The UK KFC disaster....

Sometimes the lowest bidder is really a mistake....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43124259


Glad I only eat it a few times a year!

I guess a lot of Brits love that horrible American fast food.

Yuk. Wouldn't touch it (or McDonalds). KFC came to our city about 7 years ago and I've never been there. Just a quick read of some of the on-line reviews made me want to throw up.

Never was impressed witth KFC..Think I've only gone there 2 or 3 times in 68 years,,Guess the only take out eats I do are Sub Way sandwiches or local pizzas

Man, if I went to Buffalo wild wings and they didn't have chicken, I'd lose my mind. Lol. KFC, not as much.

KFC was good around 30 years ago when the quality of the food was far superior. I call that the "corn on the cob" era since that was back when you could get that as a side.

I dearly love KFC ( probably because of the crazy fat and salt content ) it and A&W are probably the only two franchised junk foods that I eat...............however I tried it n London about 20 years ago and literally could not eat it....it was vile.

Unfortunately so; originally engendered by actually tasting of something, unlike English cuisine, commercially available at the time. Until immigration really took off in the mid-sixties, eating out was either high class eateries, or the likes of Joe Lyons and the good old chippy. Children weren't allowed or catered for in pubs and inns. Nothing in between, a gap and opportunity in the market which the immigrants from the sub-continent and Hong Kong, and the fast food outlets such as Wimpy first seized and filled.

Personally can't stand KFC, tasteless and slimy meat coated in an over-seasoned and over-crisped shell. Distaste compounded by awareness of the plight of the poultry both in the rearing and killing process.

Thank you for that post BD-123. It really was very informative.

Personally I prefer burger King or a good doner kebab (5 mins from home is an excellent doner place) but I try to keep fast food to once a month...

Yup. Also, Atlanta had an excellent KFC buffet not far from my job, I'm still paying for it.

I'm not tempted anymore with fast food as I live too far out for it to be convenient. The rare times I do eat out, I make it count so I'm choosier. But when I get those cravings, I look at pics I've saved over the past several years to snap me out of it.

Yumm...fried chicken head...

My thoughts also. The quality was great, and very consistent at my local KFC. As a boy, I always loved when we got a treat of KFC chicken with that corn on the cob, and the biscuit and potatoes with their brown gravy.

I last tried KFC early last year, or so, and things had indeed changed. The chicken seemed greasier, smaller, less crisp (which means sorta mushy crust). Plus, no corn now, and the biscuits seemed to have suffered, too. Interestingly, this seems to be a pretty common opinion. Some weeks ago I was out watching some vintage 1970s TV with some people, and the show included a KFC commercial from back in the 70s. Someone I was watching with said "I wish I had that bucket, back from those days when it was good".

For chicken, Nando's is the best option.

EDIT: Five Guy's for burgers, with Subway being my only other fast food choice.

About 2 years ago the parents said they wanted to try some KFC (nostalgia) so a picked up a bucket. We each had a piece and the rest went in the garbage it was so bad.

I third this. Used to love KFC, but the last time I was in one it was just terrible. Plus our KFC is right beside a Chickfila so that's a no brainer if I'm wanting chicken. Was in there yesterday, the grilled nuggets are great.

I have a KFC about once every 7 years.

Seems to be plenty.

I love Chickfila. It's a little on the pricey side but it's worth it. The quality of the chicken at KFC isn't even in the same universe when compared to Chickfila. Heck, even Popeyes is leagues better than KFC.

Fourth building (gray exterior) is the Lex Hotel in Manhattan, where I'll be spending 9 nights in April (not to be confused with the nearby swankier Lexington Hotel, both on Lexington Ave.)...



It might be tempting, smelling that chicken as we walk by, to not waste any calories on a fried chicken chain (although I do plan to hit that Subway on the other side some mornings).

Popeyes Chicken..... now that’s good.

And make sure you ask for Cajun Sparkle for it. You have to ask.

Their fries and red beans & rice are also quite good!

OK new developments in Chicken Gate
http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2...taurant-amid-massive-shortage-in-uk.html

One thing I have noticed about KFC and their original recipe flavorings have really weakened from the old days. They were so much better years ago.
We still get it maybe once or 2 times a month. Wife loves the pot pie.

Bet they reduced the salt for starters....

Right on target, I bet it was to.

I prefer Church's chicken or Bojangles . It is spicier. KFC in a pinch is ok but maybe only eat it once every two years. If you are going to get fried chicken to go might as well go to a deli at a store like walmart or publics. it is cheaper, cleaner and better tasting. But they dont have a drive thru so there is that...

The store deli fried chicken can be quite good, depending on the place.

Love our local stores deli chickens, seasoned perfectly they don`t last long.

Hmm, must go pick up the wife soon, think we will stop and pick one up for supper.

I went to Bojangles this weekend. I got my son the chicken tender biscuit. When I looked at the biscuit when I got home and it looked like the tenders came off a parakeet. There was more breading than meat. Same for the sausage and country fried steak biscuits too. I know a guy who used to work in their corporate office about it and he said they must be cost cutting right now because he experienced the same thing. I told him I guess I'd swing by KFC next time. He grimaced a bit but said he understood. He said they reduce the size of the portions but keep the price the same to cut corners. It was a "fun size" biscuit...

booooooooooooooo

I normally just get the 3 piece with chicken breast. I have noticed their tenders are getting smaller and smaller. My wife always gets the tender meal and lately they have been pretty small.

It's a good thing we dont eat out much because everywhere seems to be going to hell. Either it's priced way to high or what you get is very small or the quality had bottomed out.

I just assume buy some chicken and make it myself at home these days.

I think the ultimate moral of this thread is that if you want good fried chicken and biscuits don’t bother with fast food places! Heck, just go to your closest Cracker Barrel instead.

There ya go PM Love that place!!!!

Unfortunately I do not have that around here, sounds authentic and yummy.
We do have spicy steamed chicken feet at every Dim Sum eateries though.

Cheers,
Slug

Never heard of "Cajun Sparkle," looked it up and it's really a thing. Going to try that one day, thanks OG.

Yup, Popeyes' seasoned fries are my favorite of all fast food fries, even beating out Checkers and Arby's.

I'm on a low carb diet right now so just thinking about the Popeye's seasoned fries is very dangerous.

MarkG, ask for some extra packets and take them home. Great on burgers, steak, and chicken. It really is a great spice.

I think Popeyes recently tweaked their recipe or something as it doesn't exactly taste the same. That being said most places in my neck of the woods are providing chicken that seems like there is something off with them. Something is not right with now a majority of chicken, fried or otherwise that I've had. It tastes funny and off. I can't put my finger on it but there's a discernible change that has taken place and I don't like it. On top of that we recently lost our Maryland Fried Chicken which I grew up on. It had changed owners awhile back and so did the quality unfortunately but seeing it gone for good is sad. The only chicken that doesn't taste funny to me anymore is buying a frozen one yourself from the store. Everything else has gotten funky. Makes me wonder about those factories.... I haven't liked Kentucky Fried Chicken since I was a little boy. I think on of our local KFCs before it was shut down was known for cleanliness issues like rats crawling into and dying in the grease pans. Another place that changed for the worse a long time ago now is Dominoes wings. Years ago they actually had a fast food buffalo wing that I really liked. There was only one style with various levels of hot. I usually got the mild with blue cheese dressing. The wings were a true Buffalo style. No breading! The wings were large and full of meet and the flavor was great. I'd drizzle out some of the hot sauce onto my plate and dip my thin crust pizza in it and the blue cheese. Some years ago Dominoes totally changed the way they do wings to something that supposedly even they're TV commercial "Chefs" said was much better. Nonsense. Regardless of the new sauces, which are all horrible in my opinion anyways, the quality of the wings themselves are utterly pathetic. You want to talk about parakeet wings these things are tiny with barely anything on them. The quality is also horrible. It tastes more like the meat was grown onto the bone in some lab somewhere than something that came off a healthy once living, as God created it bird. I just hate when a place changes completely a decades old recipe and quality to something perceivably worse and then tells everyone in their commercials that its better. Thankfully there are other places now that do it right.

Thought the same thing, but as we all with Obama push for healthier living many of these outfits had to lower the sodium intake which will really change the flavor. And you have to ask for salt
at just about all fast food now to.

Cajun Sparkle:

1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon rubbed dried sage
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon MSG
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Cajun Sparkle

I think I would substitute smoked paprika for regular paprika.

As for chicken... at the grocery store I'll spend the extra money to get a premium chicken. The flavour is different and much better than the $.99/lbs whole chickens. Those cornish-X chickens just aren't natural. They would never survive without humans. Its like eating a tumor.

We usually have chickens around the house for eggs. They have more personality than you would think they should have. Industrial egg laying chickens live a pretty tortured existence. They have to be fed dye to make the yolks yellow.

Chef, thanks for the recipe. I've been copying that stuff for a while but missed some ingridients.

Things like this make you think twice:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-daily-meal/these-american-meat-produ_b_5153275.html

Love Cracker Barrel

Was in Orlando in the Summer, was in there every other day for breakfast
But did get a meal in there in the evening one night as a cheap dinner for us (Not a fan of fast food)
Had some Cracker Barrel Fried chicken that night. Loved it.

Country fried steak at Cracker Barrel...mmmmm.

Wife prefers the Chicken Fried Chicken (yes, that's what it's called), though.

I hear the Koreans make some great fried chicken.

The Korean restaurant near my house does.

My wife and me are big fans of LGS just for the way they make the chicken and fish. We always get our favorite and it the chicken there.
Something about Long Johns Silver and the method they deep fry the chicken and fish.

Haven't eaten there in years but my recollections is that their chicken is fine, as long as you like the fact that it tastes like it was fried with fish.

Chicken we ate there never tasted like fish at all. We drive 35 miles to Mankato for the privilege. Just mouth watering, must be careful not burn yourself when it comes.
Always to anxious to eat it.

My bet is that the store you visit does a better job of cleaning the friers. Of course, I was also reference a very old experience and things do change.

"Chicken fried chicken" confused this here Yankee when I first visited Texas.


The waitress was kind enough to explain it to me though.

Tried it twice, once when I was about 19 and the last time about 9 years ago, based on those experiences I will not be going back to KFC, I only went the second time because the kids insisted - they said the would never be going back either, the food was horrible in both cases.

Edit: Talking about fast food, that reminds me, while we were in Glasgow yesterday we seen a 5 Guys, we never went in tho

Cool. Did not realize that they had expanded beyond the U.S. Many years ago, I used to go to the very first, and only one, before they began franchising. It is still there, in Arlington, VA.

I only knew of them from here, I did spot one in Helensburgh too but was not really paying attention as we were looking for a different restaurant at the time.

Why is it that fast food eaten across the border*** tastes better than the domestic fast food?

***
country to country
state to state
province to province

Can someone name one non-US fast food chain that has a global presence? I can't.

Nandos? Tim Hortons? (guessing here!)

Never heard of Nandos but I forgot about Tim Hortons. There are no Tim Hortons locations in Florida but I know they have a big presence in the US Northeast.

I think there are more Nando's in the UK than in the US.

https://www.nandos.com/worldwide/

Actually, there are more in just London, than in the US.

I eat Publix fried chicken about two or three times a year and it is good, but that's about it for fast food. I cook almost everything else I eat from scratch.

Y'all are way too good for me.

I don't eat a lot of fast food because I'm a cheap bastage, but I don't shy away from it, either.

For chicken, it's Chik-Fil-A all the way! Every other chicken place just demeans their art. If I buy prepared chicken any place else, it's a whole roasted one at Publix.
Arby's is good, but they've gotten way too proud of their sandwiches and priced them too high for what one gets.
If one has the time, Sonic is best for drive through burgers and tater tots.
For sit down dining, Steak and Shake. They set the model for consistency of food, IMHO, not just within each restaurant, but between franchises.

I'm not opposed to McDonald's, but it really is the lowest common denominator of food. And since the damned vegetarians pitched a fit they've gone to a vegetable only based oil for their fries, ruining the best item on their menu. WTF were vegetarians doing in a McDonald's in the first place?

However, for the best dining experience with the best quality at a low price, nothing - NOTHING - beats the Waffle House.

I'm seriously craving Chik-Fil-A now.

Chik-Fil-A is phenomenal.
Ours had to put in a 2nd lane drive through. The traffic is so high around their store, that they closed down a burger joint that was next to them because the customers for the burger place couldn't get through the CFA Traffic! HA!

You never get a crappy attitude from the employees, even though they are all 17 - 22 yr olds. Because they are taught to say Yes Sir, No Ma'am and My Pleasure.
To me Dart, they are the best run franchise ever.

But you did bring up the home of the Scattered, Smothered, and Covered!

Waffle House does breakfast as good or better than anyone, anywhere.

No one does hash browns as well as Waffle House. Scattered, smothered, covered, and chunked.

That's my curse living in the UK..


on a visit to the States I discovered waffle house..... Gawd I love the place...

The secret ingredient for their breading is powdered sugar.

For fast food we usually go to the local freit kot (chip shop/French fry shop) my son usually has a "friet goulash met mayo" (chips with Hungarian goulash with a spoonful if mayonnaise on the side), my wife has a "koud schotel gerooked zalm met cocktail saus" (salad plate with smoked salmon with a small pot of cocktail sauce) and for my self I have a club kip met mayo (half baguette with salad, chicken breast, and a little mayonnaise) and that is the local fast food here!

Other times we go to the kebab shop and where my son will have a "kapsalon biefstuk met groenten en Andalouse saus" ( literally Haidressing salon beef steak with salad and Andalouse sauce" it is a small tray with fine cut chips with melted cheese and the Andalouse sauce (like a spicy cocktail sauce) then minute steak over that and topped off with the salad. I make this myself for the family too, very tasty! my wife will have a durum wrap with shoarma and salad, and I will have a kip kebap met look saus en zonder ui (Chicken kebab with garlic sauce and without onions)

Alicatt's post sounded like a sound byte from one of those fancy Food Network cooking shows.

Mmm Belgian waffles

Years ago when ever I headed to visit my mother in law in Floridia I stopped at any Waffle House I saw and had hash browns with chilli over them..don't see those around here

That is fast food around here, our nearest McD is around 25km and a couple of towns away, Pizza Hut, there is one in Hasselt a nearly 40km drive, the Belgian equivalent of McD is Quicks with the nearest on in Hasselt too and they taste just as bad as McD

I don't think there are any Waffle Houses north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Incorrect. I know of one in Washington, PA (which is about 45 minutes south of Pittsburgh). It has been there for most of my life.

Pm there was one in RI a few years ago but it's gone but checked and was surprised I didn't think there were any north of Mason Dixon either,guess I need to get around more


https://locations.wafflehouse.com/

Thanks for that info guys! I was surprised as well to see that Waffle House is also in Yankee territory!

Shhhh.... It's all part of The Plan.

I agree with so much said on this thread...

Cracker Barrel rules (their blackened fish, one of my favorites).

Chick-fil-A does too, getting a grilled chicken sandwich (you hear that Raising Cane's, "heart attack in a box"?) and splitting a Waffle Fries.

Sonic...good stuff, our affordable honeymoon eats (all there was at the time in the little town of St. Francisville, LA), but nobody touches the value of a Costco dog!

But more than anything, I've been craving a Popeyes 3-piece with rice, biscuit and fries ever since this thread was started. Instead, I'm sitting here eating freaking sardines and pepper jack cheese. Costco sardines are the best though, tasting more like tuna than typical sardines. Damn, I want some fried chicken.

EDIT: Oh, our Waffle House (Zachary, LA) is consistently fantastic, love their grilled chicken sandwich as well (or double waffle for breakfast).

I drove thirty plus miles to my nearest Popeye's on a whim a few days ago.

I love their Red beans and rice and spicy chick(en) breasts.

Be a long time before I go back. The Chicken breasts looked liked scrawny, bony mutated thighs and a half a pint of beans and rice was over $5!
Gonna write a nasty e-mail and refuse the complimentary franchise!

BTW, two spicy chicken parts and one red beans and rice came to....OVER SEVENTEEN DOLLARS!!!!

Pass the Chinese fentanyl please..............

The only fast food we eat is fish and chips, usually on Fridays. Everything else is home-cooked.