Over the next few weeks, McDonald’s is releasing an assortment of country-themed burgers and other menu items to coincide with the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The range kicks off with the “Brazil” beef burger and the “Australia” chicken burger. Do they perform a hat trick in your mouth, or has McDonald’s scored a disastrous own goal? Read on for our verdict.
As part of a major FIFA World Cup sponsorship deal, McDonald’s has launched a global menu featuring burgers, wraps and desserts “inspired” by the best participating nations. This includes Argentina, France, Spain, Brazil, Italy and er, Australia. You can check out the full promotional menu here.
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The Brazil burger comprises a beef patty with beans, corn and capsicum topped with lettuce, carrot, mayonnaise and tomato salsa. (Curiously, it’s called the Brazilian burger in other markets — presumably, the change was made due to the Australian slang word “fur burger”, which would have made this sound like a bald variant.)
The Australia burger consists of a crispy chicken patty, sweet chilli lime/creamy buffalo sauce and lettuce; none of which seems particularly Australian.
Both burgers also come with a specially designed “soccer ball” bun. For once, the resemblance isn’t pure marketing guff — my missus immediately picked up on the likeness despite having no knowledge of the Wold Cup tie-in. [clear]
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So how do they actually taste? Despite evidence to the contrary, I’m not enough of a pig to consume two large burgers in one sitting. No really.
Instead, I recruited the taste buds of my lovely wife to lessen the load a little. I plumped for the Brazilian, while she tackled the Aussie.
Here is her verdict:
I was really craving a Quarter Pounder last night but instead I got roped into trying the Australia Burger for this article. Thanks guys. My first question was “where’s the beetroot”? Obviously they couldn’t just rehash the McOz, which means we get chicken covered in chilli lime sauce and buffalo sauce instead. How exactly is that Aussie?
On the first bite the sauce taste was strong and not pleasant but after a few more mouthfuls I started to enjoy it and the chicken was quite yummy (it’s pretty much identical to those premium chicken burger patties). The look of the soccer ball bun is cool but I just didn’t think it captured the taste of Australia. For a McDonald’s burger it was slightly above average. I probably won’t order it again.
As to the Brazil burger, it has a curious yet subtle taste that skirts a bit too close to bland. Despite this, I found the flavour to be pleasant. The bits of beans, corn and capsicum inside the patty didn’t hugely improve the taste or texture; again the difference is subtle but not unpleasant.
One noteworthy thing about both the Brazil and Australia burgers is the lack of cheese — which definitively contributes to the blandness. On the plus side, this does slightly lesson the nutritional damage: the Brazil burger and Australia burger boast 2410kJ and 2500kJ of energy, respectively.
They’re still not the healthiest burger options on the menu, but you could certainly do worse. (The Mighty Angus burger packs in 2810kJ, for example.) That said, the soccer ball bun is significantly bigger than normal, so beware of carbs.
All in all, the Australia and Brazil burgers are pretty unimaginative efforts. If you’re keen to try one, I’d go with the Brazil which at least offers a unique patty.
Comments
20 responses to “Taste Test: McDonald’s 2014 World Cup Brazil And Australia Burgers”
Ever since all McDonald’s meat has become Muslim friendly i stopped eating there. McDonald’s will remove all bacon from its stores and will have all meat blessed by a Muslim Priest. I’m cool with blessed meat but they cant just take away my bacon.
Have they really? That would definitely broaden our options when I’m eating with my Muslim friend.
Four McDonalds restaurants in Melbourne are apparently offering Halal options (Google is my friend for finding this out). And the ones offering Halal options still serve real bacon: http://yourquestions.mcdonalds.com.au/questions/6371
I wouldn’t consider this a reason not to eat there. All Nandos restaurants are Halal, as are a lot more KFC restaurants than Maccas. Not being a Muslim I like my meat to be killed humanely, but Halal or not makes no difference to me.
Bull. Unless you can back up you assertion, I’m just going to go with this from 2013.
Not ALL stores are Muslim friendly, I noticed on their breakfast add (“what does a maccas breakfast sound like?” ad) They mention that bacon is microwaved in halal stores ONLY. Which implies there are still halal stores around.
You may as well give up Chicken altogether Frozone if this bothers you so much.
Due to the way chicken is slaughtered ALL chicken is Halal.
I didn’t know all chicken in australia was halal approved, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that was true.
However, its not just good luck that makes this so, (stop reading here if you’re squeamish). Chook that is halal approved is slaughtered via a single clean cut to the front of its throat, and it is blessed by a muslim priest. There is a huge market for selling halal chicken meat, and the incremental cost of slaughtering them in this way is minimal. It does, however, mean that chook manufacturers need to have a muslim priest on staff to bless the chook as it goes down the line.
Im told, it would actually be better if the chook was killed by a cut to the back of its neck, because then if it doesn’t cut all the way through, the chook is still killed instantly. If your alignment is wrong and you’re killing in a halal approved method, the chook Is left alive. (The halal priest often also has the duty of finishing off the odd chook that gets through)
I can’t see any evidence that Halal preparation requires blessing by a Muslim “priest” (the word you want is “imam”, BTW). It does require that the act of slaughter is performed by a practising Muslim, however, which makes it very unlikely that every chicken processor in Australia is Halal-compliant. As other commenters on this thread have noted, Google is your friend. Ignorance is not.
@anguskidman actually, i do believe you (or google) are correct. The muslim must “perform” the slaughter. (Not bless the chook as i had said)
However, i was not asserting all chicken in australia was halal approved. I was simply saying i would not be surprised to learn that, given that all it requires is for a “practicing muslim” to turn on the killing machine. (Then for the killing machine to cut from the front, not the back, and for that same practicing muslim to manually kill those who survive the first cut)
Having worked at a chicken manufacturer, i can assure you that a single practicing muslim can “slaughter” 60,000 birds in an 8-hour shift.
lol did you get ‘roped’ by a 16 year old or an advertisement?
I made her choose it for this review.
Does this mean the McRib is back?
I wish.
McAlemanha (McGermany): McRib-like pork patty, lettuce, pepper cheese, pickles, red onion and German mustard sauce
Kinda looks like a mc rib.
McDonald’s food bland, Who would have thought…………
That Pepper Mayo wrap thingy is actually pretty damn good. Which has nothing to do with this article.
I can’t believe those pictures. I live near Thornleigh (mind you it is opposite the McD Aus Headquarters) and got both burgers last night and they looked like they do in the ads. Your burgers look burnt or like they came from a Mcdonalds in America. Both burgers were nice but the chicken in the Australia was a little overcooked and dry. Original poster should find another Mcdonalds, his local one looks horrible. I havent seen McD burgers that bad since the early 00s
The location near HQ means Thornleigh is definitely the exception in terms of presentation rather than the rule in my experience!
First of all I will start by saying Mmmmmm bacon 😉 Buffalo Sauce huh yeah i love it. Said no Aussie ever. Wtf is buffalo sauce? Sounds like some Yankee crap to me.
Haven’t you ever had buffalo wings? They are the best wings ever. Do yourself a favour and find an American-themed restaurant in your city and try them.
Basically, buffalo sauce is a vinegar based chilli sauce, similar to Tabasco, though not quite as thin and vinegary as that. Frank’s Red Hot is the original buffalo wing sauce. It is mixed with melted butter to create the sauce for the chicken.
And yes, it is American, it originated in Buffalo, New York (hence the name) which would put it in Yankee territory, so you are right there.