Let me start by saying this, so there’s no misconception: I stan Chicken Republic. Where other people see a mess of mass production, and an organisation that’s sometimes out of the main thing it sells, I see a fast-food company that knows where its niche lies, and knows how to cater to its audience.

My beloved Chicken Republic is also not afraid to experiment — hence this new rice, stew and egg combo some of you are losing sleep over. Can we first address the fact that this is a *very* popular breakfast combo in the street food world? CR decided to take it on board, give it a slightly more ‘upmarket’ look, and make it accessible at an affordable cost. These are clearly people who have their thinking hats on.

But business strategy aside, is this thing actually any good? I took an early morning drive to the nearest location to find out.

For N500, my expectations were naturally very well managed. If you’ve had any of the Refuel — regular or max — combos, you know this typically isn’t the kind of food you savour; that rice and chicken just keeps body and soul together, and that’s valid. I walked into my local CR, got the Egg Star meal to go (happy that the sauce and egg were kept separate from the rice in a tiny tub), all the while resisting the very *real* temptation to get a Chickwhizz with fries and run.

So what’s it actually like? The best way to put it is: This meal is what it says on the tin — it’s boiled rice and stew, with an egg (the end). The egg was well made, with a hard yolk; the stew had visible slices of chunky onions in it and a thin layer of floating oil, both of which I love, and it had a nice hint of sweetness, which made me feel like it’s the kind of sauce that’ll go really well with yam fries, more than rice. Speaking of the rice, it was not great because it was slightly underdone. In all truth, that was the only real downside. There’s no big scandal here, y’all.

Would I have it again? Maybe not, because if I’m going to have street food in the morning, I want it to be from a proper dingy place by the side of the road, with a small petrol gen buzzing in front of it, and I want to be able to see the prison-style aluminium plates they use to serve their sit-in guests because that’s the only way to really ascertain the food’s authenticity. When I want my bi-weekly hit of Chickwizz, I know where to go.

P.S. — the Egg Star meal is reportedly available at all Chicken Republic locations now, only between 8am and 12noon. This information is useful because one day hunger will catch you unawares and you may do things you swore you’d never do.