McDonalds Khalidiyah - Spicy Chicken Strips

After a disastrous and frustrating visit to the nearby KFC, I plucked up the courage to go to ... McDonalds in Khalidiyah. Cute paper-bag ... "What's the secret?"

My Fuji X100S likes the look of these french-fries shot at f/2.8, 1/60s and ISO2000.

Here's what I came for (In fact I actually wanted their wings, but they had sold-out) ... and so, I chose the Spicy Chicken Strips. I was having flashbacks to the Mini Fillet meal disaster from KFC last week!

Thank goodness the McDs staff were quick, courteous and ever so friendly - Even whilst I was in the queue, someone came up to me and said hello, and asked what I wanted to eat, and quickly ushered me to an open counter. Now, that's service for you!

As for the Chicken Strips ... Nothing much to shout about, I think it was breast-meat, tasted kinda dry, but hey ... McDs are forgiven, when their service is so darn good! KFC ... Tsk tsk.

KFC Khalidiya, Abu Dhabi - Bad customer service

I don't think I can ever convince myself to go to my local KFC again ... That's the one located at Zayed the 1st Street, here in Abu Dhabi's Khalidiyah area.

Just last week - At 6:23pm in the evening, with hardly a person in the restaurant ... I ordered my Mini Fillet meal. I waited ... and I waited ...

After 2 other patrons who came after me received their meals prior to myself .. I complained to the Manager, who then tried to expedite my order, which was when I realised he wasn't wearing any gloves when he used a temperature probe to measure the temperature of the chicken at the counter. I would be surprised if this was part of KFC's HACCP management system!

After waiting 15 minutes, I decided to remind the staff that I have been waiting an extraordinarily length of time for what is considered "fast" food, and what surprised me was - There was only one or two other persons waiting around the counter ... Why did it take so long to prepare a couple of fries and my "mini fillets" and why could I not have been kept informed about the reasons for the delay?!

22 minutes later ... I got my Mini Fillet meal. Am I going to take the opportunity to write about my experience eating this take-away meal? I think not - This experience has left me genuinely dissapointed and surprised with KFC.

Update 10th Sept - I provided the above feedback to Americana-Food and Yum group who operates KFC in the MENA region, and to their credit, they seemed to take my concerns seriously. Pity the staff in this store didn't!

Tandoori Corner - GPS coordinates, Airport Road

Ah ha ... we now have the precise GPS coordinates for one of my favourite Indian restaurants in town ... Tandoori Corner of Abu Dhabi:

N 24.46294

E 54.37854

I felt like an Indian meal tonight ... so I went for a drive :-) Free fresh poppadoms for starters...

 

My mushroom briyani, pretty good - And great value at 16 AED (RM$13), a really large portion that is easily enough for 2 persons.

And the piece de resistance ... Tandoori Corner's perfect Tandoori Chicken. Half portion at 16 AED.

The rest of my meal :-) Dipping sauce and Naan Bread which is served with the above. Yummy!

Fennel, Rock Sugar and coated coriander seeds to freshen your mouth ;-) BURP!

Located along 2nd Road or Airport Road, next to Fathima Supermarket, and not far from Mashraq Bank (A few blocks from Al Wahda Mall), this place is truly an Abu Dhabi institution ... We usually do take-aways as do many people (Call +971 2 445 8686), but try dining in - Its worth a visit!