The Mirror heads to Britain’s favourite fast food joints to try out some of their ‘secret menu’ items. From the Monster Mac and Rodeo Cheeseburger to Frings, Natasha Wynarczyk puts these hidden mystery dishes to the test
Most of us will have heard of the Big Mac, the Burger King Whopper or a KFC Bargain Bucket. But what about the McDonald’s Land Sea and Air burger, Frings or the KFC Poutine?
Those are some of the secret menu items believed to be available at some of the UK’s favourite fast food restaurants. To see if we could try some of them ourselves, The Mirror headed to London’s Leicester Square, which has branches of McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC in close proximity. I’d decided to skip breakfast that morning, so arrived hungry and ready for a fast food frenzy…
McDonald’s
This was The Mirror’s first stop on our ‘culinary tour’ of fast food hidden menus. Here, I was aiming to try the Monster Mac, the Land, Sea and Air burger and the Neopolitan Shake.
When I asked for the first two, I was told to use the self-service machine to purchase the ingredients and assemble them myself, which was four Big Macs for the Monster Mac, and a Double Cheeseburger, Filet-O-Fish and McChicken Sandwich for the Land, Sea and Air.
As I combined all the various burgers, I not only made a real mess and ended up covered in ketchup, bread and lettuce but also had to contend with being stared at by everyone eating around me.
When it came to the Neopolitan Shake – chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry milkshakes mixed together – the server told me simply that she wouldn’t be able to make it due to the setup of the McDonald’s machines, before immediately moving on to serving somebody who wasn’t going off-menu.
Monster Mac
What it is: A whopping eight Big Mac patties inside a single bun
Price: £19.96
Calories: 1,103
Rating: People have accused me of having a big mouth in the past, but I had to unhinge my jaw like a snake to take a bite of this McMonstrosity. While the beef did have the classic McDonald’s taste I enjoy, I have no idea why anybody in their right mind would want to eat eight patties in one go while spending almost £20 for the experience.
Score: 2/5
The Land, Sea, and Air Burger
What it is: Double Cheeseburger, Filet-O-Fish and McChicken Sandwich combined as one
Price: £11.67
Calories: 1,330
Rating: There’s a reason this has remained a secret. This was a true Frankenstein’s Monster and the thought of eating all these various textures and meats in one mouthful made me feel queasy. And it turns out my gut feeling was right, as after risking jaw damage for the second time to take a bite I wanted to gag. While all three of these burgers are items I choose to order at McDonald’s, I wasn’t lovin’ it when they were mixed together.
Score: 1/5
Burger King
After the Maccys madness, The Mirror headed to Burger King, where we were looking to try the Rodeo Burger, the BK BLT and Frings. While the firm’s slogan used to be ‘have it your way’, in reality trying to do this wasn’t easy. The woman serving me was very resistant to my attempts to order secret items – with asking for onion rings and fries mixed together in a box especially causing confusion. But I persevered through it, was able to get all three items (although I had to assemble the Rodeo myself) and was largely impressed with them.
Rodeo Cheeseburger
What it is: Cheeseburger with onion rings inside and barbecue sauce
Price: £2.29
Calories: 380
Rating: This actually felt like a normal burger you would want to order – which makes sense as it was a much-loved menu item, first seen in 1998 before being officially discontinued two years ago. The beef had the delicious flame-grilled taste you’d associated with a Burger King patty, while the onion rings and BBQ sauce complimented each other perfectly – and at just over £2 it is a bargain bite too.
Score: 5/5
BK BLT
What it is: A Whopper with added bacon
Price: £7.29
Calories: 747
Rating: Again, another burger you’d imagine actually appearing on a fast food menu, this incited a slight bit of confusion before I changed tack and just asked for bacon on top of a Whopper. The beef patty itself was juicy, and the lettuce and tomato gave it a fresh taste as well as the veneer of being healthy, which made me feel slightly better about what I was putting my arteries through. It loses one point, however, as they could have been more generous with the bacon for the price.
Score: 4/5
Frings
What it is: Onion rings mixed in a box with fries
Price: £5.98
Calories: 897
Rating: I remain baffled as to why the person serving me in Burger King was confused by this order, as they are two sides that do go well together in a fast food meal. The onion rings were lovely and crisp and the fries had a good bite but were fluffy inside although a little overly salty. However, it was ultimately a bit beige.
Score: 3/5
KFC
By this point, I couldn’t think of anything worse than eating more fast food – but I had one more stop before I could go home to lie on my bed and groan. KFC is famously secretive, refusing to give the details of the 11 herbs and spices that famously coat its chicken.
But I wanted to see what the Colonel was saying when it came to his hidden menu. I’d heard of Poutine, the Double Down and the Zinger Twister so decided to go for those.
The till at the front was unmanned, so I had to use the self-serve checkout and again, make a real mess while assembling the items myself. There was also a bit of creative licence when it came to the Double Down, as KFC wasn’t serving bacon so I ended up doing my own version.
Poutine
What it is: KFC chips covered in gravy and cheese
Price: £6.59
Calories: 720
Rating: This is based on a meal hailing from Canada – but actually reminded me of my favourite kebab shop order after nights out in my home city of Newcastle. It did feel a bit wrong eating this sober in the middle of the day, and it didn’t look visually appealing, but it was finger-lickin’ good. Cheesy chips and gravy is a Geordie special but I’ve rarely seen it on menus in London – I’ve now found somewhere to get my fix, although perhaps KFC is a bit of a strange location for it.
Score: 4/5
The Double Down
What it is: Two pieces of fried chicken fillet as opposed to bread, containing bacon, cheese, and a sauce
Price: £12.98
Calories: 610
Rating: This first appeared on the UK KFC menu in 2017 and went viral, becoming the chain’s fastest selling sandwich in recorded history. I ended up using a bit of artistic licence for mine, making a lettuce and mayo sandwich with chicken as the ‘bun’, as KFC didn’t sell bacon and I had used up my cheese for the poutine. It wasn’t completely fowl, as the chicken itself tasted nice – but it felt overall like a bit of a pointless endeavour.
Score: 2/5
The Zinger Twister
What it is: A fillet from a Zinger burger in a wrap with a hash brown
Price: £13.38
Calories: 612
Rating: The Twister is a delicious KFC staple – but as a lover of spicy food I’d usually pick a Zinger over a plain Fillet burger – the latter is the one that is the wrap. I had to pay 94% more than the usual £6.89 Twister price to spice it up. Was it worth paying double? Not really. While it was delicious – and something KFC should consider putting on the menu full-time – making it destroyed the integrity of the wrap and it kept falling apart.
Score: 3/5
Overall Verdict
My experience left me feeling incredibly sick and greasy – and largely bewildered as to why anybody would go out of their way to order these hidden items. Especially when you consider the fact that you usually have to order different bits and combine them yourself, literally defeating the point of fast food.
While some, especially the burgers from Burger King, made sense and I would try them again, the rest were either ridiculously complicated to make, overpriced or downright disgusting. It turns out some things are best kept secret.
