Review: Wendy's - Brioche Bun

Wendy's new brioche bun comes packaged with the limited-time Bacon Portabella Melt... on Brioche. The bun promises buttery sweetness. The rest of the burger consists of a quarter-pound beef patty, sautéed portabella mushrooms in cheddar cheese sauce, thick-cut Applewood Smoked Bacon, and two slices of American cheese.

I picked one up for $4.69.

I tried and reviewed the Bacon Portabella Melt last year (you can read that here) and found much the same this time around (beyond the bun): basically a solid meat and cheese burger that could use a touch less salt on the mushrooms and maybe some onions (grilled or otherwise) to balance it out.

The brioche bun has a bit of spotting marring its surface. It seems by design as the promo photos show some spotting as well. I can't say it's attractive at all, but it doesn't affect the flavor.

Compared to Wendy's regular premium bun, the brioche bun is softer and much fluffier but not as resilient to squishing. Holding onto the burger as I ate it left a very thin layer between my hand and melted cheese and mushroom. It looks precarious but the bun surprisingly did not fall apart.

Taste-wise, there was just a light touch of butter and fairly little in the way of sweetness; at least against the other burger ingredients anyway.

Overall, the Wendy's new brioche bun on the Bacon Portabella Melt does end up having a more "premium" feel to it over the more standard burger bun but could have used a more pronounced flavor to establish itself. Then again, some people prefer the bun not distract from the burger, so it depends on which camp you fall in.

Nutritional Info - Wendy's Bacon Portabella Melt with Brioche
Calories - 600 (from Fat - 300)
Fat - 34g (Saturated Fat - 15g)
Sodium - 1390mg
Carbs - 36g (Sugar - 6g)
Protein - 34g