The other day I created my own burger at McDonald’s, and was pleasantly surprised.
I don’t go to Maccas amazingly frequently. Here and there on my road trips and very occasionally when I’m out and about. Less than once a month I’d say is more than likely.
I visited the Maccas in Chadstone on the 08/11/2015 at 1:30 pm. I had intended just to get a Grand Angus meal, but the queue to the registers was somewhat long so thought I’d have a go at the Create Your Taste touchscreen board.
So, I got a regular bun with herb aioli, angus beef, red onion, tomato, spinach, lettuce, Maccas cheese, mozzarella and crispy bacon.
Maccas have made the experience of ordering it very easy, the touch screen is responsive, which considering the size is pretty good, it feels like a capacitive touchscreen, the only touchscreens I’ve used in the past that are the size Maccas has are resistive touchscreens.
Only once or twice did I have to swipe twice when it didn’t react accordingly.
It arrived in a pretty good amount of time for a freshly made burger. On a wood paddle, which as anyone who’s eaten anywhere seems to be the norm for ‘fancy’ burgers and something I follow @WeWantPlates for much amusement regarding.
But there was a piece of waxed paper separating the burger from the wooden paddle, said paper didn’t buckle under the small amount of liquid that came out as I tucked into the burger so I think it serves as a good enough barrier between burger and wooden board.
The burger was surprisingly good.
If I’d been served that at some fancy inner city cafe rather than at Maccas I’m not sure I’d be able to tell.
The bun / roll could have been a little more firm slash less Maccas-like.
Also the cheese weren’t melted onto the burger.
If I were to order it next time I think I’d opt for Maccas cheese and parmesan to better level out the flavours a little bit.
My dining compatriot just had a cheeseburger meal, but did remark on how good it looked. But also said ‘If I’m going to Maccas I want something unhealthy tasty and with chips’.
I don’t disagree, but, I think I’d also want something more than just standard Maccas fare if it’s there.
Receipt.
It’s also not that much more than a large burger meal at Maccas or Hungry Jack’s. it certainly rivals Hungry Jack’s for its flavour and presentation, although HJ’s is more ‘flame grilled’ flavour-esqe, the bacon is smokey and that’s good enough.
In the past I’ve certainly eaten much worse burgers than what I got at Maccas’ Create Your Taste.
Reflecting on other eateries that also do fancy burgers, though it’s not really a fair comparison there’s Grill’d which do fantastic burgers and chips. However, if you buy their ‘mighty’ burger (which has different names depending on which state you’re in), and eat it with your hands only it will come a part and dribble sauce onto your hands.
The Maccas burger was perfectly sized and also came with a Create Your Taste moist towelette.
I do wonder how much this must have cost Maccas to implement, there’s at least 2-4 touchscreens in each Maccas. Then there’s the ingredients they’d need to have on hand to make up these burgers.
Looking through Maccas’ menu and what’s on offer on the Create Your Taste menu it seems like a lot of the ingredients are used in their regular burgers.
I think the exceptions are the cheeses, sauces, different buns along with the grilled mushrooms, grilled pineapple, jalapenos, caramelised grilled onions, coleslaw and spinach.
Even though I’ve not ordered either of the caramelised items be it onion or mushrooms I would hazard a guess these are prepared elsewhere and just reheated for their role in Maccas’ CYT menu.
Grilled pineapple is from a tin.
The jalapenos are pickled.
Which leaves the coleslaw and spinach as the two perishable items on the list. So perhaps not a huge cost to them, but there must’ve been some in the process of setting all this up.
But I think that the Maccas Create Your Taste menu, option, ordering thing is a pretty good alternative to the standard Maccas fare and is certainly better than any of the other options for fast food, especially give the ubiquity of Maccas around Australia.