Tristan Wheeler holding poutine. Right: Poutine from A&W, Harvey's and McDonald's.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
It's no secret that Canadians love their poutine and, from coast to coast to coast, you'll find that they all have strong opinions on it.
So, to get a better idea of what the best poutine out there is, I tried the dish from a few of the biggest fast food chains in Canada.
For this ranking, I got regular poutine from McDonald's, A&W, and Harvey's to see which one makes Canada's dish the best.
Unfortunately, due to my location, I was unable to try the poutine from chains like Smokes, Wendy's or Burger King, which also come highly rated, so the jury is still out on those places.
However, from the three I tried, there was one clear winner.
McDonald's
McDonald's poutine.
Score: $5.30
An abject failure.
This one had a lot of potential, given how great McDonald's fries are, but it really does go to show you that not all really great things work well together.
Case in point, here the fries instantly get soggy when the gravy gets involved and the gravy has a pretty funky, almost plastic-y taste to it. It just doesn't taste all that authentic to me.
However, the cheese curds were surprisingly good! I found that they stood up to the heat and were nice and squeaky. And it does get the benefit of being the cheapest dish I tried.
Score: 1/5
Harvey's
Harvey's poutine.
Price: $6.20
This is one that really surprised me with how good it was, given I've never really had lot of Harvey's.
The proportions were good and the fries were nice, thick and crispy.
However, what got to me was how salty it was.
While, of course, poutine is generally going to be salty, this one knocked me back when I took a bite. I even said as much out loud.
While the whole dish was really well executed, I just felt that the saltiness and the overall heaviness kept this one from taking the top spot.
Score: 4/5
A&W
A&W poutine.
Price: $7.00
Now, this is the one right here.
This poutine perfectly balanced everything and is probably one of the best you can regularly get outside of a real poutinerie in Quebec.
The fries stay crispy and get just soggy enough, the cheese curds keep their shape and this one probably had the best-tasting gravy of all the three I tried.
While it is the most expensive, I think the extra money is worth it for how much I enjoyed it.
A real, tasty Canadian poutine.
Score: 5/5
And this isn't the only fast food chain that Narcity has reviewed. I've also looked at what chain coffee tastes the best as well as how the fast food breakfast sandwich rank.
Happy eating!
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