US vs UK Fast Food

America is undoubtedly the epicenter of fast food. As a matter of fact Americans spend $400 billion dollar a year on it. But the question is are we the best at it? That's why we're here in the UK, our biggest competitor. Supposedly they're using better ingredients In fact there are some ingredients in the US that are illegal in the UK. On top of that, they have bigger menus, more unique items and fast food experiences that the US has never seen. So it's finally time, the whole world's watching the ultimate fast food showdown - The US versus the UK! Starting at KFC in the UK! But I'm not doing this alone Today I'm joined with guest judges UK YouTube duo Jolly We'll be pitting the UK's top fast food spots against their closest US counterparts And at the end of each stop we'll be rating our overall experiences out of 10 The country with the highest total average wins our battle Now to kick things off at UK KFC we got their fried chicken bucket the French fries or chips as they call them and a unique item we don't have called the Tower Burger All that said we're going to be rating every spot purely by experience on a scale of 1 through 10 but we will also be talking about speed flavor texture Chicken Reach into my bowl of wonders and grab a piece of chicken Distinctly KFC smell Is that the same as the American KFC smell something's missing from it Ah it's all the chemicals The stuff that we don't allow You know this is actually This is probably about the same I'm always amazed at how little crunch there is It's like if they dipped it in breading refrigerated it baked it and then dunked it in oil It's flaccid Yeah Incredibly greasy Really i don't enjoy how that tastes texturally especially the texture I just Oh it's awful It's like mid on a good day maybe above mid That said flavor-wise it's okay Salt levels are okay The 11 herbs and spices to me I think here in England they're doing more like two or three herbs and spices possibly Next up a unique item only available in the UK the Tower Burger They didn't even get this center This is way off If you're expecting them to center the ketchup then I think already your expectations are too high A hash brown a fried KFC chicken For some reason there is American cheese on here I have no idea why contextually that makes no sense This feels like a special moment as well eating with the colonel himself Wow that's up I believe that there are great chicken sandwiches in this wonderful country We call them chicken burgers but yeah that is not one of them The number one problem when I've been into it was all I tasted was ketchup Once I finally got past the great wall of ketchup I then was greeted with the texture of this potato which was probably greater than or equal to a paste of cornstarch I just am not picking up much crunch from it Same thing Not much crunch from the chicken The salt level is pretty underwhelming And overall it's been fried in oil that's been reused and reused So you're getting a little bit of that bitter aftertaste That said I do have a couple positive notes It's amazing listening to someone who actually knows what they're talking about What a pro What a I'm loving this I mean we do this for a living but we got no idea what we're doing I want to point to the salad It tasted like it had been put through a paper shredder You know what they call that in America they call it shredders Shredders really now for the moment of truth the French fry This is what won our best fast food French fry in America Not this one but the one in America These fries are different The question is are they better no These are terrible That's atrocious It's funny that guy's coughing right now cuz I'm trying to not to suffocate Three items from the UK KFC down Now it's time to rate our overall experience Four out of 10 I'd say a three It would have been a three if there wasn't a guy gagging It was like a soundtrack So I'm going to go 2.2 The UK not off to a strong start but there's plenty more places to visit So let's see how KFC is doing in the US Before we go in I have an announcement Merch has been released The second channel has known for a while and I'm bringing it over here A very limited release so be sure to get yourself some It's in the link in the description Got bread shirt Look at this Come on You like bread i like bread We have our needed salt shirt You know I love salt Our smasher pass shirt and a beautiful hat So if you'd like some go to the link in the description and get some before it runs out Love you Now let's get in there Good for you today Can I do a six- piece chicken bucket French fries as well 3050 Thank you That guy was so southern I could barely understand what he was saying Speaking of southern Josh and Ollie got a little taste of southern hospitality Thank you Thank you Thank you so much Southern hospitality You guys are so friendly Dude Texas people are nice Everyone thinks that we're mean Have you had KFC in America is this a new experience i honestly don't think I've ever had American KFC I mean I open the lid of this bucket and my fingers are covered in grease But my first impression is holy crap what are you feeding your chicken why is that so it's literally double the size That's the biggest piece of fried chicken That's a breast This is a wing Oh the leg's actually really small Skip leg day and got a breast enhancement Cheers Oh wow Crispy It's got way more seasoning to it It's just as oily I keep chewing but nothing's happening That was very stringy It took like 10 times the amount of chewing as the KFC in the UK I mean the initial flavor is so good though batter while being greasy as hell tastes good I feel no less disgusting but it just tastes better When we had KFC in the UK I really did feel ashamed of myself And I feel similar but it just tastes better It feels like the reward for debasing yourself is much higher Is much higher Wo So we tried that Off to a good start Let's try the fries and decide We tried the English ones These are completely different They're skinless They're battered They're seasoned And I will say these don't look as good as the ones that won the fry competition And that shows the inconsistency of fast food restaurants Oh chemically aftertaste That is completely different to the British KFC You see what it does to you they're addictive as hell What the What's going on oh my gosh It's quite difficult to stop They're really satisfyingly crunchy And look the scary aftertaste went away Now it's it's luring you back in Oh my gosh Oh my gosh America I can't taste the chemicals at all anymore Rating time First impressions definitely better than KFC in the UK I'm probably going to give this 7.7 I'll give it a seven I think I'm also going to give it a seven This is the best KFC I've ever had On to the next The US on the other hand starting off very strong Back across the pond to see if the UK can respond We're here at a place that's new Not to the world definitely not to the US but definitely the UK and that is Wendy's It's newish last couple of years People have suggested that it's better than the one in the US There's only one way to find out And we're going to kick that off with none other than a chicken burger I see you've picked up on our I know what you're talking about Let's just go for it Cheers That is easily I would say the freshest tasting of any of the fast food we've had today The lettuce has a a real crisp to it Well they haven't shred shred shreddest it There's a little bit of spice in the batter It's got kick Texturally great I have no issue with the texture It's got a nice crunch The inside's got some juiciness to it It's not super dry on the lettuce The bun is chewy but on the flavor side somehow not that punchy There's good spice but I'm not getting a lot of chicken I'm not getting like herbs and spices I'm not getting like garlic I'm not getting umami I'm not getting lots of chicken I'm just getting kind of getting like blank piece of paper with paprika on it Onto the next Dave's double You've got a great myard which is kind of a surprise What's a mayard whenever you sear something you get a full contact sear You get this nice browning here Ooh I like it A little sear Why is there no salt i bite into something and I think that is perfect And then you explain all of the reasons why it's not perfect I'm like oh yeah the ingredients taste fresher It feels like it's actually made by hand You can taste the freshness of the lettuce the freshness of the tomato the beef that's actually got a bit of chew to it The beef does taste like it could have been frozen but at least it tastes more like beef than some fast food joints It's got the malard on it Yep That's a duck My yard Long story short lacking flavor lacking salt I hate fast food patties They don't have the right fattiness to them They're a bit like chewy and kind of dry Everything else was solid We have one more left The spicy nugs The nuggets they're dry They taste nothing of chicken And there's no crisp It's like eating a sponge And all I taste flavor-wise is really just a slight spiciness with no other background flavor No garlic no seasoning but there is a little more salt in it present I'll give them that much I'm not joking When I eat this stuff I feel all at sea until you talk and I'm like "Yep I kind of agree with that." My overall score is going to come out to a solid five It is mid as probably a 6 and a half I reckon I would probably go 5.5 Now I've never loved Wendy's in general but the question is is it better in America wendy's Wendy herself All right Chicken sandwiches Oh look at that It's like an emoji That's like a butt that's been sat on a bench for a bit too long Let's do it guys Again they got the seasoning down That's salty as heck It's almost too salty Quite spicy as well Oh yeah There's a bit of heat to that More spicy than the British one Everything they said is spicy in the UK was almost not spicy at all They should really just trim these up into squares and make nuggets out of them The Dave's double It's shinier on the top It It looks almost more plasticky Maybe it does look better than the one in the UK Shininess and all Cheers You were talking about the salt level in the UK burger And this is definitely seasoned better It's just drowning in sauce which I think the main issue was that it was too dry The meat is different It's fattier Ah When the first burger that we had in London was less fatty and I think you want a fattier piece of meat in a burger to help hydrate all those ingredients It tastes better but it tastes unhealthier Okay let's move on to the next one nugget Go for it Oh that's very different Very bouncy Quite rubbery I liked it less with each bite It's like when you meet someone the first time and they're like "They're really great." And then you meet them again and you're like "I've had a few less beers and they're less great." I feel like they're both equally bad for different reasons I mean the salt level's better but the texture was worse and not much crunch Ratings you rated it You're giving that a 6.5 Okay Going to give it a five I'm going to go 7.2 You're giving it higher than a seven That's crazy What are you thinking that was a good fast food meal What I will say is the flavor was very good There was garlic and seasonings in the chicken The beef tasted of beef There was no flavor that drew the rating down The only thing that did was the texture of certain things The chicken nugget being spongy and the chicken breast in the sandwich being a bit dry You took the words right out of my mouth Was exactly what I was going to say There you go I'm a big texture guy I I Would you say texture overtaste buy it now It's on Amazon Did you know that the link's in the description Moving on The US is looking good but this next competitor might just be what breaks that momentum We have a unique offering Something I didn't expect but something that was highly requested not even by these two but by my DMs As soon as people found that I was here the first thing I kept seeing over and over was this place called Gregs And I was like "What is this a 7-Eleven it's a British institution." The Sanctum of Sausage sausage roll Run it Here we go Cheers This is probably the fast food that I eat more than any other I hate to say it This is actually really good because it tastes like of almost nothing It's the essence of nothing that yearns for something There you go A wise man once said "Texturally it's wonderful Super crispy on the outside It's flaky The sausage is super moist It's not dry at all I thought it would be I was expecting something snappier and more toothsome but I don't mean that in a way of not liking it It's just different than I expected But I do like what I got If you had the sausage by itself without the pastry it would be awful Like genuinely got awful But it works together I will say if you start to peel this back the first thought is "Oh it's granddad's toast It doesn't." Okay Onto our next Greg's item the chicken bake Oh wow It really doesn't taste good Mother god The way that that slithered down my throat It does It does was unacceptable That was I feel violated Well you're going to love the next thing This really does look like Subway vomit in a Pop-Tart Can you tell me what this one is this is Subway vomit in a Pop-Tart No it's it's a sausage bean and cheese melt We Brits love our baked beans Atrocious We're getting worse Oh I because no one orders them That's the thing with a sausage roll You're going to Greg's you're always going to get fresh sausage roll because their turnover is so quick Everyone who used to order these is gone Now let's end it on a pleasant note because Gregs also does sweet treats These are yum yums My lord it's a little flaccid Well it is a little bit That's actually pretty good Maybe give it a little dunkeroo This is a pre-diabetic masterpiece Wow Maybe a post-diabetic If we're all lucky we're all going to lose our left foot Put it in a bake Honestly these were banging It seems like UK does fast food a little differently It is also not just about there being a drive-thru but just being able to go inside grab and leave And that's not so much the American mentality The American mentality of what fast food is is there really there should be a drive-thru That is like the determiner in America if it's truly fast food is that you don't even get out of your car Cuz we have this thing it's called walking I like what Gregs is offering It's conceptually similar to the 7-Eleven model but it's way more focused on quick service food But I mean all things considered I'm kind of a fan Like if I were strolling by a Gregs I would probably stop to get a sausage roll Hell yeah If I were to give it a rating 7.9 I think I'm happy with 7.9 I mean I'm going to go for a 10 10 out of 10 You can't improve on a grape sausage roll If you're going to walk in for a fast food baked good they've perfected it I think there's a reason that it's basically a national religion I'm not surprised that Josh he's not fully on board because it's like the first church service he's gone to He likes what he sees He likes it but he's not ready to get baptized straight away Ollie's insane score is going to make this a little hard to beat This now comes down to which country has the best average America is down but not out So let's see if they can clutch it up The question is what is the best comparison to Greg's place where you can get a cheap sausage item a chicken bake plethora of dessert options the answer Costco So we gave the lads a tour It's not exactly a onetoone experience of walking into Gregs but it may have been better Funny enough they don't turn any profit on their food but I'm curious to see where it lands You're an idiot Welcome back to America For the price of $1.50 50 which is the price of our sausage roll you get not only this hot dog but also a free refill drink I mean that's mad Cheers That's a hot dog for $150 Is that beef yeah beef hot dog I mean it's hard to hate something that costs that little Coming back from the UK a sausage roll hits way harder than that 100% It's the same price right yeah it's the same price You don't get a drink but it's way more comforting Ultimately there's just not that much to say about that It is a hot dog and that's about it Greg's also had something else and they called it a chicken bake but guess what america has a chicken bake too That's a monstrosity It is a monstrosity This is so heavy It's ridiculous I mean it's almost like they're compensating for something You sold that as Greg's chicken bake You don't want a male name to give ownership to this That is a lot better than a Greg's This is like a whole meal I really like the baked cheese off the side If you just compare the inside of that to the inside of the Greg's chicken bake It's like a chicken Alfredo inside a like crispy pizza pocket Honestly this is very good It's just too big though Like who wants all of that i do I could easily smash one of these There's no yum yums but they do have soft serve ice cream You're a sucker for some soft serve ice cream Soft serve Oh my gosh Cookies and ice cream Oh my god You've absolutely screwed us by giving us this right before giving the rating Before this I would have said a five The hot dog was so much better than all the fast food we've had today Yeah but they're gatekeeping They you know they they don't let you in The chicken bake is oppressively large Yeah exactly a little bit insecure honestly but holy crap This goes straight to my heart It actually does You're going to go into cardiac arrest very soon Posto including the experience 7.5 I was going to go with seven I came in with a bad attitude The hot dog it is the same product no matter where you go Right The chicken bake it is actually very good And then the chocolate chunk cookie sealed the deal for me All things considered was a seventh Wow Big ups to Costco Who would have thought it moving on Greg still holds on the top spot but America's still dominating the leaderboard on the overall average Let's see if the next competitor can get the score for the UK If there's any fast food that represents American fast food better than any fast food joint not by quality but by cultural significance it is McDonald's This French fry contains four ingredients Here's how many the US McDonald's French fry contains I can't see what was on the screen It's just slightly salty berry oily potato This is the most pure potato McDonald's French fry I've had Cuz the McDonald's French fry does have a McDonald's flavor in the US If you go and taste a US McDonald's French fry you would probably take a step back and go "M there's a flavor in here I can't quite identify Is the texture the same i know you like texture." Why do you ask it like that you look me he looks me right in the eyes and he's like he's basically like I know you like texture We tasted it here but in order to really make a determination we got to try the ones in the US Next up the Quarter Pounder A better burger experience than the Big Mac because let's be honest the Big Mac is mostly just bread This is a bit weird but what I crave in this is that little piece of crispy bun There's nothing about this bun that is crispy When I was a little kid you'd be drinking all that fruit punch and all sorts of random ass cookies and things and you throw up in your mouth a little bit right here Good happy childhood memories Lackluster experience so far But let's see if an item exclusive to the UK swings things around But it's not just any cheeseburger This is the chili cheeseburger It has some sort of a chili sauce It has pickles But wait a minute I also see pickled jalapeno It's somehow more dry than the quarter pounder The patties are thin and getting obliterated I really need something to wash that down with Very much uh of American cheese and jalapeno I didn't get any beef The buns are super sweet in a not so enjoyable way Everything's just kind of one texture The meat is chewy and floppy like a sandal So is the bread Both are equally as dry That's the overall experience of it And it feels like my body's rejecting that a little bit We've had the UK experience I'm giving it a solid 2.5 Probably just give it a two Blah 2.2 I think we'll stick with 25 Yeah I'm comfortable with 25 Okay It's better when you're in charge 25 You ask what you got Wow You got to stop doing that They really are surprising me I've noticed a significant difference in the quality They have Mayards now on their patties I think they're actually searing them The cheese looks better All the toppings look decent Good toast The bun looks nice I don't know what's happening I think McDonald's is tired of being on and they actually want to make better food Maybe that's happening Honestly I think that is the best looking McDonald's burger I've ever seen in my entire life I did not expect it to be such a contrast from the UK to here It could still be worse So let's taste I can taste the malard in there I'm kind of blown away Here's what I will say The texture is kind of on point It's juicy It's fatty to the way I like it The cheese is kind of melting and making its own sauce The pickles come in You can taste them It's pretty damn good And the bun is not bad either But what I will say flavor despite the nice texture is severely lacking to me Not just salt level but I'm just not tasting much beef or much of anything I just taste ketchup Surprisingly decent texture Like if I were to give this texture rating I might give it a seven or a 6.5 but the flavor is sub4 to me It's not giving much We compared the patties at the UK McDonald's to a coaster you put a beer on The thickness to this is so different There's not really any distinct flavors there You just taste all of it in one Take a piece of that ground beef and taste it It tastes of nothing It really does because there's no salt and this is the most flavorless beef that there is This scratches an itch Almost no other fast food can I can't imagine it would really get much better than this out of McDonald's Are the McDonald's fries in the US better than the ones in the UK or is it the other way around yeah there's literally 12 more ingredients in this Is there any potato in that at all it just gets dipped into like 12 chemical baths and then fried There's no salt in them but there wasn't salt on the British ones either No they're not crispy Wow that's a bad fry Honestly one to one the US and UK fries were similar because they were both mid Maybe I'd give it to the UK due to the lack of chemicals But you know what time to rate When I say the burger was as good as a McDonald's burger couldn't be there's still a ceiling to that I think this whole experience has been really pleasant for me The double cheeseburger way surpassed my expectations I might even give it a 58 The fries really dragged it down I'd maybe give it a 65 I'm going to go for a dead six I'm going to give it a flat 55 Honestly kind of high for McDonald's in the UK I felt sick immediately after eating it But then as soon as we bit into the McDonald's I felt like I might crap myself Did you that's private Okay Okay Moving on McDonald's yet again leaving us unimpressed This time for both UK and the US And now the time has come for our final matchup We're taking the UK's top grossing chicken spot Nandos and putting it up against the US's top grossing chicken spot Chick-fil-A This is a battle of chicken Goliaths Apparently the Brits love a cheeky dandos But it's only fair to compare it directly to one of the chicken spots that continuously has Americans in a chokeold across the country This is going to be interesting All you need to know is British people love Nandos It's beloved So careful Watch your words We're on the street corner right now next to about 350,000 bikes Yep Those are all the people that are parked and are just waiting in case you badmouth This is your half chicken This is maybe one of the most common orders People come into Nandos they get a half chicken or a quarter chicken It's rotisserie style We've gone for a classic medium hot sauce People are very particular about how spicy you go for your Perry Perry hot sauce at Nando If you want to go hot we have some hot I have We have to do it right a little bit of hot sauce Oh wow There you go Bam It's squirted a little bit Juicy Seasoned nicely It's got the smokiness from the grill I'm kind of surprised a little bit Now we're trying the wing roulette wings but it's got a little bit of novelty factor There's multiple different spice levels on the wings You don't know which one you're going to get You just take a bite roll the dice That's for sure spicy This one's just barbecue I got off easy on the roulette there I think that's that's quite lemony I like the ooey gooey They're cooked nicely You get the smoky grill flavor I mean this is quality cooked chicken I'm kind of surprised In Chicago I went to Nando Very nice But this one is significantly better Seasoning is better Texture is better It's cooked nicer So did you think it would be lower quality i'm trying to understand why you're surprised by this You're baiting me You're baiting me Bananas It's a bit more pricey than your average fast food And you know I think you taste it We have the thighs It is juicy That's good I'm getting the most like char grilled kind of action Reminiscent of you know the sort of Burger King fake char grilled but but the real version Well I wish there was a little more salt on this but it's not like missing enough for me to complain But what I will say is they're cooked nicely but the flavor is very chicken forward It's nice Someone just brought me a plate of that and I closed my eyes and I ate it I think my first thought would be like you know what this is close to an 8 out of 10 overall Lights in the sense of tastes good it delivers it's not dry and that's like the biggest loss on most chicken bites is overcooked Surprisingly cooked nicely but okay we're sitting at an 8 out of 10 The convenience element is a problem I think that it drops that down from the fast food world closer to like a 75 To enjoy a nanas you kind of have to go and sit down And if I'm going to do that I don't want to go to a chain I want to go you know somewhere local somewhere that the people making the food really care about That's how it really suffers While the taste I agree it's on like an eight For me convenience brings it down to like a five It's mid Wow Nando is super mid Okay I instinctively want to go higher but mainly because I'm a contrarian Okay And also I don't like upsetting people It was juicy well seasoned I would say 7.5 And just like that Nando is on the board That only leaves one spot left to go before deciding which country is taking home the crown On to Chick-fil-A It's popping in here We got a double line The first queue of the day Yeah They're also known for being extremely polite Can I do pizza can we do uh three spicy chicken sandwiches can I also do one order of the grilled nuggets one order of the four piece tenders four piece tenders Yes sir 3411 Thank you I got called sir Wow They were very very polite She didn't say my pleasure which was really upsetting to me Oh that's a thing they do isn't it there you go Awesome Thank you Our pleasure Why would you say that why not say that you don't say it You cannot take pleasure deserve being pleasured You do We're back in America at the US's version of the top grossing chicken spot Nando has grilled chicken but so does Chick-fil-A but it only comes in one form which is grilled nuggets You have grilled nuggets it doesn't look great That looks like bodybuilder food Meattheads love this stuff Why are they slimy it's very very soft It's a bit rubbery It feels refreshingly healthy for a fast food spot You know it's not deep fried in batter If I'm in a pinch and I'm traveling and I'm somewhere in the United States I can rely Chick-fil-A We'll have some grilled nuggets that I can eat and hit my protein goal Makes it very easy I feel like I'm in a Men's Health video right now Yeah What they are known for is their fried chicken We're going to start with the tenders here Very crunchy a little bit spicy way less greasy than KFC Warm no just a little You're not getting anything You guys are roasting yourselves I don't even With the Chick-fil-A sauce it's damn good It goes down very very easy Yeah What's up man how are you this is the obligatory break in the episode where Joshua gets recognized We should say this did happen to us once on the shoot A guy pulled up wound down his window and he said this is a direct quote Are you the guys who do those videos with the little kids i will say these are the better breaded ones that I've had which is not what I want It's slacking something But we still have one more item This is what put them on the map This is the reason that people love Chick-fil-A It is a chicken sandwich Little bit of trench foot on the bottom The way you took that bite you look like Pennywise It's spiced It's got that little bit of heat It hits a spot One of the worst Chick-fil-A sandwiches I've ever had However you're right It really does hit a spot Very hard for me to dislike that Well experience-wise very very friendly I was looking forward to the manners You told us that they would be polite and I was not disappointed The food hits the spot but I think you're right It is more disappointing It's more Chickville B minus than other Chick-fil-As that I've had For me it was above average as far as chicken experiences go That said the convenience much higher than Nando Taste was not as good I had the one that had trench foot so I do feel personally a little bit fronted It doesn't matter how polite you're being it's still not bad We got low standards Yeah we do We do Texture flavor was good Salt levels were good I'll give it a six today 5.5 I'm going to give it a six All right So we have a final ranking but do you know the top spot or the winner i honestly have no idea Was it Gregs gregs must have ranked pretty highly The highest ranking of this video Gregs Come on In London Unbelievable But USA wins the overall competition by a landslide which honestly frankly makes a lot of sense We're allowed to use ingredients that you guys aren't You're the kings of fast food I actually am not proud of this It's a poison chalice sometimes literally Fast food is just something that America owns And whether that's something that we can take pride out of which probably we shouldn't we at least can have that Let me please be the first to say it was my pleasure Subscribe Love you Bye