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