Dominos Spicy Baked Chicken

So I was strolling across the food court at DB Mall, Bhopal and was getting confused between Dominos and KFC! (A foodie’s eternal dilemma!) Finally I talked myself into trying something new at Dominos. I was going through the “sides menu” and zeroed upon two options: The Lebanese Rolls or Spicy Baked Chicken! I wanted to try the Lebanese Rolls but as I was about to place the order, my initial inclination towards KFC made me say, “Spicy Baked Chicken please!”

I was given the bill and asked to wait for my number to appear. As soon as I left the counter I realized that I had made a stupid choice. “Prateek! If you wanted to have chicken, why didn’t you buy from the place which HAS the word “chicken” in its name??” So I had to reason with myself that this way I would have tried something new at Dominos and probably get the feel of having chicken legs and compare it to KFC! Oh who am I kidding! No way Dominos could do a KFC here! Between all this self talk, my order arrived. Not coming in with high expectations, I sat down to deal with what I had done. When you make a choice, you deal with the consequences!

You know how you have a gut feeling about your decision that it’s going to suck real bad? Well, my guts were pleasantly surprised and so was my tongue as well as my stomach! This dish turned out to be really good! It is definitely better than the chicken wings that Dominos serve and let me go out on a limb here but I liked it better than the Fiery Grilled Chicken at KFC! Yes, I have said it and I totally mean it!

The taste, texture, aroma and “the spice” makes this a mouth-watering temptation! The price point of this dish is similar to that for KFC and can be a nice add-on to the pizza that you order, especially if the small pizza does not fulfill your desires and the medium one is too much to handle! So I would say that it is a “job well done” for Dominos and a “watch-out” for KFC!

Dominos 1, KFC 0

McDonalds Crispy Chicken Pops

Been to a McDonalds store recently? On display would be these huge images of delicious looking broken popcorn-like pieces with either chicken or spinach filling inside, with the caption saying “Introducing Crispy Chicken Pops at Rs 30/-“

Now immediately your mind wanders to the “Chicken popcorn” at KFC and you think, “Hmmm... So Mcdonalds decided to do a KFC here!” So I get all excited about this new product and rush to the counter to get myself one of those. Eager to taste and compare it with the KFC counterpart! That day I experienced the feeling of absolutely-sheer-colossal disappointment! Can be compared to the feeling an Indian cricket fan got when India saw an early exit from the 2007 Cricket World Cup! Imagine that!

If you are thinking, “Oh common! It’s Mcdonalds! How bad can it be?” Well I do not know where to start! Let me paint a picture for you!

Quantity: In Rs 30 you get 6 very very very small pieces of popcorn like substance (size as small as that of “under-cooked” popcorn!). Okay, that’s exaggeration but when you see it, you’ll know what I am talking about! There should be a limit to which the photos of the food items should be expanded!

Taste: is nowhere even close to what KFC has to offer! It’s not a first-bite-oh-wow kinda stuff and more of a taste that grows on you! They obviously don’t know what “crispy” means and by the time your tongue gives acceptance to the taste, game over!

Overall: That awkward feeling after you get conned and the lady behind the counter gives you that small packet and says with a smile on her face, “Enjoy your meal Sir!” MEAL??? Are you out of your effing mind girl!! Do I look like I am from Lilliput!!!

All said and done, my advice to you would be to spend that 30 bucks on something worthwhile and probably avoid the “Crispy Chicken Pops” even when served for free! I don’t think it will stay on the menu for long!

KFC 1, McDonalds 0

Food: FYI

FYI- Fun, Food, Friends                

Are you a Maggi lover? Do you reminiscence the night canteen trips with your gang during your college days when Maggi used to be your staple diet? And what about the times when you would experiment with maggi and then declare yourself as an established cook? Well FYI is definitely a place you would wanna visit.

Before you rack your brain thinking what kind of a name is FYI, let me help you with that. “For Your Information”, this is a new fast food chain that specializes in a menu consisting of a potpourri of dishes made from Maggi. Despite the fact that “Maggi” has become synonymous with noodles, FYI uses actual Nestle “Maggi” for their preparations. From different flavored maggi, to crispy noodles, noodle balls, noodle rolls, noodle kebabs and so on.  You get the drift. ;)

What is the X-Factor you ask? Well, just like the name for the restaurant, all the dishes in the menu are the usual abbreviations that we use while chatting viz. WTF, LOL, TTYL, BRB, HMMM, OMG, etc. Wait wait, do not start making up your own full forms for these dishes. They use the colloquial meanings of these abbreviations as the dish description. So a WTF would read like, “Crispy Crunchy deliciousness What the F*#K is it?” or a LOL would read, “ You will be Laughing Out Loud to be offered cheese, butter veggies, chillies, garlic, etc at this rate!!”

I tried the TTYL there. The description said, “I will Talk To You Later, it has red chilies and schezwan in it!” and it had two small red chilly symbols besides it calling out, “Indulge at your own risk!” That was enough motivation for me to try this dish. As it turns out, it lived up to its expectations and was pretty Hot! Plus they served a copious amount of it, enough for a snack for two regular-sized people, unless you are a pro at devouring Maggi! The rates are a little high to reasonable range. I spent Rs 99 for a combo order of the dish with a 300 ml beverage.

What I liked about the place apart from the funky and eye-catching names of the dishes and the use of maggi (duh), was that they included tax in the prices that were displayed. So a dish priced at Rs 70 will be a Rs 70 dish and not a Rs 75 or 77 dish with xyz taxes that makes you jiggling and rummaging through your wallet in desperate search for change.

So I would suggest all maggi fans to try it out, see what all can be done with maggi and then impress your partner by trying it out at home and claiming it as your own creativity! :P

Check out their website for more information: www.fyifoods.com

FYI Menu:

Next in the Food Menu : Crispy Chicken Pops from Mcdonals and Spicy Baked Chicken from Dominos