Mickey D's...Where's the Beef?

It has been on our minds as to where, if any, are there McDonald's in India. (We had heard rumors that there was one spied but that was unconfirmed.) You see, it's our perception that McDonald's, like Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo, has infiltrated the world but we hadn't seen any on our trip yet. We have walked by Domino's, Pizza Hut and a Subway or two but no McDonald's. Could they really not have chosen to dominate and drive the fast food market here in India? (Yeah, yeah...we could have just looked it up on the web. By the way...here's the link to Mickey's in India: http://www.mcdonaldsindia.com/)

No. They are here. We can attest to it.

Our first sighting of a McDonald's occurred in Jaipur. Questions ran rampant in our overwhelmed brains - Could they really have beef burgers??! If not, how has their menu been altered? Does their fries taste the same? What?!

It was too much - we had to peek at their menu and try it.

Yes, their menu is very different. It's more limited. To see what they have, check out this link: http://mcdonalds.net.in/mcd/corp/OurFood/index.php .

We can say that the food taste the same. I can personally vouch for the Filet-O-Fish Value Meal (although it's called the Combo Meal here). K had the Maharaja Mac - yup, the veg replacement for the Big Mac. It's an interesting burger. Another interesting thing of note is that they served us the food as it became available. I thought that it was perhaps just because it was so slow (we were there in the morning).

We found another Mickey's in Mumbai. We got there shortly after it opened at around 9:10 a.m. It was a very posh-looking place with faux dark wood paneling with a huge outdoors seating area. We placed our order and sat down to enjoy the air-conditioning. The food again was brought out to us since it wasn't ready immediately upon our placing the order. They'd rather you not wait for it if it's going to take some time. (There's also a guy who gets kind of snippy if you self-serve dumping your tray into the garbage. And for those who aren't interested in dealing with the traffic, the heat, the walk - whatever - they can get McDelivery. Yes. You read that right.)

By 9:30 a.m. the place was packed. And it continued to be packed the entire day. To expedite the ordering queue, there's an employee that takes your order via paper which gets handed to you so that you can hand it to the cashier.

Another interesting facet of McDonald's in Mumbai is the patrons themselves. In the States, it's patronized by everyone. Here, the patrons appear to be mostly the well-to-do/well-dressed/trendy folks. It's not that the prices are that expensive compared to what we pay in the States (it's cheaper here, of course) but relative to what most people earn, it's rather costly. The Combo Meals run from about Rs. 85 to 105. That translates to just under $2 to $2.40. A large soda costs Rs. 42 (just under $1). And if what we read about the average earnings of Indians is correct, this would make sense.

(BTW, Pizza Hut food also tastes the same...)