McDonald’s in the US is dipping its toes again in the pulling from the international product pool with the release of its Special Grade Garlic Sauce, inspired by the Black Garlic Sauce offered by McDonald’s Japan. Or, perhaps I should say dipping its fingers? If you’ve watched the anime Jujutsu Kaisen (or read the manga), which is the tie-in with this sauce, you’ll understand why fingers might’ve made more sense.
The only way to obtain it is through the McDonald’s app. Why? To encourage you to download the app. But, if you do order it, you’ll get a free 30-day trial of the anime streaming service Crunchyroll, which has Jujutsu Kaisen in its library.
McDonald’s says the limited time offering is a savory and tangy black garlic sauce with hints of black pepper. Another description says it contains notes of garlic and soy sauce, balanced with a slight tangy sweetness. With its combination of black garlic, black pepper, and soy sauce, I thought its color would be tar black or Black Flash black, but it has a clear reddish hue.
As expected, the sauce has a strong garlic smell, and the garlic and soy sauce flavors are the most prominent. I can’t say I’ve ever had black garlic, so I can’t compare. The ingredient list includes black garlic puree and regular garlic, but I didn’t taste anything about the garlic notes that made me think something was different. However, the whole thing tastes a bit too umami-y to me. (Try to say umami-y 10 times really fast.) Even the sauce’s slight sweetness was not enough to cut through that. There was also a peppery warmth that built up, but it stayed quite mellow.
McDonald’s Special Grade Garlic Sauce is okay enough that if I had to eat one of Sukuna’s fingers (or anyone’s), and if it was my only option, I’d be fine with using it. But I won’t be getting it again with my McNuggets.
Purchased Price: FREE (comes with order of McNuggets)
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 45 calories. No other nutritional information is available on McDonald’s website.