Fast-food in foreign countries

[Domestic Goddess]

Korea has it's fair share of western fast food joints - Mickey Dee's, Burger King, KFC, Hardees (Carl's Jr. here in Korea), etc. Lotteria is Korea's answer to McDonald's. Of course, there are also the thousand kimbap/snack food hole in the wall shops all over Korea, too.

[prasantrin]

Harvey's - Burgers

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Harvey's...I love Harvey's burgers. Unfortunately, most of the ones in Winnipeg (all located in Home Depot stores) closed, as far as I know. The only one I know that still exists is at the airport. It's a long way for me to go to get a good burger!

[potsticker]

I just HAVE to mention that I stood slack jawed in amazement outside a Starbucks in the middle of the Forbidden City in Beijing recently....Jesus, Mary and Joseph what were they thinking????????

Unfortunately I think I know the answer

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You have to admit, it IS rather inconspicuous. There's no exterior denotation for it, and it's just a counter and a refrigerated case after you do walk in.

On the other hand, in China, at McDonalds, they have this spicy chicken sandwich, made with thigh meat. The KFC there has something similar. I ate so many of those while I was there.

[insomniac]

I just HAVE to mention that I stood slack jawed in amazement outside a Starbucks in the middle of the Forbidden City in Beijing recently....Jesus, Mary and Joseph what were they thinking????????

Unfortunately I think I know the answer

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You have to admit, it IS rather inconspicuous. There's no exterior denotation for it, and it's just a counter and a refrigerated case after you do walk in.

On the other hand, in China, at McDonalds, they have this spicy chicken sandwich, made with thigh meat. The KFC there has something similar. I ate so many of those while I was there.

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It's definitely got a Starbucks sign on the outside cos I took a photo of me standing next to it...I just looked at it and thought why?????

[potsticker]

I just HAVE to mention that I stood slack jawed in amazement outside a Starbucks in the middle of the Forbidden City in Beijing recently....Jesus, Mary and Joseph what were they thinking????????

Unfortunately I think I know the answer

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You have to admit, it IS rather inconspicuous. There's no exterior denotation for it, and it's just a counter and a refrigerated case after you do walk in.

On the other hand, in China, at McDonalds, they have this spicy chicken sandwich, made with thigh meat. The KFC there has something similar. I ate so many of those while I was there.

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It's definitely got a Starbucks sign on the outside cos I took a photo of me standing next to it...I just looked at it and thought why?????

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hm. maybe it's temporarily down. the entirety of the forbidden city is under construction thanks to beijing 2008, including that starbucks building.

[laurelm]

I have seen Subway quite a bit overseas.

[doughgirl]

They have Cone Pizza in Seoul, Korea!

[zpzjessica]

haha cone pizza looks so crazy wish i could understand the korean, though!

[Milagai]

Hi: cone pizza is very popular in India too, I can't remember the

name of the chain though.

The fillings are Indian style (spicy paneer, etc.).

Another popular chain is Cafe Day (similar to Starbucks)

that are sprouting just EVERYWHERE you look!

Milagai

[piazzola]

In Australia he most recognised ones and biggest are McDonals, KFC, Hungry Jacks(Burger King) and of late Gloria Jeans, Starbucks and South African Nando's. Other Asian started to appear in small way yet.

[Domestic Goddess]

Hey, can anybody translate where Cone Pizza is? Hubby and I wanna try it out and give you guys a full report.

[Ladybug]

I live in Africa now (Zambia) and for fast foods, we have:

Wimpy's

Fontana's (Rotisserie Chicken)

Subway

Steers (Burgers)

and maybe a few others I forgot about. No McDonald's, but they do have that and KFC in South Africa.

For street foods, you can buy lots of suspicious looking sausages, grilled corn, grilled chicken feet, and even mice on a skewer.

[DCP]

I just HAVE to mention that I stood slack jawed in amazement outside a Starbucks in the middle of the Forbidden City in Beijing recently....Jesus, Mary and Joseph what were they thinking????????

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As an amusing aside to this: a couple family members recently were on a 'business networking' trip to China, and came across said Starbucks with amazement. One took about two minutes trying to get across the concept of her drink, at which point the young woman taking the order said "decaf double tall latte?" Apparently, even though no other English is spoken, one can order the same drinks in English in any Starbucks.

[jmcgrath]

In the Netherlands, we eat out of the wall 

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Very like the old Horn and Hardart Automats in the US.

Jim

[jpyvr]

I´ve been in Brazil for the past few months, and in a number of major cities. In addition to the McDs, the Pizza Huts (which comes out in Portuguese something like Pizza Hootchy), and Subways, there´s a very popular fast-food chain that is completely Brazilian from what I understand, and it´s not what you might expect.

The chain is called Habib´s, and it´s a chain of Lebanese-Arab fast food. The locations are archetypical fast-food á la McDs, with order counters, spotless bathrooms, childrens´playgrounds, birthday party rooms etc. The food is basically Middle Eastern, as it´s known in Brazil, with the addition of some Italian items like pizza and lasagne. The base-level item is called esfia, and it´s like a mini-pizza spread with either cheese or spiced ground meat (unspecified origin). There are also other items that would be familiar to anyone who knows Middle Eastern foods, like humous, tabouleh, chopped vegetable salad etc.

Habib´s locations seem to be eternally packed and busy, and many are open 24 hours. Of course one large difference from the North American style of fast food locations is that Habib´s serves beer -- but then again, in Brazil, who doesn´t?

[kumquat]

Hi:  cone pizza is very popular in India too, I can't remember the

name of the chain though.

The fillings are Indian style (spicy paneer, etc.).

Another popular chain is Cafe Day (similar to Starbucks)

that are sprouting just EVERYWHERE you look!

Milagai

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Cone pizza is carried by an Indian chain called Pizza Corner. They've been facing stiff competition from Domino's and Pizza Hut and have been resorting to gimmicks like this.

The name of the coffee chain is Cafe Coffee Day. They're actually a spin-off from a company that sold loose powdered coffee. The coffee is actually very decent and the prices are reasonable so it's become extremely popular.

Edited April 4, 2007 by kumquat (log)

[chappie]

Is this the right place to talk about odd international snack foods? Surely there must be a threat somewhere already started. If not, I can tell anyone and everyone here:

Never, when happily browsing the shelves of a Vietnamese/Thai grocery store and encountering a metal, Pringles-eqsue snack can with a cartoon and the name "Mr. Squid" on it (baked, not fried!) assume that, because you enjoy calimari, this might be a great new treat.

It tastes like seafood left to rot and then dry out on hot pavement, the horrible decay and fish-funk hardly masked by the liberal amounts of sugar and spice.

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Nightmare inducing, and I like a lot of funky flavors including fermented tofu, etc.

[Fibilou]

In the UK it's mainly Burger King, KFC and maccie Ds. You can buy prepackaged sandwiches in most supermarkets; there are plenty of coffee bars like Costa Coffee (an english one I think), Starbucks, Coffee Republic. Most people eat sandwiches and crisps (salt and vinegar are my favourites) for lunch here.

Late night food (post pubbing and clubbing) is usually cooked by turks who own all the late night kebab shops - doner and shish kebabs, garlic bread, chips. One very popular dish is "cheesy chips in bread" - basically chips with melted cheese wrapped in a pitta bread and then coated with garlic mayonnaise. Yum, can't be beaten especially in my local turkish place where they make their own flatbread for it. You can either sit on a bench seat by the fruit machines, at a plastic covered dirty table or just take it away and eat it in the street. Most kebab shops sell pretty much the same menu, beefburgers, chickenburgers, kebabs, pizzas (thick crust laden with cheese), garlic bread, hummus adn taramasalata (nobody ever orders it) and chips - cheesey or in bread or just plain. Everything comes with mayonnaise, garlic mayonnaise, ketchup, salt and vinegar. Most people also have loads of pickled chillies in their kebabs - which consist of "lamb" sliced off a huge, reformed cone of meat which is cooked over a brazier - again and again. It's then packed into a large pitta bread. If you are thinking that this all sounds very yummy, be aware that it is made with the most disgusting, fat filled excuse for meat possible and that eating these late night snacks leaves you with a very unpleasant fatty residue and makes you stink of oil - it's disgusting food unless you go to a really good place (of which there are few)

Also popular are Indian and Chinese takeaways, though a very anglicised version. Think sweet and sour king prawn balls in batter, chicken tikka masala.

Fish and chips is popular, but that's not really something you would grab on the run. Pizza is also popular, but again, something you would go into a restaurant for.

Edited April 9, 2007 by Fibilou (log)

[handmc]

I had a bulgolgi burger at McDonald's in Inchon South Korea. That was one nasty lunch.

McD's should stick to what they do poorly and not insult a culture's cuisine with such an abomination.

[nuppe]

In Norway a hot fish cake in the hand is a good traditional one. Today the producers try to make fish burgers to survive.

In Japan there are a lot of surimi seafood varieties that could be reckoned as fast food(like chikuwa, surimi sausage and agemono) But acually there are fast food elements in the history and world of sushi as well.

[Bond Girl]

Not technically fast food but Indian street food rocks big time! Especially when you see stuff like Vada Pav and Chaat.

[Fengyi]

[bTW, the Starbucks in the Forbidden City has had it's sign removed because one of the local news achors started a hub-bub about it being 'cultural imperialism' sort of stuff and all that....But, why oh why oh why can they not put in a nice place to just *sit* and have coffee/tea/whatever in that place. I've been through it over ten times now and I would sell my culturally imperialist soul for a any cafe/ teahouse worth it's salt]

But on topic, in Beijing we've got all the usual suspects (McD KFC et al.), plus a 'up-class' chain called Le Jazz which does Chinesified Western food. In the mall below where I live, there's a Dairy Queen/Yoshinoya (like Siamese twins - never separated!), a fast-food Guilin noodle (crossing bridge ones) chain, the Xiabuxiabu Hot Pot chain, a 24hr McD's, a Kaiten sushi chain which is ALL over Beijing and some other 'serious' restaurants.

Other big fast-food chains here are Origus Pizza buffet (which can include all the beer you can drink!!), Qingqing burgers (the fast food of choice on Campus), Aisen Ramen (always packed!). A popular Chinese fast food chain here is the 'Chengdu Snacks' serving lots of small Sichuan eats at small wooden tables. There's also the 'Zha Jiang Mian Kings' for noodles 'n' sauce and the numerous Jiaozi (dumpling) places where you can eat lots of jiaozi and run out again in a matter of minutes....

I'm sure there's more, but my brain's dead right now.....

There is of course also the HUGE WORLD of Street food - Jianbing, kaorou and the like, but those are sold by small hawkers rather than fast-food chain type places....

[le petit boucher]

i want a cone-pizza franchise in the uk! i love it.

[Milagai]

Not technically fast food but Indian street food rocks big time! Especially when you see stuff like Vada Pav and Chaat.

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Why is it not technically fast food (same question for the Chinese

street food mentioned above)? It's super quick and it's food.

It's not franchised nor is it a multinational globalglomerate, but

you can drive up to it, walk up to it, have it delivered, made to order,

supersized, drinks with it or not, etc...

Milagai

[hummingbirdkiss]

In the Netherlands, we eat out of the wall 

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sorry to jolt off topic...

OMG I just had a childhood flashback of an automat!!! and at the same time it hit me how old I am!!! YIKES!!!!

I just want to emphasize that I was maybe 5 years old ..but that was a really long time ago!!!

back on topic ...

MacDonalds with it's

Pinapple shakes in Panama...Lobster in New England....Green chile in Mexico

I dont like that place at all to be honest..and always go for street food and I follow the crowds to get what I think might be the best.. however when I travel I have taken an extensive number pics of MacDonalds doors with regional dishes for my niece who if you took her around the world would believe it was her personal obligation to test each countries MacDonalds offerings