Drew v. Food VI: Shamrocks, Chicken & Donuts

KFC Chicken & Donuts Sandwich

Editor’s note: The latest attempt by KFC to give me a heart attack comes in two styles: as a basket consisting of a pile of chicken fingers with a pair of doughnuts on the side, or a pair of doughnuts with chicken (and no condiments) shoved in between. The specs of the review model were: Sandwich.

Back when I worked in D.C. (that’s District of Columbia; I obviously still work for Damage Control), I used to greatly enjoy when the Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken food truck came around, so I knew full well what I was getting into with this combination.

The first thing you’ll notice about the sandwich is a most beautiful scent that nicely accentuates just what a doughnut can bring to the table. Once you bite through the glaze, though, there isn’t much flavor to the doughnut. So while I wouldn’t buy one by itself, it serves fine as a medium to share the glazy goodness with the chicken.

A word of caution: The lightly fried glazed doughnuts made this sandwich the messiest and stickiest thing I’ve eaten in a good while. Grab a handful of moist towelettes for this one.

And for those wondering: Yes, Astro’s was better. And cleaner.

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Oreo Shamrock McFlurry

The Oreo Shamrock McFlurry is green. Very green. Deceptively green. At first glance/blush/taste, there’s more flavor in the McFlurry than the Shamrock Shake. But that flavor (and color) doesn’t come evenly. I strongly recommend giving the concoction a VERY good stir before chowing down.

Bottom line: If you like the Shamrock Shake (and I do), but would like it to have a more ice cream-like consistency (and I don’t), then this is for you. The rest of us can continue enjoying the shakes on this, its golden anniversary.

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Mountain Dew Zero Sugar

If you were holding out hope for something less vile than Diet Mountain Dew, you got it. If you were instead holding out hope for a “zero sugar” drink that doesn’t have that same slightly metallic taste to it, you didn’t get it.

Unlike Dr. Pepper, neither low calorie option tastes quite like regular Mountain Dew. Though in retasting Diet Dew for the first time in years, I will say they’ve managed to improve on the flavor somewhat. It’s still awful.

But none of the above are as bad as Canadian Mountain Dew. I don’t know how many dozen additives present in the U.S. version are banned up there, but they’re apparently vital to making the flavor palatable.

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Kit Kat flavor of the week: Shinshu Apple

There’s no change in appearance to this Kit Kat, but that belies its powerful taste, which is distinctly that of a yellow apple. And you won’t be eating two of these in a row, as the taste comes on strong and lingers.

Shinshu does not appear to refer to a particular apple cultivar so much one of the two regions of Japan where apple-growing is common. It might be a very roundabout way of referring to the Shinano Sweet apple, a hybrid cultivar created in the region.