Seoul Food | 한국맥도날드

Hanguk Maekdonaldu. That's Korean McDonald's to the rest of us.

Yeah, we went there.

Despite trying to avoid McDonald's (and fast food chains in general) at all but my lowest moments at home, as soon as I'm in a foreign country I can't wait to try. I blame Hong Kong McD's and an article I read in the Guardian (or something) once that highlighted all the weird and wonderful international variations of the humble Big Mac. In HK I tried chicken nuggets and fries. Standard enough. But lo, I was presented with a ridiculous array of dipping sauces to choose from (blue cheese, thousand island, various bbq and sweet&sour combinations), and seaweed sprinkles for my fries. AMAZING.

So anyway, yes. I now trawl the world looking for more fast food oddities, apparently. That, and clogged arteries. With this in mind, since arriving in Korea I've been intrigued by the row of American fast food chains at our local train station. KFC chicken COVERED in chunks of garlic, Dunkin' Donuts with a variety of weird flavours, and McDonalds proudly displaying a Bulgogi Burger in its window.

I LOVE BULGOGI.

Bulgogi is basically, as far as I can tell, marinated and grilled pork. It's pretty tasty and one of South Korea's most famous dishes (bar kimchi)

Anyway, we went in and ordered in 100% Korean, albeit that of a very young child. Don't take this victory from me. (7본 주세요. 2게 주세요.) We were then asked to move to the side so they could continue to take orders, and not long after, a tray appeared and food was placed on it. Yay, fast food indeed!

I picked it up, went to walk away, only to have the server say 아니요! 아니요! At me in a panicked tone, and an older man come up to me and take the tray holding HIS order from me, with a side order of glare.

Oops.

Anyway, we apologised profusely and our actual food arrived not long after.

Obligatory ill-timed photo of Nick consuming sustenance.

I have to say...it wasn't that incredible. Pretty much just a normal burger with an okay bulgogi sauce on it. The fries were a little nicer than at home, and thanks to McCafe and SK's love of recycling the cups were hard plastic that you hand back in at the end, so it can be washed and reused rather than dumped in a landfill. But nothing else on the menu was particularly...Korean. No kimchi burger or rice side dish (that I could see), so I was a bit upset, mixed with the usual "ugh, what have I done" feeling that usually accompanies a trip to McD's.

Not the end of the world, but hey. There's always Lotteria~ ;)