Takeaway Truth is an occasional Lifehacker feature where we compare marketing images against what you actually get served. Today: Burger King’s Bacon & Sausage Croissan’wich. (Plus taste test!)
America has a bit of a problem when it comes to fast food mashups. From the “Cronut” to “Baconnaise“, there is no limit to the culinary portmanteaus on offer. The latest entry in this extreme food craze is the “Croissandwich”. This is essentially a croissant mixed with a burger (which Americans prefer to call “sandwich” for some reason.) It substitutes a typical burger bun for croissant bread and comes with a range of available fillings.
I’m currently in the US for CES so figured I’d give one of these bad boys the Takeaway Truth treatment. I plumped for Burger King’s popular breakfast version — the King Croissan’wich with Sausage & Bacon. Here’s the blurb from the Burger King website:
Our King CROISSAN’WICH with Sausage & Bacon is piled high with fluffy eggs, two helpings of melted American cheese, and a hearty serving of savory sizzling sausage and thick cut naturally smoked bacon on a toasted, flaky croissant.
As you probably suspect, this isn’t a healthy meal by any stretch of the imagination: a standalone Croissan’wich packs in 570 calories, 31g of carbs, 5g of sugars, 38g of fat, 1330mg of sodium and 185mg of cholesterol. This might not seem too bad compared to some of Burger’s Kings larger burgers, but it’s important to note that this is a small breakfast snack that can be finished off in two or three bites. (There’s also a Fully Loaded version on offer that adds black forest ham and extra cheese to the mix.)
To test the King Croissan’wich, we purchased one from an LAX outlet and compared it to the image on the website. Here they are, side by side:
I’ve never seen a whale’s vagina before, but I imagine it looks something like the image on the right. This is a colossally poor effort. The cheese is all runny, the egg is a misshapen mess and the croissant has an unpleasant oily sheen. You’d have to be seriously hungover to even consider sticking that thing in your mouth.
On the plus side, it tasted goddamn delicious. This might have been partially down to jet lag, or the fact I skipped breakfast on the plane, but seriously — it was one of the tastiest fast food products I’ve eaten in a long while. The individual elements might look sloppy, but they make a perfect marriage.
If you’re planning a trip to the US, I highly recommend snapping one up. Otherwise, start petitioning Hungry Jack’s to bring the Croissan’wich Down Under!
Truth Rating: 3/10
Taste Verdict: 9/10
Which fast food franchise or menu item would you like us to tackle next? Let us know in the comments section below.
Comments
11 responses to “Takeaway Truth: The Burger King Bacon & Sausage Croissan’wich”
Actually looks better than the photo. Ain’t nobody got time for all your pastry to be comin’ off in flakes that you have to hoover up separately! Let that grease-glaze keep it all nice and densely compacted together for ease of suicide-by-fat.
My god that looks amazing and I want one so badly
I think I just felt my arteries tighten looking at the picture.
I would so eat that. In fact, I want to eat that, right now.
I have to admit, I actually prefer the look of the one in your photo, runny cheese and all. The egg in the promo image looks like a folded-over kitchen sponge and that really puts me off.
This used to be a regular feature not occasional.
I feel ripped off.
Compared to how most things get served up by the major chains I don’t think it looks that bad.
It probably is a kitchen sponge. Food stylists are known to use all sorts of tricks on food before photographing it (brown shoe polish on turkey etc.)
In fact I’d wager the object on the left is most likely inedible.
At least now we know the real reason for the Japs harvesting minke whales.
To be honest, 570 calories is a lot lower than I expected.
Take another look at the pic with the thing held in his hand – that thing is tiny– maybe 5cm across. The lack of calories is all down to size, not composition.
I’ll have one without the crappy bacon…