McDonald's & RocoMamas feud over chilli cheese fries, so we tried them & there's a clear winner

On Tuesday, RocoMamas accused McDonald's of copying its idea after it announced the launch of its new chilli cheese fries. Gasp!

Following the Twar, TimesLIVE assembled a master tasting team of six lovers of food (particularly chips and cheese) to help us determine which of the two major chains has the best chilli cheese fries.

Our tasters had to rate the full package out of 10, with the criteria including taste, smell and presentation. It was serious, yo! Also, we included smell because *someone (a manager) claimed that one of the cheese sauces smelt of stinky socks. Enter critical smell category.

Disclaimer: All of the fries were plated before consumption, so tasters were unaware of which fries belonged to McDonald's and which were from RocoMamas. You know, objectivity and all that. However, some tasters may have got a sneaky glimpse of the boxes during the filming process (don't say we aren't honest).

Price

McDonald's: R34.90

RocoMamas: R40

Taste

The best taste was from RocoMamas, according to our cheese-and-chips oracles.  The meal included diced red chillies, cheese sauce and sprinklings of herbs.

"The chips taste so nice and creamy. Interesting combination," one specialist taster said.

"There's a lot of sauce, I like that. And it's rich," added another connoisseur.

McDonald's diced up a few jalapenos and smeared its chips in cheese sauce, according to our feasters.

"I can recognise McDonald's chips and they haven't done anything extra. The cheese is like processed cheese," said a chowhound. Another gourmand commented, "Too many chips and little sauce".

RocoMama's overall rating: 52,5%

McDonald's overall rating: 27%

Smell and presentation

Our gastronomers said RocoMamas' fries smelled delish and looked swell. McDonald's fries looked like "common McDonald's fries, but with cheese", was one comment.

One gourmand added that McDonald's fries didn't smell great. "They smell like oil."  Right, so not stinky socks, but oil ain't that much better.

RocoMama's overall rating: 52% (smell) and 56% (presentation)

McDonald's overall rating: 22% (smell) and 30% (presentation)

The winner: RocoMamas

Our bon vivants decided that RocoMamas fries were the best.

According to the panel, it was all about the flavoursome cheese sauce and quality of RocoMamas that would happily see them dish 40 randelas for a portion.

*Licks fingers