I ordered fast food secret menu items including McDonald’s McGangBang – you’ll be amazed what staff will agree to make
EVER heard of the McGangBang from McDonald’s, or the Suicide Burger from KFC? Or did you know Starbucks makes Harry Potter Butterbeer?
All these - and many others - are rumoured to be on the secret menus our favourite fast food restaurants don’t want you to know about.
Customers often take to TikTok hailing the unusual items on offer at Maccies, Burger King and Subway that, if you ask nicely, servers can rustle up.
To try and find out how much people are playing fast (food) and loose with the word “anything”, I took a trip down the high street in London Bridge to order myself some secret menu meals for lunch - and was surprised by my success!
Starbucks
You can’t scroll through TikTok without seeing people raving over the crazy and creative drinks they got from Starbucks.
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I went for four different concoctions I’d seen online, and was pretty much able to get them all - thanks to the very accommodating barista at Starbucks on Tooley Street.
He even offered me a fifth off-menu item that I’d not heard off.
The first drink was a Kinder Bueno Frappuccino - which is an Iced White Mocha with a shot of hazelnut syrup.
Next up was a Chewbacca Frappuccino - which is a Mocha Cookie Crumble with added caramel drizzle and whipped cream.
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Both were easy enough for the barista to make - although he warned that the Chewbacca probably contains a whopping 1,000 calories.
Things got slightly more complicated after that, as I ordered a Cadbury Creme Egg Frappuccino.
For this one, I asked for a Java Chips Frappuccino, but had to give him an exact recipe - one pump of Frappuccino roast, one pump of vanilla syrup, half a pump of caramel syrup, and two scoops of vanilla bean powder.
Unfortunately, the barista told me Starbucks haven’t had vanilla bean powder in for around two months, as it’s a “seasonal” item, so I had to do without - which didn’t take away from the taste!
The last drink I ordered was the Harry Potter Butterbeer Latte, which again I had to provide the recipe for - a vanilla frappuccino with two shots of caramel syrup, two shots of toffee nut syrup, two shots of Cinnamon Dolce syrup, plus whipped cream.
It was the barista himself who offered me my fifth “TikTok drink” - as he called it - telling me it’s known as the Sunset, due to its ombre look.
It’s made up of lemonade, green tea, peach syrup and strawberry sauce - and is apparently the most popular off-menu drink in Starbucks at the moment. All in all, a great start!
Starbucks secret menu haul
Kinder Bueno £4.85
Chewbacca £4.25
Cadbury Creme Egg £4.85
Butterbeer £4.50
Sunset £3.60
Total: £22.05
McDonald’s
I had high hopes for McDonald’s, having seen they offer a wide range of secret items in the US, including the McGangBang, the Land, Sea & Air sandwich and the Monster Mac.
But sadly I was disappointed - the servers weren’t willing to deviate off-menu at all. In fact it was hard to even speak to a real person, as the ordering system is automated at the Tooley Street branch.
The Monster Mac is a Big Mac with EIGHT beef burgers inside the two buns - but I was told if I wanted it, I’d have to buy eight Big Macs and make it myself.
I was told the same thing when it came to the Land, Sea & Air (a Big Mac, Fillet-O-Fish and McChicken Burger all in one) and the McGangBang (a McChicken Burger placed inside a Double Cheeseburger).
While I would have loved to accept the challenge of eating any of these, my bank balance couldn’t quite stretch, so I left with nothing but an empty bag.
Subway
I visited the Subway on London’s Borough High Street with the intention of getting a Pizza Sub with the "old cut" and "wing effect".
But when I asked for it, the two guys behind the counter had no idea what I was talking about.
I explained I was after a sub containing pepperoni, tomato sauce (or marinara, as it’s known in Subway) and cheese, and they were happy to oblige, telling me I'd asked for a Cheesy Pepperoni sub.
But when it came to the cut, they were baffled. The old cut is when the sub is slit open and dug out at the top like a trench, rather than sliced down the side, as they usually do in Subway.
Their reluctance to deviate from the regular slice meant the wing effect (where the meat hangs out the sides rather than be tucked away) wasn’t possible either.
Good to know the Pizza Sub is possible though - at a cost of £6.29.
KFC
The Double Down and the Ultimate Zinger were the two burgers I was after from KFC.
The Double Down allegedly comes with bacon, two different kinds of melted cheese and the Colonel’s secret sauce, pinched in between two pieces of Original Recipe chicken fillet - and sounds like a heart attack on a plate!
Meanwhile the Ultimate Zinger is a Pulled Chicken Ultimate with another Zinger Burger fillet inside.
Sadly the Borough High Street branch was unable to fulfil either of my requests, wildly telling me they didn’t even have any bacon, and I left with an empty bucket.
Nando's
The Nando’s in London’s Clink Street was much more accommodating when I went in asking for the Hawaiian Chicken Chilli Melt.
While the guy behind the counter admitted he’d never heard of it when I told him it was a chicken burger with added chilli jam, pineapple and cheddar cheese.
But he put it through the till straight away, and I was served it in what felt like seconds!
As I handed over £9.05, the server also told me that he worked at McDonald’s prior to Nando’s and would often make things up for customers that weren’t on the menu. How times have changed!
Burger King
Having already been rejected by Maccies and KFC, I didn’t have high hopes by the time I swanned into Burger King.
I was after a Suicide Burger, Rodeo Burger and a Burger King BLT.
The staff at the Fenchurch Street Station branch were happy to oblige with the BLT, as it was simply a Whopper Burger topped with bacon (£6.59), but they insisted there was no way they could make the other two.
I wasn’t surprised they refused the complicated Suicide Burger - made up of four beef patties, four slices of cheese, bacon and special sauce, all jammed between two buns.
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However the reason they couldn’t make the Rodeo Burger - a simple cheeseburger upgraded and topped with crunchy onion rings and tangy BBQ sauce - was due to the fact that Burger King doesn’t do cheeseburgers, which was news to me.
But hey, one out of three wasn't bad!