Hello everyone, this is Running On Empty ...
Food Review! Well, hello ladies and gentlemen and everyone watching. This is Running On Empty Food Review.
I am your host TheReportOfTheWeek and I was doing that extra head twitch. Oh that right there.
I did it again for emphasis because why not right? Why not?
Yeah, no no real reason for it. Guess I was trying to kind of build up that anticipation, but not really.
Just doing it for no reason.
Panda Express ...
It's been a while since I, since I hopped aboard the Panda Express and
took a train ride metaphorically to
get a new item from that establishment to review and, well, they have a new one!
They have a new item out and I thought to myself yeah I haven't tried it out in a while.
I haven't, you know, done a review for Panda Express. Why not?
You know? We'll give it a shot. So that's exactly what I am doing today.
Alright, and I got my my notes down and this time I was really ... I was double checking the info. I was making
sure, you know, letter for a letter - you name it.
Because if you're not entirely familiar, last week I did a a no-no. I made a mistake with the name of the one
the one Taco Bell item where I was saying it had the
California Reaper peppers instead of the Carolina ones. I made sure no no horrible errors like that, unless ...
I don't think that'll happen this time around.
Panda Express has the
Sichuan
Hot Chicken and I made sure that's how it is.
Now, you know, it's spelled S I C H U A N and sometimes they'll have the more traditional spelling like the Szechuan sauce
with the Z there, but this is just a more
Informal spelling of it. So some people will say the Sichuan or the
Sitchuon, but it's the Sichuan Hot chicken.
And I think that's close enough anyway.
Otherwise, if I didn't put these notes down, I'd probably be saying these are the Los Angeles chicken tacos or something like that.
So well anyway, what is it exactly? This is Panda Express's take on the Nashville Hot Chicken, believe it or not.
Because we know while Panda Express
is Chinese takeout, I think like many places in the fast-food industry it is
Americanized right? Where they'll take some things and it'll be less traditional,
but still, as one would hope anyway, tasty.
So Nashville Hot Chicken was of course making its rounds, you know the last year or so, especially with KFC.
I think I've reviewed their hot chicken and hot chicken
variances and varieties so many times. Panda Express was sitting there. They're probably in the board room and they're saying, "How can we
capitalize on this? What can we do?" So thus the Sichuan
Look, I did it to myself. The Sichuan Hot Chicken was born,
What it is: It is their their chicken tendies, their, you know, the chicken
tendrons,
the tendroids, tenders as some say, and it has the Sichuan
Peppercorn glaze on it. Now it's an oil...
One moment!
Sorry about that. I don't know why the camera was glitching there.
Anyway, it's got the Sichuan peppercorn glaze on it and it's an oil-based sauce kind of like the Nashville hot chicken, right?
That's how they're kind of getting into that realm. That's what they're doing.
And again, it's like that oil Bay based glaze and you know, it's supposed to be spicy and we'll just see.
Now it's a three piece per order. So you're gonna get three chicken tenders in like one of these little
takeout boxes.
Price for that? $4 Now they have two variants:
They have them regular and they have the extra spicy. And, guess what? We got them both!
I'm kind of having some difficulties discerning what exactly each of these things are. That's C
CB9 I guess. Or is that a P? I have no clue. And this is X
C B P /
9
Think that's a 9. I would hope anyway, because a P would go the oth.. Well, unless unless it's this way and then that's a ...
Who knows? Who knows? Mind is blown!
We're gonna start off at the regular ones, which I think these are. Let's just look at each of them.
Yeah. All right, I can tell which one is which.
So right here: These are the regular ones, alright?
And then these are the extra spicy ones.
Okay, so you can kind of see, right? These ones just look a little more breaded or a, you know,
sauced up. You can just kinda... I can tell anyway with my eye here.
So we're gonna try out the regular ones first. And they describe this as something that you can go and eat with your hands.
So that's exactly what I'm gonna do.
Take it out here and
now I put the focus on. No I'll put it off. That's what it looks like.
I always try to do it beauty guru style, but it never works. Never never does. Come on chicken tender you can do it!
Well...
I think you can kind of... there we go. You can see:
Glazed, you know, oil-based glazed, crispy.
Can see a little bit of the particulate matter on my thumb there.
Looks pretty good. I of course
have no idea whether it is or isn't, but that's we're gonna discern,
figure out.
This is the original one and we're just gonna pay attention to that spiciness and see what we have.
I'm just gonna try it out. It feels so weird not eating this with like a fork or something.
But, you know, these are what the instructions explicitly state and we're gonna go by the book here. So we're gonna try it out.
Alright, the Panda Express Sichuan Hot Chicken - the original - going in!
You know, it's easy to eat. It's not like it's
unmanageable or anything to that extent.
Right? So it's pretty easy to consume.
It is oily. And the one thing is that: If you get them really fresh and they're still dripping with the grease,
as always, be careful eating them! Eat them on a plate or, you know, put on the the special bib that you bought
to eat the Sichuan Hot Chicken or, you know, whatever it is. Maybe you go with the smock or the raincoat?
Well, you can be like,
you know, daring like an adrenaline junkie like I am and just go put on your full suit and eat in that!
But no matter what, be wary of that.
It's a little messy. So it gets on your fingers and whatnot. Chicken though? It's tender.
I really can't complain like some people, I don't know why, they really like to hate on on Panda Express.
I mean, like they say, it's like the worst thing in the world. I don't really, I don't have a problem with them, you know?
So it's all about what you compare it to. I think the chicken quality is fine to be honest. You so it was tender,
juicy. It was fresh. You know, it's not like I was sitting there, you know, trying to pull something away or anything.
It was fine. It was crispy. They were definitely crispy tenders - keep that in mind. As for the spice?
It was definitely ...
It was spicy but not overbearing by any any any means right? Like it was something ...
Yeah, like one little sip of water there. No big deal. It's got that little bit of spice
One thing though to keep in mind: Is that it is higher in the sodium level.
It's salty and it's spicy too. I would wager to say that it is more on the salty side
than it is the spicy side. It was a little tingly in the mouth, which is interesting.
Sometimes they say, you know, that the Sichuan type of,
you know, meals can sometimes have that effect. And It was - it was a little tingly on the lips, which it was kind of cool.
But otherwise, bear in mind that the original is not overly spicy.
It's still good for what it is a little on the saltier side. So with it, I'm gonna be rating these, for the price,
I'm gonna be given these a 5.4 out of 10.
All right. Next we're just gonna check out real quick the extra spicy ones. These are more vigorously coated. We're gonna see what kind of
punch it packs.
And there you go.
More breaded, you know? You can definitely see it's got more of that little, you know, that pepper that's seasoning on it.
I'm gonna try it out and we'll see how it compares.
Both of these are the same price. The extra spicy one? I wouldn't really describe as extra spicy.
There is that little, there is a noticeably, it's noticeably spicier. It's nothing that's insane though.
Like, I do notice that it is spicier, but you know, to describe it as extra spicy - and you see all of the
seasonings on it and whatnot - you might overestimate it. They're both the same price though. Same exact type of spice.
It's really the easiest way for time consolidation. Look at these the - original ones - look back to the review of those.
It's exactly like them - a
little bit spicier and it's a very pepper-like spiciness, right?
There's a little more, definitely feel it a little more on your tongue, especially in the back of your mouth.
But it's not gonna be like, oh, this is insane, right?
So overall this one, as a result? I would give it, I'd give it like a 5.6 out of 10.
They're, they're average. They're pretty average. They are as advertised. And just know even though it's described as "Hot
Chicken", it's not going to be something to the point that you can't handle it. In my, in my humble opinion
anyway. Alright, price for each of these? $4 a piece.
Overall though chicken quality is fine.
A little bit of a spiciness. If you like some spicy chicken tenders, and want to get them from Panda Express?
They got you covered. That's all that I have for you. ladies and gentlemen, I'm your host TheReportOfTheWeek.
Make sure you check out my new podcast!
youtube.com/vorwpodcast In it I discuss Area 51. Lots of people have been talking about that.
I also discuss the paranormal as well. It's a cool show. Check it out!
Otherwise, I'll see you again in a couple of days with another review. Take care!