A few months ago KFC released 3 "Signature Range" Burgers. They appeared to be short-lived... as they kinda sucked and the concept was way out of place at KFC (expensive fancy burgers at the most low-brow, "blue collar" fast food brand in this country). So I was really surprised to see them bring out a fourth (Chilli Relish & Cheddar), and re-release one of the previous ones (Smoked Bacon & Parmesan).
Basically, these are done in a fancy, "gourmet" manner... a standard you would find at a classy cafe or even restaurant. Which makes them out of place at KFC - the home of deep fried everything.... a menu range of brown food. (watching some of their commercials, their food looks so boring when you see nothing but brown (fried) items on the TV screen, with no other colours to make it look interesting).
A fancy burger among dozens of boring brown food, is like a cocktail umbrella in the middle of a cattle yard, littered with cow-pats.... it doesn't improve the overall image, and ends up being ignored as being out of place.
The problem I had with the original ones was that they were very messy - constructed with small, flaked ingredients that don't work in a burger. It's like these were designed by someone who isn't a "burger connoisseur", or even knows the basic concept of a burger - a convenient, self-contained meal within a bread-roll.
This latest effort follows the same failed format. As delicious as they are, the contents are just too small to hold together inside the small bread-roll.
They use flakes of lettuce instead of whole leaves.
They use chicken strips instead of a whole patty.
And they use grated or flaked cheese instead of cheese slices.
All those ingredients could have been included in a more suitable format, making the burger taste just as nice, but holding together in an "edible" manner.
So let's have a look at the current pair.
In their fancy black boxes.
Inside, they looked like this...
The one on the left is the new Chilli Relish one. On the right is the Bacon & Parmesan.
Both were already falling apart from the 4 minute drive home. The boxes are too big for these small burgers - they should have been wrapped in paper first within the box. The Chilli burger faired worse, with half the relish and peppers slipping out of the burger into the box.
Cut in half to show exactly what they look like inside... and what they really look like, not a fake publicity photo.
The Chilli Relish burger. (looks nice - better than when it is uncut)
Bacon & Parmesan burger. (a real mess this one)
Visually, both look tasty, but as noted already (and proven in the photos) are a real mess, which would put off anyone from buying these a second time... no matter what they taste like.
So onto the taste then....
The Chilli Relish Burger.
Very spicy... which may be the point, but I'm not a fan of hot foods. The textures are an interesting blend of soft, smooth and crunchy. If these components were in a normal sandwich at a classy cafe, this would be a great sandwich. But in a small, tall bun, it becomes too top-heavy... causing it to fall apart easily. 2/5
(the mess in the box after the first half was eaten)
The Bacon & Parmesan Burger.
This one was a nice tasting, textured "burger" (I'd feel more comfortable swapping out the bun and replacing it with two slices of bread, and calling these a sandwich). A very soft, subtle taste, which is a nice contrast to the Chilli burger... making it a nice pair to have together to compliment each other, but a very expensive pairing. Of the two, this would be the better one if you only wanted, or could afford one. 3/4
(again, so much of the contents fall out of the burger before and during consumption - not a well designed burger)
But if you want a "proper" KFC burger, go for one of the regular, cheaper ones.
And KFC should just stick to what it is good at - cheap, low-class, deep fried food. McDonalds didn't change their image with "fancy menu items"... KFC shouldn't be vainly trying it either.
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