mcdonalds

McDonald’s Burger Syok and McFlurry Mangga

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McDonalds Burger Syok

No, this is not a sponsored post. I’m not here to tell you about Lat or ask you to go eat Burger Syok. I’m not even going to mention the promotional period. I’ve always felt that paid or invited food reviews are inherently dishonest so all the cafes and restaurants I’ve reviewed are done at my own expense with no invitations. I don’t even eat McDonald’s that much nowadays although I used to enjoy writing about their new products (mostly due to a lack of content ideas haha).

McDonalds Syok

This entire thing came about when my better half told me to get her the new Hello Kitty toy from McDonald’s. It comes with their Happy Meal and I dropped by after work to get her one. Since I was already there, I thought I’ll order a meal to eat and I saw the multitude promotional materials for I Love Burger Syok Ayam. The front of McDonald’s was covered with Lat cartoons.

Burger Syok Ayam

I’m one of those unpatriotic Malaysians who has no interest whatsoever with Lat cartoons. I never related to them. I went to New Zealand to do high school at 15 but even before then, in Chinese majority Sibu, no one read or even knew about Lat. I always thought it was a low quality local wannabe cartoonist when I was younger. I’ve not read anything to suggest otherwise or bothered to change my opinion since.

Burger Syok

Burger Syok is RM 11.95 on its own. Since I had a drink, fries and another burger from the Happy Meal, I didn’t bother getting the set. It tastes surprisingly good! I was fully prepared to dislike it since I’m into healthy eating lately. However, the spicy Thousand Island sauce combined with the fatty chicken thigh (with skin) drew me in. It’s not worth a special trip to get but if you’re in the area, you could do a lot worse for dinner.

McFlurry Mangga

There was also another related promotion going on called Mangga Mangga. Mangga is the local Malay word for mango and it features two different executions – Sundae Mangga (RM 3.95) and McFlurry Mangga (RM 4.95). I went for the latter and it came in a horrible radioactive orange sludge. It tastes like bad artificial mango. I don’t know why someone would go through the trouble of making this when we have perfectly good fresh mangos, and worse, we know what fresh mango tastes like. Avoid like the plague.

McDonalds Me

I like the sound of the Burger Syok though. It’s a burger exclusive to Malaysia and made for local tastes. That sounds pretty awesome. Furthermore, it’s made with a skin-on piece of chicken thigh! Skin on! Shit like that would never fly in another civilised country. Only heathens eat chicken skin, especially soggy ones like this. The fact that this burger is rocking a slimy chicken skin kinda appeals to me. It tastes decent too and I would eat it again, just not anytime soon. I was mostly here for the Hello Kitty toy though.

McDonald’s Japan Spring 2016 Menu: Camembert Teritama Burger & Hokkaido Namaeboshu “Names Wanted” Burger

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McDonalds Japan

I was attracted by the posters advertising the new limited edition Camembert Teritama Burger which is a pork patty topped with an egg and served in a teriyaki-like sauce. You can also opt to have Ume plum powder with your fries, which is very Japanese (and it’s only available in the Land of the Rising Sun). I read about a new nameless burger made with Hokkaido potatoes and bacon that I was keen to check out too.

Japan McDonalds

I have been bugging my better half to make space in our stomach for a meal at McDonald’s Japan. I like visiting McDonald’s in other countries coz they’re so much more awesome than our own. I started my passion when I was studying in Australia, and since then I’ve eaten at the Golden Arches at many countries, from Germany to Sri Lanka to Korea to Thailand.

McDonalds Japan Spring 2016

They have an English menu in McDonald’s Japan but it only lists the regular menu items. I wanted the special and limited edition sets so I had to order by pointing and guessing what each option was. Unfortunately, this means that I missed out on the Sakura Cherry McFizz. It was there in bright pink but I thought it meant Large so I didn’t order it. It was just a 30 yen (RM 1.50) upgrade. The Ume plum powder for the fries was also 30 yen for a sachet.

Camembert Teritama Burger Spring 2016 Set (690 yen or RM 30)
カマンベールてりたま

Camembert Teritama Burger Japan

This is the new 2016 Camembert Teritama Burger! It’s made with a pork patty with teriyaki sauce, egg, lettuce, and delicious gooey Camembert cheese inside a sesame seed bun. I was quite impressed with the use of Camembert cheese but it was the juiciness of the pork patty coupled with the sweet teriyaki sauce that sealed the deal.

Camembert Teritama Burger

It tasted so good with the locally made Camembert and egg.

Teriyaki McBurger (310 yen or RM 14)
てりやきマックバーガー

Teriyaki McBurger

My better half went for a Teriyaki McBurger. It was decent enough but I thought it was rather unimaginative given the wide range of other options out there which you can only get in Japan. Haha. To be fair, this pork patty is local so in a way, it’s a Japan only burger too.

Names Wanted “Namaeboshu” Burger (390 yen or RM 18)
名前募集バーガー

Names Wanted Burger

Namaeboshu literally means “Names Wanted”. This is the new item which hasn’t been given a name yet. McDonald’s Japan is asking for people to name it for a chance to win a year’s worth of this burger! It contains a delicious top, middle and bottom bun with a beef patty, onion relish, Cheddar cheese, awesome bacon slices and a generous scoop of beautifully buttery mashed potatoes from Hokkaido. It was a symphony of perfection!

McDonalds Nameless Burger

This burger very aptly comes in an special unmarked box.

Namaeboshu Burger

The onion sauce has a hint of burnt soy sauce and the hot potatoes topping it is soooo buttery it’s sinful! I got it a la carte for JPY 390. The beef is local and the Cheddar cheese is from Hokkaido as well. The bun is the best thing about this burger though, it’s a very rich and buttery brioche dough. It’s a lot better than the regular sesame ones. Get into my belly!

Hokkaido Potatoes

I really enjoyed this Hokkaido Names Wanted Burger. It represents everything right about McD in Japan – they have frequent limited edition items. This is true of other Japan fast food chains as well since Lotteria came out with a Shinkansen meal for JPY 1,000 in Hokkaido only which has a pork rib burger in the soon-to-be-launched H5 bullet train box. Plus, the Namaeboshu a.k.a. Giyu Innovation Burger (北のいいとこ牛(ぎゅ)っとバーガー) is made with local Hokkaido ingredients.

McD Japan

I dragged my dear for a 40-minute round trip walk in the -9 degree Celsius snow to visit the nearest McDonald’s in Sapporo and I didn’t regret it. 9/10, will eat again!

Our trip to Melbourne: QV Market, Eureka Skydeck 88 and more!

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settlers melbourne

This is the final post about the last day of our Melbourne trip! We spent one more day in Melbourne after coming back from Phillip Island to see the Penguin Parade. The Nobbies (Seal Rocks) was awesome and so was Swan Lake Guest House.

dog

Here’s a random photo Ling took of me at Phillip Island. That bitch (it’s a female dog!) belongs to the car rental company’s owner, a friendly one, wagged her tail and came up to me to be petted. 🙂

melbourne city

We had a iVenture Card which allows us to choose 5 different things (anything from Puffing Billy to admission to Eureka 88) and we realized that we couldn’t utilize it fully due to a lack of time. I wanted Ling to browse around Queen Victoria Market so that’s where we went after checking into Citidines on Bourke Street.

queen victoria market

Unfortunately, it had just closed! Ling had a craving for fish and chips and I wanted to bring her there for some proper ones but since that plan was scuttled we headed to Maccas instead.

mcdonalds melbourne

Maccas is the local slang for McDonald’s and I eat at different ones all over the world – from McDonald’s in Korea to McDonald’s in Germany (where they serve beer). It’s a favorite haunt of mine from back when I was studying in uni due to their ever changing menu. It was called New Tastes Menu back then and I had written quite a lot about it.

tastes of america

Salads Plus was their new initiative the last time I was in Melbourne in 2003 and this time it was Tastes of America. This is what I love about the McDonald’s in Australia. You can actually eat there every week and have something different from a limited time menu.

california chicken

We had the California Chicken (AUD 5.95) – pretty much the only thing we can eat since she doesn’t take beef. The other two versions are Smoky Texan (Angus Beef) and New York Classic (also beef).

maccas cali chicken

The California Chicken burger is a chicken patty with sweet chilli lime and summer mayo. I never quite got what summer mayo means. smirk

It’s pretty good though – I love the crisp lettuce in Australia, it’s very different from the limp ones over here.

cuisipro decorating pen

We also browsed around cooking shops – we share a common interest here – and I bought a Cuisipro decorating pen for AUD 20. I want to use it for plating when I cook for her – you can write stuff using gravy or chocolate, and Ling promptly *stole* it coz it’s too awesome! -_-

city circle tram

Hopped on the free City Circle Tram and ended up at Crown Complex. There’s flames in the evening but it was still early so we walked around instead.

qv market

Ling + HB in Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne!

the travellers

The Travellers! That’s what these wire frame art is called. It chronicles Australia’s history and the first one is called:

gayip

Gayip. It represents the Aboriginal period before the settlers came during the convict period (1788-1888). Australia used to be a penal colony e.g. a place where English prisoners were shipped to. The Prime Minister when I was studying then proudly traced his heritage to his grandmother, who was a convicted thief.

melbourne chill on

Chill On Ice Lounge & Ski Lodge is an overrated tourist trap.

ice lounge melbourne

You dress in cold weather parkas and go into a -10 Celsius room made entirely of ice. There’s a free cocktail served in a glass made entirely of ice!

chill on ice lounge

That was pretty good but there’s nothing much to see inside. You can’t take photos either, but there’s buttons to press for posed photos.

chill on melbourne

None of them turned out well though so we didn’t get the photos. Admission is AUD 30 per person (!!!) – we just wanted to use up the iVenture Card and this was one of the places which accepts it.

eureka melbourne

The next destination is the Eureka Skydeck 88. It’s located on the 88th floor – thus the name, and it’s the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere with an observation deck at 285 meters.

eureka skydeck

This was pretty nice – you get an entire 360 degree view of Melbourne from the observation deck. There are avid photographers camping with kitted out dSLRs with huge lenses to take photos of the grand view.

eureka skydeck 88

It’s quite nice, especially at sunset. 🙂

skydeck 88

You can see one side is still bright, while the other is getting dark.

skydeck melbourne

We spent quite a while there before going to Coles.

lord of the fries

Lord of the Fries! Haha! I love the reference (it’s a rather dark book).

coles

I had promised to cook her dinner before going back – a complete course with kangaroo roast as the main dish. We had a lot of fun in Melbourne – our first trip overseas, but definitely not the last. I’m going to write about the kangaroo meat dinner tomorrow before we head off for more lovely memories together on her birthday weekend! <3 happy

I love you dear! It’s always a pleasure being with you and I would like to spend each and every moment of my life with you in the future. *hugs*

I made my very own Egg McMuffin!

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making egg mcmuffin

I was at McDonald’s Bandar Sri Damansara over the weekend. I took a typhoid jab before that in preparation to work inside the kitchen.

bloggers breakfast session

There were platters of hash browns, McMuffins and coffee/tea for everyone when I arrived and the second floor was full of people who came for the Bloggers’ Breakfast Session.

bloggers breakfast

Five of my readers turned up with their +1 – Eiling, Adel, Simon, Brenda and Cindy. Rachel was there too, which makes up my montage of 6 photos! 🙂

bloggers

There was a kitchen tour involved where we go to see the inside of a typical McDonald’s kitchen.

mcdonalds freezer

Here’s the freezer which contains everything from orange juice to specific items like “slivered onion”.

french fries

Here’s the deep frying vat used for French fries.

drive thru

I also managed to go into the drive-thru kiosk to take an order. smirk

mcdonalds drive thru

It was a lot of fun!

counter

However, what was even more fun was that I got the opportunity to prepare breakfast. Look ma! I’m at the other end of the counter! 😀 This is actually meant for customers (thus the typhoid shot).

orders

The orders come through on a screen behind the preparation counter. The preparation counter is basically a nifty, clean, labelled area where you can prepare everything on the breakfast menu.

done

I did an Egg McMuffin!

gloves

I had to wash my hands and don gloves before that – the gloves in particular intrigued me. You don’t need to touch anything, just slip your hands through the plastic gloves and you’re set for handling the food.

wrapper

The Egg McMuffin is done by taking two English muffins and putting them on the correct paper. There’s a crown and a base for the muffins, all items should be stacked on the latter.

getting cheese

You start with a slice of cheese on the muffin…

getting eggs

…pick a perfect egg from the freshly cooked batch and stacking it on with a spatula.

chicken roll

Before choosing a slice of chicken roll and placing that on top.

mcdonalds eggs

The preparation area is heated (!!!) and so are all the food items, which are discarded after a period of time.

wrapping

There is also a standard way to place and wrap the Egg McMuffin up – everything is done exactly so an Egg McMuffin you order here would be the same as anywhere else in the world.

mcdonalds egg mcmuffin

I was supposed to serve my Egg McMuffin out but I wanted to eat that so I asked if I could.

my egg mcmuffin

Permission granted! 🙂

egg mcmuffin

I had a lot of fun doing that.

eating caydence

Here’s a shot with Caydence, who’s with McDonald’s!

caydence

She has four (4) different name cards – well, it’s the same but the front bit is different. I thought that was really cool!

mcdonalds

Oh yeah, you remember the importance of breakfast that I was writing about? Well, there was a McDonald’s Breakfast Day last year where 200,000 Malaysians joined the McDonald’s Breakfasts Movement. I was puzzled at the queue at the local McDonald’s so early in the morning – it was due to them serving out free breakfasts.

mcdonalds national breakfast day

This year, there will be a National Breakfast Day on the 18th March 2013 where an estimated 5 million (!) Egg McMuffins will be given out to stress the importance of a wholesome and freshly prepared breakfast.

national breakfast day

It’s the World’s Biggest Breakfast Giveaway! In Malaysia, each of the 222 McDonald’s Breakfast Restaurants will offer a FREE Egg McMuffin to the first 1,000 customers from 7 am to 10 am on National Breakfast Day on 18th March 2013! There’s a hilarious site called Not a Morning Person where you can get more information.

Mark that date folks, and catch up with a co-worker or a loved one over an Egg McMuffin!

I’ll be personally serving breakfast for 5 readers! :)

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eggs

You know the phrase that goes “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper”?

It’s the most important meal of the day. I’ve always had the bad habit of skipping breakfast and eating a lot for lunch until recently. It makes you feel crappy from the low blood sugar levels and you tend to overeat during lunch, which causes the sudden influx of carbs to give you the dreaded “post-lunch coma”.

It’s really a problem that compounds on itself.

bacon

I have realized the importance of breakfast and have been eating it regularly since last year. Nope, not last year as in “3 months ago” (it’s just the start of 2013) but early last year. :p

It’s now my routine to wake up and eat breakfast before doing anything else (even before reaching for them cancer sticks). True story.

coffee

A hungry man is an angry man, or so the saying goes. It’s actually hard to feel good when you have low blood sugar – you’ll be lethargic, lazy and generally in a bad mood.

It’s what people mean when they say they “got up on the wrong side of the bed” (that’s three quotes now haha).

breakfast

Low glucose (blood sugar) is primarily the reason for that and since you’ve been asleep for 8 hours (or more like 5-6 in my case) it’s all the more reason to load up on a healthy breakfast.

I read this article about reasons people tend to skip breakfast, the number one excuse being “I have no time for breakfast”.

That was what I always told myself too, and I think the way around that as suggested is to have breakfast on the go – drive through a drive in and grab some muffins that you can eat while driving. This is also a good way to get around the problem of you not feeling like preparing breakfast in the morning.

fruits

The other reason I hear often is “I’m on a diet”.

Skipping breakfast is really bad for you if you’re on a diet, it messes up your blood sugar levels, induces cravings and you’ll just end up eating more. You’re just sabotaging yourself by not eating breakfast since you’re more likely to binge later and research shows that people who do that end up putting on *more* weight. A lot of people ask my why I’m thinner nowadays and I can look at them straight in the eyes and answer with a straight face:

Healthy living!

Thanks for that gem, Sue! 🙂

carbs

A good breakfast should have all the food groups represented:

  • Carbohydrates – gives you energy throughout the day
  • Protein – provides the building blocks and increases satiation (the feeling of fullness so you won’t be inclined to snack)
  • Fiber – always good to loosen up everything
  • Vitamins – Important Stuff TM
  • Minerals – (see above)

…and lots of fluids. Orange juice is always a good choice in the morning!

cheese

Anyway, I’ll be taking a typhoid vaccination next week. It’s actually required for everyone handling food but I don’t think a lot of places does it. It’s a requirement for McDonald’s though and that’s where I’ll be serving you breakfast!

takeout

McMuffins, orange juice, whatever you want that’s on the menu. I’ll be dishing it up for you. I’ll be in the kitchen too, so the stuff you’re eating is actually prepared by me. Haha! I have room for 5 readers (who can each bring a friend) so that’s 10 pax in total.

Bloggers’ Breakfast Session
Date: 10th March 2013
Time: 9:30 am – 11:00 am
Venue: McDonald’s Sri Damansara

meals

The spaces are very limited for this kitchen tour and specially prepared breakfast. Just comment about what your favorite breakfast is (it can be anything) and make sure your email is valid (so I can contact you) to indicate that you want to join the breakfast session and I’ll give 5 people (10 in total since it comes with a +1) the chance to come. Make sure you’re okay with the dates ya! 🙂

It’ll be a great start to the day!

Only in Germany – beer and bubble tea at McDonald’s!

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beer mcdonalds

I just came back from the Golden Arches in Dresden with where I had a beer for 1.99 Euros (about RM 8). I just wanted to go for the heck of it, Germany is the only place where you can grab a beer at McDonald’s. Heh.

mcdonalds germany

There’s also a bubble tea craze going on right now in Dresden. They’re selling it at McCafe for 2.69 Euros. Nigel had it and he commented that the bubbles isn’t the sago pearls usually found in bubble tea in Asia.

mcdonalds dresden

I tried it and sure enough, the “bubble tea” has been localized to an extent where there is no milk and and the pearls are made of something which pops in your mouth – it’s a sphere filled with liquid instead of being semi-solid.

mcrib

The popular McRib (where aficionados in the US have been known to drive hundreds of miles for) was alright but I was too full from dinner to fully enjoy it. It’s a flavorful pork sandwich slathered with BBQ sauce.

nigel

However, that’s not the point. The point is drinking beer at a McDonald’s. Heh. It comes in a 330 ml plastic cup and conforms to the German beer brewing purity law but to be honest it was nothing special.

mcdonalds beer germany

…but hey, I drank beer sold at a McDonald’s outlet! 😀

Posted: 12:06 am Dresden time (GMT +2)

McDonald’s Coca-Cola Contour Glass

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mcdonalds

I love McDonald’s and I’ve been writing about their promotions for ages. Don’t
stare me, just look at my archives.

korea 

I even rushed to the nearest McDonald’s in Korea during my recent trip to Busan to grab a Big Bulgogi Burger (their localized specialty).

mcdonalds prawn wrappers

I started my passion for the Golden Arches with the McDonald’s promotions in Australia – a particularly memorable one is a cross-promo with Scrabble. I remember trying to eat their entire menu (one of each burger) during an astoundingly stupid dare when I was in university. It didn’t work out too well. Chronically ravenous *cough*, I started with the McOz burger, and proceeded to eat three more burgers before slowing down and grinding to a complete halt, stomach near bursting.

mcdonalds mcoz aussie burger

The next time I tried to eat everything was done in a more appropriate (read: controlled) setting – the Salads Plus menu, over the course of a couple of days.

mcdonalds sega2

My love for McDonald’s collectibles is not unknown either – I rushed off during my lunch break in 2004 to get my grubby paws on the McDonald’s and Sega 2 mini video games. One horrific day, the handheld game sold out BEFORE lunch hour and I had to scour the entire town for places that still has it. Since then, I’ve taken to going in the morning before work. I stood outside the outlet as it opened, and it got to a point where the people working there recognize me and waves.

Some other memorable McDonald’s promotions:

McDonald’s Crispy Prawn Burger and Prawn Wrappers
McDonald’s Fish McDippers
McDonald’s Grilled Chicken Foldover
McDonald’s Prosperity Burger Chicken and Prosperity Desserts
McDonald’s Spicy FIFA World Cup Soccer Star promotion
Mega Mac and Big Mac Chant
McDonald’s Gold Medal Meal Beijing 2008

I loved the Crispy Prawn Burger and I really wish they’ll bring it back. It’s awesome stuff. The Olympics 2008 glass is the predecessor to the 2009 Coke Glass promo which is the point of this post. I’ll better get to the gist of it before this turns into a full blown PhD dissertation. 😉

Coke Contour Glass Meal poster

Well, if you’re into collectibles McDonald’s is coming out with a series of limited edition Coca-Cola glasses. Yes the iconic Coke glasses are back! =D There are 7 Coke glasses in all and you can get it FREE just by buying any Large McValue Meal with a Sundae.

Coke Contour Glass color of the day

Just point at the Coke Contour Glass Meal place card conveniently located at the counter, choose your burger and the flavor of your sundae to get the current Coke glass FOC!

Coke Contour Glass Meal

I managed to get the Cool Blue glass but what I’m really waiting for it the Iconic Grey (called Charcoal in other countries) coz the personality description for that is “You might just be the wildcard!”

coke contour glass camwhore

Heh! That describes me down to a T (or *.* rather – dash of geek humor here).

coke contour glass tray liner

Another one to look out for is the 7th Coke glass. It’s called Sparkly Clear and it’s exclusive to Malaysia! The other countries only get 6, so the final one will definitely be one hell of a collector’s item!

I’ve got the Perky Pink and Cool Blue.  This time around, there’s no set release dates for new Coke glasses…which can lead to some, well, problems:

fighting over coke glass

You’ll just have to keep checking the McDonald’s website to get the inside scoop when a new one comes out. Perky Pink, Cool Blue, Fortune Green, Iconic Grey and Royal Purple are out, and some colors have already sold out. Don’t let the Coke glass ruin workplace relationships. Grab your favorite color today, they’re going fast!  Go go go! =D

McDonald’s in Korea

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*adds a notch on my belt*

mcdonalds

I like eating McDonald’s in different countries to check out their localized offerings. I suspect this has a lot to do with the New Tastes menu in Australia where 2-3 new items are introduced for a week, and a week only. I was in university then and most university students eat a lot of fast food. *shrugs* I digress.

mcdonalds korea

McDonald’s in Korea has several different items:

Big Bulgogi Burger (3400 Won or RM 10)
Bulgogi Burger (2800 Won or RM 8)
Bacon Tomato Deluxe (3800 Won or RM 12)
Shanghai Spice Chicken Burger (3700 Won or RM 12)
Shrimp Burger (3300 Won or RM 10)

korea mcdonalds

The Bacon Tomato Deluxe is like the Big N’ Tasty we get over here except with real bacon from pigs. The Shanghai Spice Chicken Burger is their version of the Spicy Chicken McDeluxe. The Shrimp Burger is similar to the Crispy Prawn Burger we had over here a while back. I ate the one in Lotteria (the fast food arm of the giant Lotte) instead. Lotteria is the #1 fast food chain in South Korea – I’ll post about it later.

Thus, the only truly localized menu item is the Big Bulgogi Burger.

bulgogi burger

I had the Big Bulgogi Burger set (4900 Won or RM 15) and one interesting thing about Korea is that they’re very big on the environment. You pay 100 Won extra for the cup, which is refunded when you return it for recycling.

big bulgogi burger bite

Bulgogi is a Korean dish which means marinated barbecued beef and we had the same thing for dinner the night before. Bulgogi done right (and the Koreans always do it right) is tender, succulent and delectable! The Big Bulgogi Burger is essentially a double Bulgogi Burger – the Korean version of Big Mac, if you will.

big bulgogi burger

Oh, how do I even begin to describe the pure awesomeness of the Big Bulgogi Burger? Imagine a huge burger made with soft buns and tender, melt-in-your mouth bulgogi beef sandwiched in the middle. Visualize the juices practically squirting out of the bulgogi beef when you bite into it, coating your tongue with the delicious barbecue marinate.

big bulgogi burger me

Now, multiply that thought by a factor of 10 and you might just get a hint of how breathtaking the Big Bulgogi Burger is. One of my friends took a bite and promptly decided that he needed to have one too so we ate the same thing again at the airport McDonalds!

The Big Bulgogi Burger is awe-inspiring – it’s so delicious that the superlative to describe it hasn’t even been coined yet.

I have experienced the divine and I’ll never be able to settle for a lesser burger. 🙁

McDonald’s in Sri Lanka

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mcdonalds sri lanka

I know, who the hell eats at McDonald’s when they’re on vacation right? Well, I’ve made it my personal jihad to check out McDonald’s in the different countries I visit for their localized menu items.

mcdonalds staff

It’s like stamp collecting – how do you explain it? I can’t, an inexplicable urge came over me and I told the tuk tuk driver: “Bring me to your leader!”

mcdonalds counter

I meant bring me to the nearest McDonald’s.

mcdonalds sauce

The first regional difference is their sauce – instead of chilli sauce, their chilli sauce is infused with garlic. Nice! There is no regular chilli sauce here.

menu liner

McDonald’s is renowned for their signature Big Macs. The Big Macs in Sri Lanka comes in two variants – beef and chicken (due to the religious constitution – Hindus don’t eat beef).

scratch win

The staff is very friendly and accommodating – but perhaps only to foreigners, since I noticed they were decidedly cold towards a local who was short LKR 50. I paid for her; it’s only RM 2, not a big deal to us, my good dead for the day. 😉 I also got a free Coke from this scratch and win contest they’re having. It was either a drink, a t-shirt or a trip to South Africa to watch…you guessed it, cricket!

mcrice container

I ordered a McRice with Chicken (LKR 220 or USD 2.20). It also comes with the option of fish (since Sri Lanka is an island in the middle of the ocean) or vegetables (a sizable community here is vegetarian).

mcrice chicken

The chicken is nothing to write home about – it’s just a piece of fried chicken breast.

rice sauce

However, they do have a rather tasty sauce of onions with gravy that adds that extra dimension of taste to the chicken. The rice on the other hand, is really something I would take the time to draft a long correspondence back for!

mcrice

The interesting thing about their rice is that it’s heavily flavored by various spices and comes with a side serving of shallots. I notice that Sri Lankans loves their red onions. It’s served at almost every meal!

veggie burger

I also got a Vegetarian Burger with Cheese (LKR 360 or USD 3.60). It’s obviously not for vegans due to the cheese but it tastes good – like the Vege Burger I had in Melbourne.

chicken big mac

I was stuffed at that point but I insist on trying all their different menu items so I had a Chicken Big Mac (LKR 410 or USD 4.10) to go. It’s unusual, tastes like a McChicken instead of a Big Mac, but with two all-beef chicken patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

sauce

The other thing I noticed about McDonald’s in Sri Lanka is that they don’t have proper sealed sauces for take away.

sauce size

They use a flat round container instead. This is how it looks like beside a LKR 5 coin. I’m not sure if this is a recipe for botulism but since it’s Maccas I guess they should have reasonable standards, even in Sri Lanka. 😉

mcdonalds

McDonald’s in Sri Lanka is quite expensive when you consider the currency exchange. I paid the equivalent of RM 12 for a Chicken Big Mac. I don’t know how it rates on the Big Mac Index by The Economist magazine, but it’s certainly not cheap.

Posted: 10:04 PM Sri Lanka time.

The Quest for the McValue Lunch

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lunch

Lunch has always been a particularly bothersome time – there are not a lot of food outlets near my office so it’s either the mamak (which tends to slaughter me, running up a bill in excess of RM 10 is not uncommon if I eat nasi kandar) or the Chinese shops (very crowded, and the food isn’t exactly cheap either).

Thus, there is always a constant debate over where to go for lunch. I don’t take the heat very well so I always vote against the Chinese shops. We usually end up eating at some quiet café – the average amount I spend on lunch is about RM 10-14. One fine day, I heard some of my co-workers ordering McDonald’s for lunch – that was the first I’ve heard of the McValue Lunch. It starts from just RM 5.95! 

enter

I was traumatized. I used to review McDonald’s stuff and was the first to know about their latest and greatest, from their Crispy Prawn Burger to their Salads Plus menu in Australia. I even ate McDonald’s in Thailand just coz I was passionate about trying everything on their menu! I was appalled that I wasn’t the first to know about the McValue Lunch and was determined to undo this affront to my pride. 

mcvalue_4

Thus, I checked McDonald’s FaceBook diligently and am proud to report that I was one of the first to find out about the new McValue Lunch menu. They now have the Big Mac (RM 7.95) and the Spicy Chicken McDeluxe (RM 7.95) in addition to their existing RM 5.95 McValue Lunch portfolio – McChicken and Filet-O-Fish. 

time

The best thing about the McValue Lunch? It’s available from 12 pm – 3 pm every single day. Check out the clock at this outlet. It’s even available on the weekends. Monday to Sunday, they’ve got it covered. You don’t even have to go there personally – the McValue Lunch is valid for Dine-in, Drive-Thru and even McDelivery with no minimum order. Best, kan? 

mcvalue

…and with our lunch problems sorted, we proceeded to dine in air-conditioned comfort at a very, very reasonable price. It’s cheaper than the places we usually hit for lunch and it’s just 5 minutes away from where I work. I went for the Spicy Chicken McDeluxe coz eating a Big Mac is very likely to induce a post-lunch coma.

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It came up to just RM 8.35 inclusive of tax. I can honestly say that it’s one of the best deals for lunch in town… 

me

…and to top it off, McDonald’s is running a blogger contest in conjunction with the McValue Lunch. The contest tagline is “Have you McValue LUNCH-ed this week?” and you’ll need to squeeze the grey matter to produce some creative juice for your post. Just write about your experience with the McValue Lunch and post photos or create a video from 27th April to 31st May 2009 to stand a chance to win the Apple iPhone 3G complete with a 6-month contract with Maxis!

This is my submission – I think I scared the customers (and the staff gave me disapproving looks) when I waltzed into the outlet shouting (screaming?) a greeting in Japanese and ordering before I even got to the counter. I must have looked somewhat deranged. 😉tagline_logo

Well, have you?

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