Friday, October 31, 2008

Travel Sidenote: McDonalds

Brooke and I don't like to eat at McDonald's, but when we travel internationally, we make it a point to try a McDonald's. So far we've tried McDonald's in the countries of Japan, France, China, and Italy. There are absolutely no McDonald's in Vietnam. Otherwise, Vietnam would be on the list too.

Tokyo, Japan
The menu is pretty much the same as it is in the US, except they didn't offer any supersizes. Also, the meat tasted like it was boiled, rather than fried.
Paris, France
Being a fan of the movie "Pulp Fiction", I just wanted the items that Travolta described in the movie:
Le Big Mac
Royale with Cheese (quarter pounder)
Mayonnaise (instead of ketchup for the fries)
Large Beer

Pretty much everything Travolta said was true, except the Quarter Pounder was just called "Royal Cheese". The meals in Paris was called "Menu Best of", while the supersized meal is called "Menu Maxi Best of". They had an interesting signature sandwich in France that we don't have here in the States, The Don Sicily, but we didn't have a chance to try it. From the picture, it looks like it is smothered in blue cheese.


Siena, Italy
The price structure in Italy for meals was different than we've seen before. It didn't seem to matter what burger you got, they all cost the same. We decided to try the Italian McDonald's signature sandwich, the Parmigiano Reggiano burger. It was a burger with parmesan cheese and a small amount of mayo on ciabatta bread. Unfortunately, it was dry and we didn't like it. For the density of the ciabatta bread, it really needed more sauce, like mayo or ketchup.
We also noticed that they didn't put any ice in the coke. Ice is something we missed throughout our trip. While this is definitely more bang for your buck, an ice-cold drink has its own value. Like in France, beer is also offered at a McDonald's.

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