McDonald's last week answered the prayers of fans by launching a brand new dessert range including the long-awaited Lotus Biscoff flavour McFlurry. The Double Chocolate pie also landed, albeit overshadowed by its highly-anticipated ice cream counterpart.
While KFC has the Krushem, Burger King has the Oreo Fusion, and Subway has it's delicious batch-bundle cookies - Maccies is well known for the McFlurry, and whenever a new range lands, fans seem to completely lose their marbles over it.
However, I must admit that I've never been phased by them - always finding them incredibly bland, tasteless and samey across the board - despite the numerous 'exciting' toppings of days past including Creme Egg, Tiramisu and Malteser.
Read more: McDonald's set to bring brand-new Lotus Biscoff McFlurry to menu next week
To be completely blunt with you, I think Maccies' dessert game fell off when they decided to axe the cheap and cheerful caramel and strawberry sundaes, which still hold a very special place in my heart - and would much rather head to my local Lidl for store-bought ice cream than pay the price of a McFlurry.
But people have been hell-bent about the new Lotus Biscoff McFlurry in particular ever since it was announced earlier this month - so I thought I would head to my local outlet and pick one up to see what all the fuss is about, as well as the new Double Chocolate Pie.
Here's what I thought.
So unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple of decades, you'll know that a McFlurry consists of soft-serve ice cream mixed in with chocolate toppings. UK staples like Smarties, Galaxy, Cadburys and Oreo all spring to mind.
The new Lotus version of the dessert sets you back £1.99 for a full version or £1.49 for a mini, depending on how much of a sweet tooth you have, and consists of - you guessed it - soft ice cream with Biscoff pieces and caramel sauce mixed in generously, if your server is having a good day.
Don't get me wrong, I love Lotus Biscoff biscuits and spread, caramel sauce and ice cream, but I felt as though that the combination would have been ruined in a McFlurry. McDonald's ice cream always comes off a little too thick for me, and I always end up with a brain-freeze after a couple of spoonfuls.
But to my delight when I picked mine up earlier this week, it looked a little runnier than usual - and stacked to the rafters with tasty filling. I apprehensively dug out the spoon and went in for a mouthful.
Much to my surprise, that first lashing on the tongue reminded me of the cheap caramel sundae I previously mentioned. Gooey and sticky in consistency, the sweet and syrupy tang was complemented by the milkyness of the ice cream - which didn't taste as overbearingly dull as I once remembered.
The crunchy Biscoff flakes added texture, and packed a punch of biscuit flavour with every morsel that touched the palate. You'll be just as surprised as I am that I finished the lot, considering my status as a McFlurry hater.
It's also incredibly refreshing to see a McFlurry on the menu which isn't chocolate-based, as they all get a bit samey in my humble opinion.
While I was at Maccies, I also picked up the brand-new Double Chocolate Pie, which is of course a far richer and sweeter take on the staple hot apple pie which runs year round. Again priced at £1.99, the limited-time treat is described as: "Crispy chocolate pastry filled with a rich chocolate ganache."
There's no way that this could be bad right? Wrong.
I would say that the outer casing tasted like cheap coco-pops, and while it had all of the structural integrity to prevent the hot chocolate filling from disintegrating the parcel, it still didn't stop it from bursting out and all over my hands after one bite.
The filling itself is also far too sweet - think a cold chocolate pudding from the fridge - and soon got sickly after one or two mouthfuls. I would be very apprehensive to try it again, and in my opinion, you'll never beat the classic apple counterpart.
If it isn't broken, then don't try to fix it, Maccies.
Other new additions to the McDonald's summer menu include the all-new Caesar and bacon wrap and mozzarella bites - the latter of which are far better than the bland mozzarella sticks, but in now way as good as the recently-departing chilli-cheese bites. McDonald's also welcomed back the the spicy sriracha wrap and the double Big Mac burger - with or without bacon.
