Golden Arches and Paris

July was a busy month. It involved travelling to various parts of England and Paris with my family. I graduated. Moved back to Malaysia.  Now fast forward to August and here I am in Kuching, the past two years or so abroad being mere memories from a sometimes foggy past.

Anyway, that was just a very brief recap. This post is really meant to be about what I unexpectedly liked about Paris this time round that I went with my family, that I did not realised when I went earlier on this year with my friends. I never ever would have imagined I’d get to visit Paris another time, much less just seven months after I had just been there. But I’m glad I did go in winter, when Paris was beautifully unmarred by the hordes of tourists as it is in summer.

This time round, travelling with family means also having to bear in mind that not everyone is like me and willing to travel in search of food. So there we were the first night in Paris at Champs-Elysees, we had just seen the Arc de Triomphe, and it was dinner time. From my previous experience, the Champs-Elysees is a touristy place where the eateries are either franchises or restaurants which give me the impression that no self-respecting local would step into. But, I did remember a tip where if you must eat in the area, McDonald’s is your best bet. So, since it wasn’t too far down the road that we saw McD’s, McD’s it was.

My main fear when going to eateries in Paris is the difficulties in communicating what I wanted, but there was no worries here, the staff could speak English alright. So I scanned the menu, (thank goodness for photos), and I spotted something that I had not seen in any McD I had ever been to before, alcohol. Beer to be specific. And from what little French I could decipher, you could get it off the meal deal. Why would I even want to drink Coke when I could have a beer?

As for the burgers, the range is quite different from what I’ve had in UK or Malaysia. This is a Royal Deluxe which my brother had, which is basically a revamped Quarter Pounder I suspect, with a nicer mustardy sauce and actual tomatoes. I’ve heard that some of the burgers on the menu actually use like French cheeses, but I wasn’t able to identify them then. Too bad for me, would have quite liked to try a McD burger with roquefort in it…

And they serve wedges as an alternative to fries as part of the meal deal, they are savoury with a crispy skin and fluffy potato-ey insides, nice. Continental McD is already looking so much better than UK’s at this point as I was sat with my burger, wedges and beer, in a affordable family eating establishment. Plus, the Champs-Elysees branch has these window seats where you can people watch from, though we didn’t sit there. Instead we had this like huge round table to ourselves, see what I mean about family eating establishment?

Well we did go to McD’s another time during our time in Paris. This time I ordered a CBO. Which from what I got from the images on the box stands for Chicken Bacon Onion? It says parfait on the box, which sounds a little presumptuous, a burger calling itself perfect, but it was pretty good I’d have to say.

You open the box to unveil a square-shaped burger bun topped with bacon lardons and sesame seeds, and it encases a deep-fried chicken fillet topped with cheese, crispy bacon strips and lettuce. The sauce was where the onion came in, I think.

At quite a few McD’s at Paris, there is an accompanying McCafe on the same premises, which has a range of desserts and drinks. Their tea is actually quite good, they come in pyramid-shaped fabric bags of infusions, or it was at the branch I went to at least. My mum ordered two slices of this flan. Just plain ole flan, but it was nice.

I read that McDonald’s is planning to build the world’s largest McDonald’s at the London Olympics site. Suits them well I suppose, UK’s McD’s seems like a more pop-in and pop-out place, the alternative to a kebab takeaway after a late night at town, or somewhere you’d go for a quick lunch when you’re sick of sandwiches. McD’s in Europe however, it’s a whole different affair, you feel a bit more dignified, to say the least. One thing’s for sure, Malaysia’s McD’s got nothing on this, not even with its attempts to fulfill local’s tastes with offerings such as congee and fried chicken. But oh well, who would want to eat that when we have Laksa, Kolo Mee, Tomato Mee…