hard time keeping up with the orders, and clearing tables to allow more diners to sit (in most of South East Asia, they have designated table cleaners and the diners are not expected to do it themselves).  

Still pre-bite, but after a quick stir

Now, just from appearance alone, this would have been an easy 0/5, but I can't give it that because despite the terrible appearance, this actually ended up tasting reasonably good. It tasted like a liquid Terry's Chocolate Orange, which were always a favourite of mine growing up even though I haven't had one in years. I had quietly hoped that the "Orange" in the name might have meant there would be a few pieces of real fruit like similar Malay McFlurries have had, but this ended up being flavoured solely by the syrup.  There were also pieces of "Nata de Coco" mixed inside, which I've had in one or two McFlurries in this part of the world before. These were smaller and a bit firmer than I remember, but their typically subtle coconut flavour (these are made by fermenting coconut water for those of you that didn't click my wikipedia link above) was completely hidden by the strong chocolate and orange syrup. What they did give was a bit of texture which was surely needed in my melted mess of a McFlurry.

Rating - 2/5