Heads up, world. If you think only 4 tastes existed – sweet, salty, sour and bitter – you’re in for a pleasant surprise. The Japanese had long regarded the existenece of a 5th dimension of taste, “Umami”. This Japanese term when loosely translated means a naturally-occurring, pleasant savoury taste. You probably know umami as that back-of-the-mouth truffle-sque feeling when drinking dashi – the rich stock made from kombu (kelp), widely used as a flavour base in Japanese cooking.
Determined to bring this fifth flavour to life, KFC Singapore has just launched their all-new Umakara Chicken. Umakara means “yummy and spicy”. Sometimes, new product launches sound all so exciting but don’t have the substance to back up the hype. Sometimes they do. Find out which category the Umakara chicken falls into in our review and video below.
The set meal consists of 2 pieces of Umakara Chicken, 1 regular Whipped Potato, 1 regular Coleslaw and 1 regular SJORA® Mango Peach for $7.90. For those looking for more variety, you can also get the bigger set, made up of 2 pieces of Umakara Chicken, 2 pieces of Crispy Tenders, 2 pieces Shrooms Poppers, 1 regular Whipped Potato and 1 regular SJORA® Mango Peach at $9.50.
Gorgeously golden-crisp yet soft to the touch, KFC’s Shrooms Poppers are flavour bombs in a single mouthful. Bite your way past the lightly crumbed exterior, to encounter a stuffing of finely chopped mushrooms, mixed vegetables, meatloaf and onion in a potato mix oozes out. These are potato croquettes taken to a whole new level.
However, the poppers are small fries compared to the real hero of this meal. Even before you can sink your teeth in, you’ll be overcome by the generous umami spice seasoning’s toasty sweet aroma.
Upon contact, the crunchy coat of batter gave way to a juicy, tender chicken meat marinated in savoury shoyu and Japanese spices. It was in sync with typical Japanese sweet and salty flavour profiles, but that addictive lure of umami came with an extra spicy punch of heat! True to its umami taste, the Umakara Chicken will leave you wanting to go back for more.
Our favourites in the set meal were unanimous – the Umakara Chicken and Shrooms Poppers.
KFC’s Umakara Chicken has not only given us a that crisp yet delightfully tender chicken that we all know, – they’ve stepped up their game and introduced a whole new flavour. This is not something that will be around forever, so go give it a try while the promotion is still on. Our team has given this an 8, 9 and 9 out of 10 rating so far and we are predicting this will be an absolute sell-out.
This post was brought to you by KFC Singapore.
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