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| McDonald's Croatia 'Hrvatski Okusi' Young Potatoes - May 2016 |
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| Young Potatoes = Mladi Krumpiri |
Consumed on 21 May 2016
Location - McDonald's Jurisiceva, Zagreb, Croatia
Price - 15HRK = $2.27USD
Calories - 120kcal (8 Piece)
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| McDonald's Zagreb, Croatia Receipt - May 2016 |
Zagreb was the first stop on our two week trip to Eastern Europe to both Croatia and Bosnia. The Wife's family has visited Croatia and Bosnia before, but this was my first time to that part of the world. Unfortunately the part of Bosnia we were visiting (the North & West) didn't have any McDonald's after the branch in Banja Luka closed in early 2015 so I was only able to cross Croatia off my McDonald's list, and miss the also limited, Caesar Burger. I was however able to try the Young Potatoes in Croatia together with a to-be-reviewed limited edition McFlurry. Due to the sheer amount of food I ate over the course of my trip meant I actually turned down the chance to review the "HR Burger" which was a limited edition offering, didn't seem all that exciting as it was a standard burger with bacon sourced in Croatia, and with spring onion replacing the standard onion slices. Photos of both burgers to be posted at the bottom of the review.
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| Standard EU non-promo box. |
Despite being small, the 8-piece serving size was a decent serving sinze, and since they were served with the skin still on (always a favourite of mine) they looked like they had just come from the farm; no processing done here, they looked exactly like a potato should look and feel, the slight blemishes on a few pieces really added a rustic look, which isn't something you'd usually see at McDonald's. Like the HR Burger, the Young Potatoes were also sourced in Croatia, and were promoted as a healthy alternative to the standard fries. The nutrition facts on the website indicated these were in fact fat free, since they were baked rather than fried, and also sodium free, both of which my serving was not.
My portion was served piping hot, as I had to wait 3-4 minutes after placing my order to when they were handed over. That's a good sign, but upon reflection I wondered how they could keep a constant supply of baked potatoes ready for serving without drying out under a heat-lamp? Even though they are small, it would impossible to bake-to-order. Well, what this branch did was throw them in the fryer prior to serving, which, naturally, would no longer make them a fat free product. This quick fry meant the outer skin had a nice crisp to it but the centre remained firm like a baked potato should be. If this was the standard method of cooking these, I'd have no issues whatsoever, but they can't go and call something fat free when it's been fried. To make things worse they also covered these with salt. Again, they probably tasted better in all honesty with the salt on top but, they shouldn't be promoting these as sodium free healthy alternatives when they clearly aren't. The slight misleading aside, these were actually some of the best sides I've had in recent memory. Even if they were supposed to be fried, I would happily swap out my fries for these whenever I had the chance.
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| McDonald's Croatia Mustard - made in Germany. |
The only "issue" I had here was the sauce provided. When attempting to place my order, I ran into a bit of a language barrier with the woman taking my order as I can speak zero Croatian and her English was very limited. I wasn't completely sure if the sauce in the promotional photo (look back at the top, below "hravaski okusi" - Croatian Flavours) was supposed to be a limited edition sauce for these potatoes as it didn't look like any of the standard McNugget sauces. I attempted to point to the photo on my phone, and after a few nods of agreement and some Croatian I couldn't understand, I ended up with 2 packages of mustard...which would have been the exact sauce I would have ordered if I had to pick from the standard range.
Rating - 4/5
If these didn't have the "unhealthy" extras covertly added, they would have certainly earned a perfect score.
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| The HR Burger I skipped from Croatia |
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| The McDonald's Bosnia Caesar's Burger which I would have tried if there was a branch closer than a 3 hour drive away... |