KFC New Tori Katsu Burger & Bonito Fries Review: One is Impressive While the Other Disappointing

Before I even start on anything, here’s a disclaimer: I’m no Japanese food fan. My number one favourite food is cai png, and coming at a close second is lor mee. In other words, this review would be so impartial, I bet my colleague’s non-existent assets that you’d agree with me.

KFC has been as busy as McDonald’s recently: after coming with countless new items, including one that’s healthy, they’ve once again come out with another new menu, this time taking a leaf out from McDonald’s book: a menu that’s inspired from the land of the rising sun.

Yesterday, the Tori Katsu Burger & Bonito Fries were released in all outlets, and mind you, it looks splendid online.

Here, peek a boo:

Look at the amount of cabbage: that’ll turn off any carnivore. Look at the Bonito fries: The bonito flakes are plentiful and arranged as neat as the clothes in Love, Bonito.

Incidentally, despite the looks (online only, because you really need to read on), KFC’s not looking to feed our Instagram: its goal is to bring us the ultimate taste experience.

Paying homage to the Japanese’s reverence and respect for food, the Tori Katsu Burger’s ingredients are simple, yet allow us to bask in an amazing combination of flavours and textures.

Layering a deeply marinated and succulent chicken fillet coated with breadcrumbs with fresh Japanese white shredded cabbage, and drizzled with special Katsu sauce and mayonnaise, the Tori Katsu Burger is sandwiched between two soft sesame buns.

As for the fries, it’s drizzled with special Katsu sauce and mayonnaise, and sprinkled with bonito flakes.

Sounds perfect, isn’t it?

So perfect, we stole our boss’s credit card try it…and let’s just say that we should have used the card to buy some other stuff, like bubble tea or toilet paper or whatnot.

Not that it’s not worth our calories, but anyways.

Just read on.

First Impression

An unwise man once told me: “Don’t believe what you see online, especially if it’s from Goody Feed.”

I choose to believe that the Internet is made of roses and syrup, but hey, I was wrong after all.

Here’s how the burger looks like in real life:

That 89kg of cabbage atop the patty might have escaped during transit, I told myself. After all, all living things fight for survival. So, moving on, I opened the box of fries, hoping that the potatoes haven’t fled…

…and it didn’t. But the bonito flakes did, and they seemed to flee with their sauce.

If the point hasn’t been clear, I’ll use my kindergarten-style (they called it the Goody Feed style) language to explain in one sentence: the burger so small like no cabbages and the fries like no bonito flakes one!!!

Cheat my feelings!!!

And I ain’t kidding about this.

So, the burger’s one that’s smaller than my hand and the fries has the same syndrome as McDonald’s cheese fries. How do they fare in the taste department?

Thank God KFC has that covered.

Ultimate Taste Experience (Indeed)

Tori Katsu Burger

My colleague told me that Tori Katsu is the name of a Japanese actress, and while I’m inclined to believe him, I decided to Google and realized it’s simply Japanese breaded chicken.

You know, like the chicken katsu (which is essentially boneless fried chicken) you get from Japanese restaurant.

In other words, Tori Katsu Burger is merely…Japanese chicken burger.

The Nippon twist to a Zinger is, for the lack of a better way, not oishii. While the Katsu sauce and mayonnaise blends well with the chicken katsu patty, it’s just too hard for my liking. It doesn’t help that the buns are extremely soft by themselves, making me feel like I’m biting into a burger with a metal patty.

The patty is supposedly chicken thigh fillet, so I think that chicken must have been a gym rat who didn’t miss his leg days.

There’s a certain sweetness that adds flavour to the burger, but the dryness and toughness completely overshadowed everything. Maybe that’s the Nippon way, but sorry no sorry, I prefer the cai png way.

Bonito Fries

If you’re not familiar with bonito, and think that it’s a clothing line in Singapore, I don’t blame you.

But once you see this, you’ll go, “OH, THAT ONE LAH.”

Yeah, these fry IG-worthy thingy on your takoyakis are known as bonito flakes. And please, don’t think of them as A4 paper being drained of their colours and cooked: they’re actually dried tuna (yes, FISH!) being shaved.

Now, imagine having those bonito flakes on KFC’s iconic fries. They blend in surprisingly well, softening the fries and melting into the potato goodness. Then again, bonito flakes with anything is heavenly, so wells.

But there’s just one problem. Take a look again.

I know bonito flakes are rather pricey, but at a price of $4.50, I was expecting more bonito flakes. Or at least, as many as what’s shown online – but just like McDonald’s cheese fries, it’s sprinkled on sparingly.

Why like that seh. Give me more I write good good review lah.

Damn Worth It, or Not Worth It?

The Tori Katsu Burger is at $5.50 and the Bonito Fries is at $4.50 respectively, and a meal is at $7.55. I’ll say it’s worth it, given its novelty, but I won’t go for it again.

Tori Katsu Burger: 2.5/5 Stars

Bonito Fries: 4/5 Stars if it had more bonito flakes, or 3/5 if it’s what I makan-ed