McDonald's Around the World

Cape Town, South Africa, November 2023

We ordered their Boerie Burger, a South African Breakfast meal, and two large Diet Cokes. Our meals came with French fries, and the Diet Cokes were enormous, which suited us just fine. The Boerie burger had an interesting taste, almost like a hot dog in hamburger form.

Durban, South Africa, November 2023

We ordered a passion fruit McFizz, a lemon lychee McFizz, and a strawberry shortcake McFlurry. We liked the McFlurry cardboard container.

Funchal, Portugal, October 2023

Tom had the McCrispy Creamy BBQ chicken sandwich and Debbie had the Maestro Egg Benedict sandwich.

Las Vegas, NV, June 2023

This is the largest Golden Arch we've ever seen.

Canada, August 2022

We tried several delicious Canadian specialties. Their Egg BLT Everything Bagel is so very delicious. We also appreciated their use of paper cups, paper straws, and wooden forks. Shown here are (top to bottom): BLT Egg McMuffin, Spicy Habanero Chicken sandwich, Poutine, Egg BLT Everything Bagel, Li'L Donuts (Boston Cream, Double Glazed, Apple Fritter, Sprinkle, Strawberry Jelly, Maple Caramel), Bacon Deluxe McCrispy, Quarter Pounder BLT.

Las Vegas, NV, November 2021

This building features a gigantic drink and fries, which is to be expected in Las Vegas.

San Bernardino, CA, November 2021

This is the Original McDonald's Museum, an unofficial museum on the location where Dick and Mac McDonald opened the first McDonald's Self-Service, Drive-in Restaurant in 1948.

Barstow, CA, November 2021

This location had brightly-painted red and yellow train cars outside, and a large water tower with golden arches.

Bahamas, July 2021

We didn't visit.

Chicago, Illinois, September 2020

This special place is the Global Menu Restaurant, where food items from around the world are available to try. Menu items change every eight weeks so visit early, visit often.

Roswell, New Mexico, November 2017

We didn't visit but we did enjoy the spaceship theme.

Quito, Ecuador, March 2017

We didn't visit.

St. Maarten, December 2015

We didn't visit.

London, August 2015

We had the same breakfast two days in a row at a McDonald's near Heathrow Airport. Tom ordered a Bacon and Egg McMuffin, and Debbie had a Breakfast Wrap, described as "Sausage, Bacon, Egg, Potato Rosti, Cheese, Ketchup or Brown Sauce all in a Tortilla Wrap." She opted for brown sauce, which tasted a little like Worcestershire sauce. The wrap was exactly as described, and Tom's McMuffin differed from the US version in that it used British bacon instead of the ham-like Canadian bacon we are used to.

Inverness, Scotland, July 2015

We didn't visit.

Bahrain, November 2014

We tried two specialty items: the McArabia chicken wrap in a pita on the left and the Red Chili Chicken sandwich we had seen advertised in Dubai. Both were delicious and as a bonus, they were served with actual large Coca-Cola Lights, not the tiny size that passes for a large size in some countries.

Jordan, November 2014

This McDonald's in the Queen Alia International Airport offered an unusual breakfast option called the McArabia Halloumi (cheese, tomatoes, black olives, and mint on a pita). Unfortunately, we didn't get a close enough photo of the menu and we had already converted our money so we couldn't buy it.

Dubai, November 2014

We didn't visit.

Curaçao, March 2014

We didn't visit but we peered inside and didn't see anything special on the menu other than a Chicken Big Mac, which swaps the beef patties for McChicken patties.

Stockholm, Sweden, November 2013

We ate breakfast at McDonald's twice, both times for breakfast specifically to have the Swedish pancakes. The breakfast ham and cheese sandwich was also delicious.

Copenhagen, Denmark, November 2013

We didn't visit.

Oslo, Norway, November 2013

We didn't visit. Norwegian McDonald's restaurants had just started serving breakfast a few months earlier so it might have been nice to try breakfast here, but our big loss was not seeing if the McLaks salmon burger really exists or not.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, January 2013

The ad in the window showed a McTrío Del Dia, which is the Extra Value Meal of the Day, with a Hazla Doble option (Make it Double) for 15 more pesos. We got an ice cream cone at the corner ice cream cashier, similar to what we had seen in Argentina.

Colón, Panama, January 2013

Panamanian McDonald's had ads in their windows for a McFlurry Maria. What could that be? We have no idea. We also saw an ad for a Triple Con Queso burger for $1.65. Alas, we couldn't stop to try them.

Lima, Peru, November 2012

We debated eating breakfast at the McDonald's in the Lima airport food court, but the breakfast menu didn't have anything really unusual on it and we weren't that hungry, so we didn't.

Juneau, Alaska, August 2012

We didn't have time to visit and try a McKinley Mac, which is a Big Mac made with two Quarter Pounder patties. We didn't have enough time in Ketchikan either, unfortunately.

Singapore, April 2012

We tried the Crispy Chicken Breakfast Deluxe, consisting of pancakes, English muffins, eggs, hash browns, a large piece of boneless chicken, and actual large Coca-Cola Lights! We had become accustomed to never receiving large drinks in other countries, so this was a rare treat indeed. The person who took our order laughed when we ordered them and we just beamed back. The McDonald's restaurants in Singapore have chilli sauce dispensers right next to the ketchup dispensers. They also have Seaweed Shaker Fries, a delicacy that we never got a chance to try.

Check out those Thai characters rendered in the classic McDonald's font! The Ronald McDonald statue gives the traditional Thai gesture for "Thank you."

Interesting but untasted menu options include Samurai Pork Burger, McDonald's Ham & Egg Pie, Pineapple Pie, and Corn Pie.

Andorra, November 2011

We had an NYCrispy and a CBO. We had the option of regular fries (patates frites) or wedge-cut potatoes (patates deluxe), so we got one of each. Tom ordered the CBO without having any idea what it was. It came with a packet of tartar sauce, so he figured it was a fish sandwich and spread it on. Wrong -- CBO stands for Chicken Bacon Onion. It was probably delicious without tartar sauce on it. Debbie's NYCrispy was a hamburger featuring crispy onions, BBQ sauce, and bacon and it was good.

Seville, Spain, October 2011

We didn't visit.

Marrakech, Morocco, October 2011

We didn't visit.

Agadir, Morocco, October 2011

We didn't visit.

Portugal, October 2011

We didn't visit but we did try an NYCrispy in Andorra.

Barcelona, Spain, October 2011

The McDonald's on Passeig de Gràcia featured macarons in the McCafe section of the restaurant. Macarons! That's when we knew we were truly in Europe. We did not try one.

The McDonald's on Plaça de Catalunya did not serve breakfast foods, so we had a snack wrap, fries, and a McIbérica, which is a beef patty on a square bun with tomato, lettuce, Manchego cheese, olive oil, and Iberico ham. It was an odd combination, but worth trying.

On the poster at the entrance of the Plaça de Catalunya McDonald's, Debbie spotted something she had to try before leaving Europe: the Milka donut, which we also spotted in Andorra. She finally got to try the Milka donut at the Barcelona airport. Unfortunately, it was not as delicious as she had hoped, but the McRoyal Deluxe (basically a Quarter Pounder with cheese) was pretty tasty.

Tahiti, March 2011

We didn't visit the two regular restaurants we saw on the big island of Tahiti, but we had breakfast at the tiny one in the airport with the breakfast menu shown. We didn't see any McDonald's restaurants on the other French Polynesia islands we visited.

Somewhere in Poland, July 2010

Debbie had a McTost breakfast sandwich -- egg and cheese between round pieces of toast. Debbie took a picture inside of the menu and got yelled at by the staff so we had to delete the photo.

Prague, Czech Republic, July 2010

The Czech McDonald's also have shrimp on the menu, but we didn't get to eat there. Mmmmm, shrimp. Not sure what the whale was for in the burger ad.

Somewhere in Germany, June 2010

This gem is the Shrimp Lemon sandwich, a brand-new German introduction. It was just as delicious as Japan's Filet-O-Ebi, if not more so.

Salzburg, Austria, June 2010

We didn't visit.

Innsbruck, Austria, June 2010

We didn't visit.

Triesen, Liechtenstein, June 2010

We didn't visit. This is one of only two in the entire country.

Tokyo, Japan, February 2010

Debbie had a Filet-O-Ebi (shrimp burger) and Tom tried a Big America Hawaii burger, consisting of beef, bacon, egg, cheese, and sauce. We also had breakfast several times -- the McGriddles use the Egg McMuffin-style of egg instead of the scrambled egg square we're used to.

San José, Costa Rica, June 2009

We didn't visit, but we saw that McNífica was on the menu here too.

Buenos Aires, Argentina, January 2009

Tom had the Quarto de Libra (similar to a Quarter Pounder with Cheese) and Debbie had the McNífica (a cross between a Quarter Pounder and a Big Mac).

Fajardo, Puerto Rico, July 2008

Many of the stores advertise "Desayuno" on their signs, which we finally figured out means "breakfast," so we took them up on their offer.

Hong Kong, March 2008

The menu in Hong Kong is nearly identical to the menu in Indiana, so we didn't eat here.

Beijing, China, March 2008

We never had an opportunity to eat at a McDonald's in China.

Busan, South Korea, March 2008

We didn't eat here.

Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan, March 2008

Debbie had a Filet-O-Ebi (shrimp burger) and Tom had a teriyaki burger. We planned a return trip to Japan in no small part because of the amazing Filet-O-Ebi.

Oahu, Hawaii, July 2007

We didn't stop here but admired the attempt to give the restaurant a local look.

Kahului, Maui, Hawaii, July 2007

Debbie tried the local specialty of Portuguese sausage, eggs, and rice. It was quite delicious.

Athens, Greece, May 2007

Our meals came with tiny forks, which we think were meant to be used to eat the fries, but we didn't use them.

Crimea, Ukraine, May 2007

We were on a bus tour so we just got a photo of the sign in a vineyard.

Odessa, Ukraine, May 2007

We didn't eat here.

Varna, Bulgaria, May 2007

We didn't eat here.

Istanbul, Turkey, May 2007

We drove by on a bus tour so we didn't eat here.

Huntly, New Zealand, March 2006

Tom had a burger called The Boss and Debbie had a Deli Selects sandwich.

Auckland, New Zealand, March 2006

We ate breakfast at the Auckland airport.

Reykjavik, Iceland, June 2005

Tom had a Big Mac and Debbie had a McFeast (which was similar to a Quarter Pounder).

Houston, Texas, March 2005 and February 2023

We didn't visit in 2005 but we enjoyed the space theme, including the astronaut on top. When we returned in 2023, the building had been completely redone, with a brand new astronaut out front.

Pompeii, Naples, Italy, June 2004

We drove by on a bus tour so we didn't eat here.

Why not try a McThomas? We had already had lunch aboard the ship, so we didn't sample Tom's tasty namesake. But we did photograph it, of course.

Moscow, Russia, July 2002

We drove by on a bus tour so we didn't eat here.

St. Petersburg, Russia, July 2002

We drove by on a bus tour so we didn't eat here.

Mumbai (Bombay), India, July 1997

We drove by so we didn't eat here.

August 2021

We never tried the limited edited Saweetie Meal but the packaging showed up in a couple of our travel photos. The first photo shows the custom bag and the second one shows the French fries packaging. The bag has text on the side that says, "The longer the nails, the easier to reach that one last fry." The French fries packaging has text at the base that says, "Share with your best friend. Or don't."

May 2021

Here's the limited edited BTS meal, which consisted of Spicy Chicken McNuggets (depending on where you purchased your order), French fries, a soda, plus Cajun and Sweet Chilli dipping sauces. Note the Korean text on the dipping sauces.

June 2019

We are suckers for McDonald's international offerings, so we had to try their limited time menu of worldwide favorites. On the left is the Grand McExtreme Bacon Burger from Spain, and the Tomato Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich (Canada) is on the right.