Whenever I visit a foreign country, I always like to check out the local fast food eateries for a taste of the strange yet familiar. For instance, last time I was in Japan, I went to McDonalds and had a hamburger – but not your run-of-the-mill hamburger. I had a Kuro Burger: a beef patty served between two black buns, topped with black cheese, bamboo charcoal, and squid ink ketchup. Overall, it was a resounding 5/10 on the burger scale. But the experience? Well, that was a 10/10!
Japanese McDonalds can always be counted upon to deliver some mighty unique menu items. I’m never disappointed. That being said, I AM disappointed in some of the menu items available at familiar fast food joints around the world – only insofar as I can’t get my hands on them.
Here are my Top 15 Strange But Familiar Fast Food Menu Items I’d Like To Try!
15. Burger King Chili Cheese Nuggets: Deep-fried cheese with fiery hot japalenos. (available: Austria)
14. McItaly Adagio Burger: Beef patty topped with eggplant mousse, ricotta salata, and tomatoes served in an almond topped bun (available: Italy)
13. Mcdonalds Le Poulet-Curry: Breaded chicken, potato pancakes, lettuce, and curry served on a mini baguette (available: France)
12. McRice Burger: Beef or chicken patties topped with lettuce, mayo, and Asian barbecue sauce served on crispy rice buns (available: Singapore)
11. McDonalds Ebi Filet: Fried shrimp patty with special sauce and lettuce (available: Japan)
10. McAloo Tikki Burger: Potato and chickpea patty with tomatoes, onions, and tomato mayonnaise (available: India)
9. Burger King Pumpkin Burger: Beef patty topped with fried kabocha squash, bacon, lettuce, and a creamy nut sauce (available: Japan)
8. McDonalds P’tit Beldi: Spiced halal meat, tomatoes, lettuce, and mayo (available: Morocco)
7. McPollo Italiano: Fried chicken patty topped with tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, and guacamole (available: Chile)
6. McDonalds Bacon Roll: Bacon and ketchup on a hard roll (available: The U.K.)
5. McIberica: Beef patty topped with Iberico Ham, manchego cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and olive oil (available: Spain)
4. The McArabia: Grilled kofta patties, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and tahini served in flatbread (available: Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia)
3. Dunkin’ Donuts’ Jalapeno Bulgogi Hot Dog: Marinated beef slices with jalapeños, melted cheese, and barbecue sauce (available: South Korea)
2. McSpicy Paneer: Fried paneer cheese patty topped with lettuce, red cabbage, and tandoori sauce (available: India)
1. Burger King X-Tra Long Chili Cheese Burger: Three beef patties, cheese and jalapenos (available: Austria, Germany, Netherlands)
They all look great, and we will never get them here because North Americans (in general) can’t deal with anything that is outside their narrow mainstream. Just consider that the most popular car colours in America are white, grey and silver. That should tell you a lot.
Excuse me? There’s no mention of New Zealand Burgers. The Fergburgers are known world wide! They were even documented on CNN. (Not that I respect that organisation)
But the best are the Little Lamby (Prime New Zealand lamb, mint jelly, lettuce, tomato, red onion, alioli, tomato relish),
and Sweet Bambi (Wild Fiordland deer with a Thai plum chutney, lettuce, tomato, red onion, alioli).
See…I was watching last weekend’s Crusaders v Highlanders Super Rugby match, eating my home made beef (bone marrow) veggie soup (sooo healthy!), and you go and post all those pics and descripts of naughty stuff…and then Kat Karena comes on and torments me further with yummy-sounding treats that I can never try from a country I was meant to be born in, but wasn’t. Oy.
das
I suppose now, the next Food-Foray to Japan will be all about their “unique” FAST-FOOD menues rather than the GOURMET stuff..?
Wonder what Australian fast-food specialties I’ll find?
Visiting AUS later this year for first & probably last time. Travel hints welcome.
When you finally get to SAT, Joe, we can seek out two from the list.
15: Jalapeño poppers, basically the same item, have been available at various USA fast-food chains for years.
7: Looks like McD Chile’s version of what we know as a torta Milanesa in Tex-Mex fast food. Hmmm…been years since I last had one, but I remember that I liked the Tex-Mex version.
@Baterista – Are you a coffee drinker? It’s not bizarre or anything but we have the best coffee in the world… We really won a contest.
Dessert wise, try a pavlova – meringue, cream… Mmmmmmmmm
Hmmm… Macadamia nuts, lamingtons, barbecue…. Oh and no shrimps on the barbie – we don’t do that….real TimTams, Meat pie, Vanilla Slice, Kangaroo, hamburger with beetroot, fish and chips on the beach with the seagulls and Vegemite on toast…. That’s all I can think of at the moment.
Have fun!
Chev/imwebgurl
@ gforce – I guess I was always taught if your bread is black it’s probably bad. Black cheese would be a science lab project, and black meat, well I won’t even go there. Just like I wouldn’t eat dog but other countries would. I’m not narrow minded, it’s just the way I was raised.
I saw nothing there I wouldn’t try. I especially like the last one; it was the jalapenos that caught my eye.
Somewhat related: Did Akemi tell you about the Ghost Pepper sauce at Wilbur Mexicana with Barb and I?
Ah, I was a fan of the deep fat fried egg custard tarts that KFC sold, when I was out in Taiwan in 2001. They were delicious!
Considering I’ve never eaten a McDonald’s burger in my life (I’m a chicken nuggets guy if I’m ever reduced to eating in McDonald’s) I’m afraid most of this list doesn’t really float my boat. Even though I do have access to the bacon roll I know it would be a disappointment. Bacon Butties are almost like a religion here in the UK! Everyone has their own special recipe (yes, you can call slices of bacon in bread a recipe).
@baterista9: Australian fast food is a lot like US fast food . . . burgers, pizza, etc. There’s even some burrito places popping up. But you’ll also find lots of fish and chips and the ubiquitous meat pie.
i’d like to try #11 too.
strange fast food stuff i’d like to try’
mcdonalds–(they’re the king of this. since they try to match regional tastes)
cono oreo (mexico) some sort of an oreo ice cream cone
la salade pates mozzarella (france), mozzarella pasta salad
black & white pie (china) with coconut filling & a chocolate shell
chocolate and orange pie (asia) chocolate shell & orange filling
cordon bleu burger (poland) burger topped with ham-stuffed fried chicken patty and bacon.
lobster roll (canada) rarely found outside of the new england area, so it’s unusual to the rest of us.
pizza hut–
quesadilla, burrito & nacho pizzas (new zealand)
dairy queen–
green tea blizzards (thailand)
burger king–
cheesy whopper (egypt) basically a fried cheese patty on a whopper
poutine (canada) around most of the u.s, that’s unusual
I shall be going to Rome for 5 nights in April but no way will I be popping into Maccy D’s for any of my food…all that beautiful fresh Italian food to explore & waste one meal on a fast food burger?..no thanks…
OK, I’m taking a handful of antacids and going to bed.
Late night indigestion just reading that list.
I find it a bit odd sometimes that the humble “Bacon Roll” is unique to the UK.. i have to say it does set you up of a morning.. with brown sauce rather than chup:)
All of the pictures look appealing and worth a try. Even McDonalds Hawaii has a couple localized offerings. Which, I enjoyed but of course cannot get from a typical McDonalds elsewhere. Guess that is a good reason to move…LOL.
Why is that the only one of those items that I find horrifying is the UK bacon roll? How very…plain. Not even a shred of lettuce or tomato? Just bacon and ketchup? Weird.
I ate at a McDonald’s in Singapore a long time ago. It was some kind of chicken burger and was very good. Don’t remember details. Might have been the McRice Burger. I do know what I ate was one of only a couple of things vaguely familiar to me and that it wasn’t horrible. I rarely eat at fast food places now, and would rather eat somewhere that offers lots of veggies. As I get older I crave healthy food and enjoy it more. Doesn’t explain the bag of Cheetos I polished off last week, though! lol
Hah! Contradictory this morning. I said the meal was very good and then said it wasn’t horrible. Let’s settle for something in the middle. ;-P
I’m in for all of the above!
I would hate to imagine what’s in those Burgers, by that I mean the meat. You know, you could always make your own and copy the recipe, but instead use proper meat, not the processed stuff they no doubt use lol.
Those look tasty, although I can’t have quite a bit of that list. I did love Japanese fast food, the MOS teriyaki burger being my all time favorite. As usual, I should not read your blog before breakfast. I am ravenous this morning.
Hubby got a ghost pepper bourbon to try. Pretty sure he liked it. Nothing fancy, Wild Turkey “Sting”. I will stick with dark rum, thanks.
Today, I am going to try Little Caesar’s (Pizza place) Bacon Bacon Wrapped Crust Deep! Deep! Dish – 3.5 feet of bacon. Total wrapped in bacon, and topped with some crumbled bacon. Probably not good for me, but sure sounds tasty. BACON!.
Bummed out: Leonard Nimoy died… 🙁
@TamDixon: Just found out, what a punch to the heart. Leonard was of those people you felt would be around forever. My deepest condolences to his family.
This is so amazing. They’re doing an all star almost hero show with characters like Firestorm(From the Flash), Atom(From Arrow) and some others.
http://deadline.com/2015/02/arrow-flash-spin-off-cw-new-superhero-series-1201382466/
It’s still in a very early stage but still, I could see this coming. Firestorm really had an impact on The Flash. It would be criminal to not give him a show. It looks like the CW is becoming a DC comics network with these shows lol.
I cannot be flippant, nor sarcastic, nor funny… Mr. Spock, portrayed with the greatest of ability, style and grace by Leonard Nimoy, has passed away. I am so saddened, so… empty to know this.
I was a youngster of preteen years when Star Trek original series first aired. I stayed fascinated and enthralled with anything Star Trek since then, all the spin-offs and yes, most things of science fiction genre since then.
So very, very sad…
May God Bless and keep you Leonard. We’ll miss you.
2cats
@Randomness Yes it’s exciting. I’m a huge fan of Arrow naturally and I’ve been surprised how much I’ve enjoyed The Flash. Looking forward to that. I’ve developed a bit of a crush on Brandom Routh from his Arrow interviews.
Cheers, Chev
Most of those just look disgusting. I think the only interesting one (aka: edible, for me) is the McIberica. Then again, I suppose American fast food is disgusting to most.