You’re not supposed to eat McDonald’s on your holiday, are you?
It’s something your parents always insisted on – that as you’ve spent so much money to visit a foreign culture, you should sample all of its offerings, shrugging off any British staples as you ‘broaden your horizons’. Or something.
But what your mum and dad failed to mention was just how much cultural learning can be acquired visiting McDonald’s around the world; that McDonald’s of Japan has a menu that reflects its nation’s tastes, with significant differences between the menus of South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. If you want to learn more about a country, you should go to its McDonald’s, to see what their equivalent of a Big Mac is.
With Italy launching a new Nutella burger (read on), we’ve put together a list of offerings you’d actually want to travel the world to eat.
The Nutella Burger – Italy
Not really a burger, but actually a sweet bread with a Nutella filling. We’ll take seven...
Gravy loaded fries – Australia
Down in Macca’s (Australian for McDonald’s), you can get yourself chips coated in gravy. Why this still isn’t a thing in northern branches of the UK is beyond us.
20 Chicken Wings – Spain
We’re guessing the UK branch of McD’s doesn’t fancy taking on the combined force of KFC, Nando’s and Cottage Chicken. Head to Spain if you fancy seeing how a clown cooks his chickens.
Mushroom Dijon – Argentina
Look at it. Just, look at it. Two slabs of meat, with sauteed mushrooms, Emmental cheese, rustic bacon, agrillada onions and Dijon mustard. We’ve already booked our flights.
Bubur Ayam McD – Malaysia
“Juicy chicken strips in mouth-watering porridge, garnished with spring onions, sliced ginger, fried shallots and diced chilies.” Come on – don’t act like you don’t want to know what chicken porridge tastes like...
Cheese cutlet burger – Japan
So what you’ve got here is two slices of chicken sandwiching a slice of cheese, deep fried to form a patty, with brown sauce, lemon and lettuce.
And this is how they advertise it...
McChicken Do with McSpaghetti – Philippines
We don’t know why this is a natural pairing, so we’ll let the item description do the talking: “One piece of crispy, golden brown chicken that's tender and juicy served with the classic spaghetti with ground beef and signature sauce.”
Nah, we still don’t get it.
McToast – Italy
A McDonald’s take on the breakfast staple; round bread, cheese and ham. Slather one of these in butter and you’ll shorten your life expectancy by a couple of weeks.
Bacon & Cheese fries – Australia
Another chip alternative from Australia. Why would you get a standard serving of chips if you knew this was on offer? Why?
Green tea latte/frappe – Malaysia
Frappe. Hot. Latte. You don’t really want one, but now you’re jealous they’re not sold in the UK, aren’t you?
Shrimp burger – Japan
No, we’ve never had the urge to try a shrimp burger either, but that’s changed now we know it’s a thing.
It also appears to have something to do with hats, guessing by the launch ad...
Triple cheeseburger – Germany
Germany knows what’s up.
The little hot dog – France
France pays tribute to US food, with a Strasbourg sausage. We’re not sure how the logic of that works either...
Double McSpicy – Singapore
In addition to having their own McD’s home delivery service, Singaporeans also get to enjoy this monster: two massive chicken patties slathered in a spicy dressing.
Samurai Pork Burger – Thailand
A pork patty (we’ll never enjoy that word) with teriyaki sauce, lettuce, tomato, onions, and mayo. Yeah, why not.
McRib – Germany and now USA
Pork? In McDonald’s? According to our dodgy Google translate of the German McD’s page, the combination of pork rib, ‘hearty’ sauce and bread, “It says: bite”. We would.
