I've been waiting for a while to review some delicious KFC chicken and the opportunity arose after the global chain launched its new Dirty Louisiana Burger. The burger is available for a limited time - until Sunday, June 8 - and there are also the Dirty Loaded Fries to go with it.
When I review takeaways, my preferred method is to just order a delivery. It takes less time and gives me the freedom to order a huge amount of food and put some in the fridge for later, rather than eat the whole lot.
Also, I realised as I sat in the cold city centre restaurant waiting for my food, it can be a long wait for fast food sometimes.
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After a busy morning covering the magistrates court I strolled down to the High Street restaurant, ordered using one of the machines, chose table service and sat down to wait. And wait.
It was a busy Thursday lunchtime and the restaurant was full of young people, probably all less than half my age. In fact, the staff were probably all less than half my age, too.
After 10 minutes had passed one of them came and asked to check my receipt. She studied it closely, thanked me and disappeared again. Two minutes later she reappeared with a tray of food but took it to someone upstairs.
When my food finally arrived it was in a bag, rather than on a tray, as if they wanted me to leave and eat it somewhere else - as if they didn't want a middle-aged man in a suit sitting in the corner and ruining the vibe.
The first thing I got stuck into were the loaded fries, which was just a box of decent chips and some nice bits of popcorn chicken ruined with far too much tangy barbecue sauce and lots of that rubbish orange wet cheese stuff.
It was messy going and there weren't any serviettes in the bag but I decided to plough on. No point cleaning myself up at this stage, I thought. It's only going to get messier.
Next was the burger, which was as delicious as it was difficult to eat. It was packed with crunchy chicken, cheese, sauce and lettuce inside a large but flimsy bun that quickly fragmented in my messy hands. Luckily the sauce was sticky and plentiful enough to hold the whole thing together until I'd munched it all down.
It was probably as good as any chicken burger I've ever had in my life. Maybe the best. The experience was only added to by the constant fear it could fall apart all over my trousers at any point.
With the burger gone and my fingers and chin covered in sauce I moved swiftly on to a piece of regular chicken I had also ordered. Not because I'm a glutton, but because I'm always writing in reviews about how other chicken compares to KFC, so I need to have occasional reminders of how good it is.
And it is - still - really, really good. The skin is packed with flavour, the meat is perfectly juicy. It shall remain my benchmark for takeaway chicken.
Lastly, there was a cup of Oreo Biscuit Krushems Shake, which is basically an ice-cold milkshake with bits of somehow-still-crunchy biscuit floating in it. It would have been great on a sunny day but the restaurant was pretty cold and I was already very, very stuffed.
In conclusion, the meal, which came to £15.66, was a mixed bag. The chips would have been better unloaded and the shake - which involved a £1.69 surcharge for the meal and was not that big - was far from impressive.
But the burger was great and the "original recipe" piece of chicken was totally delicious, just like I'd remembered.
Our rating: 4/5
Official food hygiene rating: 5/5
KFC did not know we would be doing a review and we paid for our food.
