Fast Food

I am not McDonalds' biggest fan, but I do always find it interesting to visit places that like in other countries. I find it interesting to note who has broken through the international barriers. I have now been to McDonald's in the US, NZ, Japan, and Austria. Same sign, some of the same menu, slightly different twist at each one.

In Japan the McChickens come with wasabi and on the dollar menu you can get something called shaka-shaka chicken. In Austria you can find nice pastries on the menu (and the fanciest fast food joint I've ever seen, which was in a ballroom). In New Zealand you find a coffee shop with barista made coffee. And the current menu special is a "build your own burger" option. I have hard that in Hong Kong you can now get married at McDonald's, and the KFC sells edible fried chicken flavored nail-polish (taking "Finger lickin' good" too far?).

Other fast food options in New Plymouth are KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Starbucks, and Subway. Subway's special this month is a lamb sub. Pure NZ raised lamb they say. Pizza Hut here sells a shrimp and mayonnaise pizza. Burger King is possibly the only place in town that does free refills on drinks.
Big news in the world of fast food is that you can now find Wendy's in major cities like Wellington and Auckland. So when New Plymouthians venture out, they report back if they have sampled the new fare. Supposedly we are going to get an "In and Out Burger" in Auckland but I think right now it is in speculation only.

While the options mentioned above might be a "taste of home" in some fashion, my favorite here is actually a kiwi option. Burger Fuel offers beef and chicken burgers, with creative new options every couple of months. In true kiwi fashion they have an option with beets on it, but it also has mango so I think that is just weird. I have not tried that one, but I am a fan of the chicken and bacon/avocado burger  :) The fact that they can do vegetarian, gluten free, and halal rank them higher than the average fast food place in my opinion.

Have a  great weekend, hope I didn't make you too hungry :)