I may be in the minority with this opinion. As much as I love to try the local food and traditional cuisine when traveling, there’s also something fun and exciting about trying unique menu items from the places that are familiar. McDonald’s is one of the first places that comes to mind when I think of a restaurant with different items than we are used to back home in the States. I always see articles and pictures online about the different offerings they have in various countries, and they usually sound very interesting.
So, I made it my mission to try as many of the different different menu items from McDonald’s while I was in China. The items in this post were not all consumed on the same day, don’t worry! This post was in the works for a little while! For some items, it was not so easy to find information online about them, so I’m not sure if all of these are exclusive to China, but they are items that I’m not familiar with McDonald’s in the United States serving. Also, some of these menu items aren’t as “Chinese” as I had hoped to find. But, nonetheless, many of them were delicious!
*Side note – since I left China earlier than originally planned, I didn’t get the chance to try everything that was different and unique. However, I do think that I had a good variety of the items that McDonald’s in China offers. And there are some very delicious items available. And some items that I didn’t love quite as much.
Pineapple Pie
This pie was one of the first things I tried. And it is one of my favorites out of everything listed here. This pie is amazing. Just enough sweetness without going too overboard, full of pineapple, and a flaky, buttery crust. How can you go wrong? The best part about the pies here is they are deep fried. Healthy? No. But delicious? Yes!
Blueberry and Cream Pie
It looks like this might have been a limited time offering in the States at one point. But at the time that I tried this, it was off of the McDonald’s menus back home. But the deep fried crust on this pie makes it extra special. This was just as delicious as the pineapple pie. It honestly tasted like an elevated toaster strudel and I am not complaining!
Peach Frappe and Whipped Cream Frappe
Delicious and refreshing! They had some interesting frappe flavors. I tried both the peach and the whipped cream flavors. I expected them have a smoothie texture, and it was definitely more icy. The peach was like drinking peach juice, and the whipped cream tasted just like…whipped cream from the can. But once the weather got HOT in Beijing, this was a great treat to cool off with!
Lamington
I had never heard of a lamington before I ordered this one. I could see a picture but I didn’t know any more than that. Turns out, a lamington is an Australian sponge cake, cut into a square, covered with chocolate, and rolled in coconut. McDonald’s didn’t have chocolate ones, but they had strawberry and lemon flavors. I only tried the strawberry one, and it was really good. They are definitely coconut forward, but that’s okay with me!
V-Cut Fries
McDonald’s in China has the traditional fries. But they also have these V-Cut fries. These are essentially potato wedges, but they are cut into a v shape. I’m not sure if there’s a reason for the shape of these wedges. I do know they were pretty good, crunchy exterior with a soft inside. While these were good, I preferred the traditional McDonald’s fries. And forgive the awkward, blurry photo above. It was the only photo I had that showed off the shape of these wedges.
Chicken and Pickled Bamboo Shoots Wrap
This was not my favorite item. The crispy chicken was okay (even though the one I had was slightly overcooked), but I really didn’t care for the other flavors I was tasting in the wrap. I wasn’t sure if it was the flavor of the bamboo shoots, the sesame sauce or a combination, though I did enjoy the crunch from the bamboo. It was an interesting combination of textures.
Corn
Corn? At McDonald’s? Yep! There really isn’t much to say about this. It tasted like corn and wasn’t too special. It could have used butter. Or salt. But I thought it was different enough to include in this list! As far as I’m aware, this is not common at McDonald’s in the States.
Asian Dough Sticks
Asian Dough Sticks are exactly what they sound like. Savory sticks of fried dough. These are a common breakfast item here. I think they traditionally dip them in congee (rice porridge)…but I’m not a fan of congee. So I can’t speak to the dough sticks and congee combination. I first experienced dough sticks during quarantine. And thank goodness, because they saved my breakfast each time. Anyways, these are pretty tasty as is…but I like to bring a little western flair to them and dip them in Nutella. That’s they best way to eat them, in my opinion. Nutella makes everything betta.
Taro Pie
One look at the filling of this taro pie and you might be confused. Taro is a root vegetable that is actually white in color. But when processed, it gets a purplish color to it. Taro is a common ingredient/flavor found in Asia, where it is native, and this was my first time trying taro anything. It was actually pretty good. I’d previously heard that taro kind of tastes like sweet potatoes and that’s exactly what this pie reminded me of. Sweet potato pie. This is not a potato though. I would have preferred if the filling was pureed more, as I didn’t care for the chunks of taro. But the flavor was good.
German Sausage Double Beef Burger
What a strange combination. This burger was two thin beef patties, topped with two small German sausages and yellow mustard. That was it. No other toppings. The German sausages were okay, but I found the whole burger to be dry and lacking something. Anything really. But it appears this burger is here to stay for a while. It first came on the menu back in 2013 and appears to be very popular in China.
McCrunch Burger
This was a new item being offered right before I left China. This ‘burger’ consists of a breaded, boneless chicken thigh that has been marinated in a secret sauce. The McDonald’s app says the sauce combines Chinese and western tastes – though I’m not really sure what it was. There was also lettuce and tomato all served on a chia seed bun. Pretty decent sandwich, though not a burger!
McSpicy Wings
This was not an item I really wanted to try since I’m not a fan of chicken wings. Or anything on a bone, really. But for the sake of research, and since this came in a combo I ordered, so I figured I would give it a try. These wings are are little spicy, and they would probably have been better if they weren’t overcooked. Not my favorite, but I’m also not a good judge of chicken wings.
BLT Double Beef Burger
Not sure why, but the Chinese McDonald’s is full of double beef burgers. At least the patties are thin, so you’re probably not really eating more than usual. This sandwich is exactly what it says. Lettuce, tomato, bacon on top of the beef patties. There was a special sauce, though at the time of writing this, I don’t remember what it tasted like. Another thing to note about this burger was that the bacon was more like ham. Decent burger but I’ve seen and had better from McDonald’s.
Grilled Chicken Sandwich
The Grilled Chicken Sandwich sounded pretty normal, but this had a different spin on the typical grilled chicken. This sandwich had onions, peppers and lettuce with a “roasted chicken sauce”. The app shows it as barbecue sauce, but it looked more like mayonnaise. And didn’t taste anything like barbecue or mayonnaise. Whatever the sauce was, it was not bad. This was a pretty good sandwich.
Coconut Ginger McFlurry
The McFlurrys were the same ice cream base that we have in the US, and I’m a huge fan of their vanilla soft serve. And they had a few interesting flavors. Though I don’t have a picture of it, my favorite was the Strawberry Oreo McFlurry – a regular Oreo McFlurry, but with strawberry sauce mixed in. I tried the Coconut Ginger McFlurry twice. The first time I got it, I thought I really liked it. The second time, I wasn’t really sure about it, so there’s that. It was interesting, the coconut flavor in the ice cream was good, but the ginger was kind of strong for my liking. Also, they served the McFlurrys in these little paper cups that folded down on top to close them up.
Mini Burgers
Who doesn’t love a slider!? These were a great idea, although I wasn’t a fan of them. They came as the set of two and each was a different flavor. The one on the right is spicy lotus root and chicken, while the other is a Chinese preserved vegetable and chicken sandwich. I didn’t like the preserved vegetable at all. I only took one bite before realizing it wasn’t for me. The other one wasn’t as bad, but it’s not something I would choose to order again. I thought I would really like this one. Something I had often at the school cafeteria was fried lotus root, and it was delicious. But it didn’t work on this sandwich as much as I preferred the ones at school.
Garlic Chili Sauce
When I got McDonald’s, I usually just ordered delivery. Between restaurants closing, and the sometimes frustrating – and lack of – transportation options, delivery was just the easiest way to go. The app I used (basically China’s version of Uber Eats) didn’t have an option to order sauces. But this sauce was thrown in my bag one day when I placed an order. I tried it. I wasn’t a fan. But I’m sure it’s popular with the Chinese. It seemed like flavors they typically have in some of their food.
Other Items I Didn’t Order
There were other items on the menu that I either didn’t have an interest in trying, or ran out of time before leaving. Above are three items I didn’t try, but wanted to share as they are pretty different. Ebi Pineapple Burger (with a shrimp patty), Marinated Chicken “Bones”, Spicy and Tender Half Chicken. The photos make me laugh because they were translated from the McDonald’s app so some of the words translated strange. I’m assuming the chicken bones are chicken wings, maybe?
Overall, there were some pretty good, and pretty different, items on the menu at McDonald’s in China. Are there any items from this list that you would like to try?
