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| McDonald's Singapore Veggie Crunch Burger - 2017 |
Consumed on 02 April 2017
Location - McDonald's Siglap, Singapore
Combo Price - $5.00SGD = $3.56USD
Calories - Unknown
In September 2016 McDonald's Singapore released it's first ever regular-menu vegetarian burger. They've a few different veggie items over the years, but always as a promo item. I always thought it was a bit surprising since Singapore has a huge vegetarian population of primarily Indians, and I always thought a veggie burger would do very well. My Indian colleagues used look forward to visiting our office in Bangkok as Burger King here in Thailand sells a veggie burger that usually was a missed treat for those living in Singapore. McDonald's in India sells numerous veggie options, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was the same patty, just shipped in from India. McDonald's doesn't actually make anything in Singapore and items are at least manufactured abroad and shipped in to Singapore. Since none of its neighbours offer a veggie burger, it probably is the same one sold in India, I just haven't been able to find any sources to corroborate that.
Since the burger is a part of the "$5 Extra Value Meal" menu together with the Filet o Fish (and the recently introduced, Chilli Lime Filet o' Fish which replaced the Nacho Cheese version), McChicken and McDouble, the Veggie Crunch is about the same size as all those standard options, it's not overly big, but is a decently sized medium sandwich. On it's own it's $3 SGD, which is $1 more than the $2 McChicken, but not really all that bad. Recent promos which I'll talk more about later were $9 for only a burger, so it's really one of the better values in Singapore.
The taste, was surprisingly on point, and although fried, the inner veggie mash still had a respectable croquette like flavour to it. According to the official website the vegetables included are green peas, carrots, potato and red bell peppers. They are all certainty surrounded by batter, but it still felt like a somewhat lighter option and wasn't greasy at all. Due to the density of the patty it was actually far more filling than a typical discount McDonald's sandwich.
The real problem here were the aesthetics. The promotional images try and not show much of the actual inside of the patty, but opt to try and display whatever vegetables you might find hidden within. What was served however was an ugly brownish paste with a very leftover pea casings and a few specs of orange carrot. It was certainly ugly, but very tasty. Another welcome surprise was not only was it topped with McChicken Sauce (rebranded as Veggie Crunch Sauce) and lettuce just like a McChicken, but they splurged and threw in a couple pieces of cucumber from the McWraps, which after the launch I've never seen anyone actually order. The crunch and freshness from the cucumber added just that missing bit of flavour that might have been missing from the patty on its own.
When I first told The Wife that it was a veggie burger she pulled her nose, as they aren't something ever found in Korea, but she enjoyed it just as much as I did after her first bite, so as long as you don't look down, it deserves a very high score.
Rating - 4.5/5
I actually just left Singapore again yesterday, and their current promo burgers are new additions to the Signature Collection. They've replaced the Spicy Chicken with Apple Slaw and a few others with the somewhat boring looking Classic Angus Cheese, and the Buttermilk Crispy Chicken. Since the Angus looked boring and was over $11 for a combo, I wanted to give the chicken a try, but I visited 5 branches on my 2 day trip to find this burger and it was sold out in every location I went too! It looked good, and must have been good to have sold out so fast. They were also launched with Sesame Seaweed McShakers which would have been new for me as well, but they were also completely sold out at every branch I checked! Since you won't be getting a review, so these photos will have to suffice!.
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| McDonald's Singapore Buttermilk Crispy Chicken - 2017 |
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| McDonald's Singapore Classic Angus Cheese 2017 |
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| McDonald's Singapore Sesame Seaweed Shakers 2017 |