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Life

03rd Jun 2022

What really constitutes the perfect chicken fillet roll?

Ellen Fitzpatrick

The age-old question.

A beloved delicacy, Ireland’s national dish (probably) and something that causes a lot of debate.

Plain or spicy, butter or mayo, we all have our own favourite way to make our chicken fillet roll, but one TikTok has the nation divided more than ever after claiming to be the perfect creation.

Irish TikToker @travelwithaine left people stumbled by her “perfect chicken roll for tourists”, with many saying that it is far from perfect.

The video has racked up 220K views, with Aine starting by telling her followers to head to Centra, because “Centra, well my Centra, does a better chicken fillet roll”, and to be fair to her, I can’t argue with that one.

This is when she gets into more detail, saying you ask for a white roll, which seems like the obvious choice. When it came to the fillings, however, it caused some controversy.

@travelwithaine I come home once a year and my tell tale sign of inflation are the prices of chicken fillet rolls ?#chickenfilletroll #centra #irish #foodreviews #deli ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys – Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey

When it came to choosing plain or spicy, she said to get spicy and then add stuffing and lettuce. When asked for butter or mayo, she said you say neither and get coleslaw instead.

Now, I’ll be honest, before I went veggie (I know), I always went for plain unless I was really in the mood for spicy, and I’d only put ketchup and lettuce on it. I know it’s boring, but it tasted good.

When I was in college and we lived off chicken fillet rolls, my friends would mostly go for spicy with cheese and taco sauce, sometimes they’d add stuffing. But the cheese and taco sauce was a staple, I’m just not big on cheese (again, I know).

“Some people would say cheese is a good addition here,” Aine continued. “But, I do not agree, because the cheese just doesn’t melt and I just don’t like unmelted grated cheese.”

Finally, she gets it cut in half, the only sane answer, and a pack of buffalo Hunky Dory’s and a can of Club Rock Shandy. I’d always go for Coke and Tayto cheese and onion but that’s because my SuperValu did an offer on that.

People were not happy, with many critiquing the coleslaw aspect, with one saying: “Coleslaw in a chicken roll is a hate crime”

“Coleslaw in a hot chicken roll … you haven’t a clue,” another said, while a third added: “The only thing right with this order is the spicy chicken.”

Naturally, to get a good insight into this topic, I asked around the Her.ie headquarters for their favourite chicken fillet roll toppings, and this is what we got.

We have the classic with a twist of spicy chicken, mayo, cheese and jalapenos. We have another classic and less controversial one of spicy chicken, butter and cheese, nice and simple.

Cheese is the go-to for these, and even if myself and Aine don’t agree, it’s a staple. When it comes the coleslaw however, I have to agree, that one’s just bizarre.