What happens when two Filipino favorites come together? Well, something like "dynamite" for sure. With the beloved fast food McDonald's creating a menu set in honor of K-Pop boy band BTS, fans are expecting to have the same pleasure they get from the group's music to their taste buds.
The special menu puts a twist on McDonald’s diner favorites. It features a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, medium World Famous Fries, medium Coca-Cola, and Sweet Chili and Cajun dipping sauces inspired by popular recipes from McDonald’s South Korea.
While this one-of-a-kind menu “tour” will arrive in the Philippines on June 18, 2021, many diners from all over the world have already tried the BTS meal and shared what they think of it. Here are some of their comments:
The packaging
McDonald's has always hit the nail on the head when it comes to dressing up its products, and what it did on the BTS meal set as seen online is pretty spot on. The box for the nuggets and the beverage cup are in a soft shade of lilac, a nod to the "I purple you" statement of the band. They are also adorned with the band's two-trapezoid logo and the fast food brand's signature golden arches.
While those are great homages to the two global brands, patrons are to be more delighted about the menu's sauces as their wrappers unlock a BTS-themed filter on Tiktok. We can already imagine Pinoy Armies enjoying their meal while playing with that filter on Tiktok.
The taste
As mentioned above, this meal set is straight from the kitchen of McDonald's South Korea, with flavors captured by the sauces. Eating the nuggets and fries is going to be a new experience thanks to the Sweet Chili and Cajun dipping sauce.
Food Youtuber Ben Deen, who had tasted the meal before in Korea, points out that Cajun is the best out of the two sauces for him, as it has more "dimension."
"It is not bad," he describes the Sweet Chili sauce. "But it is sweet. There is no spice to it. When you say chili, you want to have some spice to it."
"It (Cajun) has a spicy little kick," he says. "I won't call it spicy but it has spice. It has some sweet elements."
The Chicago Tribune said the same thing, saying that the BTS Meals is "all about the sauces."
"The pink-packaged, dark-red chili sauce tastes a bit like a solid sweet-and-sour, while the purple-packaged, pale-orange Cajun sauce nods at hot mustard and gochujang, the fermented Korean chili paste. Both actually hold a hint of heat," its review says. "The sauces, when dipped with nuggets or fries, played as well together as a well-synchronized boy band’s dance moves: Smooth, but unsurprising."
Although there is nothing much new to the BTS Meal, Filipino Armies are likely to still find joy eating and dipping the nuggets on the Korean sauces. Let's just hope that the special packaging will be available here and enough to accommodate millions of BTS fans in the Philippines.
See you on the 18th!