Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Checking Out McDonald's India

Chicken Maharaja Mac

Going to global fast food chains while on the road is not a typical thing for me. But in India, McDonald's was a destination. Why? Well, they don't serve beef, and I wanted to see what McDonald's would be like as a result.

Just as I had heard, the menu was divided into a green menu that featured vegetarian items and a red menu that featured fish and chicken. Nope, there was no Big Mac nor Quarter Pounder, but there was a Chicken Maharaja Mac, which was effectively a Big Mac but featured a couple of minced chicken patties. I can only assume that the pinkish hue of the meat came from the spices used, but this just didn't do it for me.

So I then veered toward the vegetarian menu, opting for what was amusingly named the Veg Surprise. It was a surprise all right - surprisingly small. It was pretty much the vegetarian equivalent of the basic hamburger at McDonald's (i.e., the cheap one that goes into Happy Meals). Taste-wise, I was hoping that perhaps it would have the explosive bang of wada pav, but instead this was dry and lifeless. Well, at least I satiated my curiosity about McDonald's India. I won't be going back though, especially when there is so much street food around instead.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

McDonalds doesn't do the whole localisation thing very well. I'm from Sri Lanka and all their attempts are pretty pathetic. The veggie burger over here is ok though-a standard size crumb fried veggie patty with carrots, peas, soya(?)...it's palatable. KFC is much better, their buriyani (singaporeans know it as 'briyani') and kothu is pretty good. Pizza Hut sometimes just takes it too far: they had a 'birizza' promotion a while back...some kind of fusion of a buriyani and a pizza. Looked too dodgy to give it a try so i'm not sure what it exactly was!

Anonymous said...

I'd beg to differ about McD's localization efforts...

In SG, they had the McSpicy, dark meat and spicy! Yum! And all over Asia last visit, they had some rice burger thing. And of course, the chicken wings. Not bad!

Here in the US, all our McD's food is white meat and bland...

Anonymous said...

I like to eat McDonalds in foreign countries though I never eat it at home. I found prawn burgers at Japanese fast food chains to be pretty good. But then again, I love prawn. Prawn is considered too luxurious for fast food chains in my country.

Anonymous said...

hi hungry boy, tks for sharing this..makes me laugh..Macs and starbucks are one of the few places i will try to get to just to see how different are they in different places while i am jet setting all over.. the latest i tried was Finland Macs , they dun have starbucks in Finland , and Russia Mac which both Mac donalds taste different but was really good.. somehow better than the ones here..

hey do u organise any eating trips in Singapore? i like to register since i am quite lost in singapore at the moment...;o)

Anonymous said...

McDonalds in Taiwan is so good! Every time I go back, I go for the nuggets. There's something about their nuggets that tastes so much better. Also, they have great kimchi burgers, rice burgers (like the ones they have at MOS burger), fried chicken, corn soup and even awsome dessert choices.

And their caramel milk tea is heavenly!

I didn't notice until typing all that that I miss the McDonald's in Taiwan that much...hahah

Anonymous said...

You must try the McLobster in Canada during the lobster season. It's awesome!