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| McDonald's Cotton Candy McFloat- Manila, Philippines - March 2017 |
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| McDonald's Pear Pie - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - March 2017 |
Cotton Candy McFloat:
Consumed on 09 March 2017
Location - McDonald's Greenbelt, Makati, Manila, Philippines
Price - 29PHP ($0.58USD) for 1, or 55PHP ($1.08USD) for 2.
Calories - ~320kcal
Pear Pie
Consumed on 12 March 2017
Location - McDonald's KLIA, Sepang, Malaysia
Airport Price - 4.95MYR = $1.12USD
Calories - ~250kcal
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| McDonald's Philippines Receipt March 2017 |
Apologies once again for the lack of reviews over the last week and a half. The Wife and I had guests visiting from Taiwan, then I ended up with food poisoning of all things (likely from Pizza, not McD's) so I didn't want to even look at pictures of food, let alone try and think of the taste. But I'm feeling much better now, so it's a perfect opportunity to present two items I had on recent business trips, the Cotton Candy McFloat and Pear Pie. Both items didn't really warrant a full review of their own so I'm combining into one. I'll start with the McFloat since that is the slightly older item.
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| McDonald's McFloat |
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| McDonald's Philippines Mushroom Pepper Steak 2017 |
McFloats aren't that uncommon at McDonald's Philippines nor even the rest of Asia. I've seen them offered around quite a bit and they are a regular menu item in a few countries, usually promoted with the McFlurries or Sundaes and typically served with the standard Coke or Sprite. "Promo" McFloats popup now and then as well, and apart from the proper review I did in Malaysia years ago, I've always given them a pass, as I just don't really enjoy floats all that much...I think they are pretty gross. The Peach McFloat I had in the pre-blog days really turned me off them.
A colleague of mine visited the branch with me, so we decided to order two, since they had a special on two for only 55PHP, and since it was late in the afternoon after the lunch rush I was able to get a clear view on how it was made. First they walked over to a plastic bottle labelled "RED" put in a few spoonfuls and filled the cup half way with Sprite. Then it was time for far too many scoops from the bottle of "BLUE" and then filled the rest up with more Sprite, only to then top it off with the signature soft serve ice cream. I have no idea of the combination of the unidentifiable scoops of RED and BLUE gave it a two-tone look like in the promo photos as we were served in opaque white paper cups.
When I stuck my straw in and gave it a taste, that exact ice cream + fizzy pop combination which I do not enjoy came through nearly instantly ruining the drink for me. I know it's more the texture over the taste I do not enjoy so I wanted to make sure I gave the drink a fair taste...Once I cleared the straw of ice cream I was finally able to give the drink a proper try. Being at the bottom of the cup, I was most likely drinking "RED" on my second sip and it tasted exactly like bubblegum. I wondered if "BLUE" would taste any different, so I pointed my straw closer to the top where the blue layer would be...still bubblegum. This whole cup, regardless of what colour it was tasted like bubblegum. I guess that's how Cotton Candy should taste? It's not really one of those flavours that you can place in drink form when you try and think about. Maybe since Hong Kong had a Bubblegum McFloat before they wanted something completely different? I had at best 1 more sip, before using the straw like a spoon to try and eat the ice cream, which was far more difficult than it sounds.
Rating - 0/5
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| The longer it sat, the more strange foam started to congeal on the top... |
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| McDonald's Malaysia Pear Pie & Milo McFlurry 2017 |
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| McDonald's Malaysia Receipt 2017 |
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| McDonald's Malaysia Standard Apple Pie Box 2017 |
A couple days after Manila I had to head down to Kuala Lumpur. Even though I was there for two full days, KL is one of those cities I just never find myself near a McDonald's when I have time to eat. I also find myself not hunting them down since I know there's a branch at the airport as a last resort. This branch has bit be in the ass before being sold out of promos, but this time I was lucky enough to find the Pear Pie being offered on one last days of it's 1.5 month run. You might have noticed in the promo photo above that it was bring sold with the Milo McFlurry, but that's something I reviewed years back on the day I launched this blog.
If a Pear Pie just sounds like a boring, slightly less sweet Apple Pie you'd be just about spot on with how I feel. It was pretty flavourless all things considered, and yes you could get a hit of pear if you had a big serving of syrup, but those were few and far between in the pie itself. Most of my pie was hollow without that much filling at all. I would have liked a bit of pear "crunch" in there a few larger pieces of pear inside would have made a huge difference, but it was just as soft as any other fruit filled pie would have been. What I also didn't like was how similar it was to the standard McDonald's Apple Pie, just without any cinnamon. I suspect that if they added cinnamon to this pie most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference apart from the colour.
The one redeeming quality I will give it was that it was a near perfectly cooked McDonald's Pie. This airport branch has not only disappointed me by not having what I want, but when they do, it's often horribly cooked. This time at least the pie was served hot and somewhat fresh. With that quality bump, they've also increased their prices to astronomical levels (for Malaysia). A Pie in the city is 2.95MYR, and at the airport they were 3.95MYR. They are now selling them at 4.95MYR which isn't much more than $1, but still I don't like the price gouging out of principle, so I might do better to eat in the city next time.
Rating - 1/5