25 Unusual McDonald's International Menu Favorites

Few brands are seen as more all-American than McDonald’s. But as the world has grown smaller, the fast food giant’s menu has grown wider. The chain has served up locally inspired fare around the world for years, well beyond its roots as a hamburger stand and far beyond anything restaurant tycoon Ray Kroc could have imagined. Many of McDonald's global menu restaurant items come and go, and sometimes they leap from one country to another. Read on to see what McDonald’s customers have enjoyed abroad. Do you have a favorite? Let us know in the comments.

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India
As many in India are vegetarian or don't eat beef for religious reasons, Indian McDonald's locations lack almost all of the U.S. menu staples and carry a multitude of meat-free main dishes instead. The McAloo and McVeggie sandwiches, for example, contain homemade veggie patties made from chickpeas and a blend of peas, carrots, potatoes, peppers, and spices, respectively, while the McSpicy Paneer is built around a spiced, breaded slab of the firm yet mild Indian cheese and tandoori sauce.

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Canada, Brazil, France

When it comes to breakfast, only select McDonald's diners around the world have had the option of a sweet pastry in addition to the standard savory muffin sandwiches. Canada got the chocolate hazelnut croissant, while the Brazilian version was just chocolate.

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The Netherlands
Forget the vanilla soft serve. For dessert, Netherlanders (and briefly Americans) could try McFlurries flavored like strawberry cheesecake or stroopwafels, a crisp cookie originating from the city of Gouda made with two wafers and a thin layer of caramel in between. This international offering was available briefly in the Miami-Dade area of Florida and participating U.S. restaurants as part of McDonald's Worldwide Favorites promotion.

Australia or Sweden
In Australia, McDonald's — or Macca's in the local parlance — got fancy with its fry options. In addition to the truffle-infused variety, there were loaded fries topped with guacamole and salsa or sweet chili and sour cream. It looks like the truffle fad passed Down Under, though.

Spain
Thanks to Spain's enduring love of pork, McDonald's locations in the Mediterranean country have carried tapaslike croquettes filled with ham bits in cheese sauce. Another staple side dish for the fast food brand in Spain has been gazpacho, an Andalusian tomato and vegetable soup served cold.

Germany
One distinctive McDonald's menu item available for a time in Germany was a platter of currywurst, a street food dish of steamed and grilled sausage served with curry-spiced ketchup. The German sausage specialties didn't end there, however; the chain also served up the pun-tastic Nürnburger, featuring little more than three pork sausage links on a bun.

China
McDonald's locations in Hong Kong cooked up a black-bunned burger colored with squid ink and topped with white sesame. They also offered a white-bunned chicken sandwich topped with bacon and peppercorn mushroom sauce. The monochrome burgers reportedly look much better than they taste.

The Netherlands
The Dutch-originated McKroket sandwich features a deep-fried patty of mixed ground beef and cheese topped with a mustard sauce. McDonald's locations in the nation are also more accommodating to dietary restrictions, offering gluten-free burgers and vegetarian fried "chicken" sandwiches.

Mexico
If you're eating breakfast at a McDonald's south of the border, you might look for the McMollete: three open-faced sandwiches topped with refried beans, cheese, and pico de gallo salsa. This version of the traditional mollete substituted English muffin with crusty bolillos and processed American cheese for Monterey Jack.

New Zealand
At McDonald's locations in New Zealand, the Kiwiburger has been the chain's take on a typical New Zealand hamburger, which comes topped with fried egg and red beetroot slices. Because the latter ingredient isn't used in any other McDonald's products, the sandwich has been subject to intermittent discontinuations. Kiwi customers have always been able to default to distinct menu items such as the Almighty Texas BBQ or the Big Brekkie Beef Burger.

Middle East
Also called the McKebab in Israel or the McTurco in Turkey, this pita sandwich is one of McDonald's flagship offerings across the Middle East. It comes with either grilled chicken or beef and lamb meatballs called kofta. Other versions, offered for a limited time or only in certain regions, contain extras such as halloumi cheese, eggplant, and sujuk sausage.

Europe
McDonald's may have more menu items from around the world than any other fast food chain, but the one Americans may envy most is the presence of beer and wine at the majority of restaurants in Central and Western Europe as well as South Korea. This is reportedly based on consumer demand, but one can also presume that because alcohol carries more social and legal stigma in the United States, selling it might go against the kid-friendly image McDonald's tries to cultivate domestically.

Italy
In addition to wine, Italian McDonald's locations sell these vegetarian-friendly fried nuggets, filled with spinach and herb-seasoned melted cheese. It's also one of many nations where McDonald's has sold the McVeggie, which has a patty made of broccoli, carrots, corn, spinach, peas, and cheese.

Philippines
One of the most unexpected items on McDonald's menus in the Philippines has been this two-piece meal of fried chicken, which comes with an optional side of McSpaghetti. Garlic-flavored rice is another side dish absent from American McDonald's locations, and for breakfast, there is poached egg and Longaniza, a chorizolike sausage.

India
Few of international McDonald's items are so singular yet tempting to American tastes as the chicken McCurry Pan, which consists of a rectangular bread bowl filled with chicken and vegetables in a tomato-curry sauce. Unfortunately, it has been available only in India, along with the double decker Chicken Maharaja Mac, a Hindu-friendly version of the Big Mac.

Japan
One of McDonald's Japan's more limited menu items is this sandwich with a patty made from snow crab and mushrooms — both popular ingredients in Japan — and served on ciabatta. Unfortunately, the croquette burger is reportedly more tasteless and goopy than its gourmet-sounding pedigree might suggest.

China
In 2012, McDonald's locations in China unveiled the Mashed Potato Burger. Topped with bacon and mashed potatoes, advertising for the burger targeted the "manly man." And on Chinese breakfast menus, you may find a twisty pasta dish in broth and veggies, topped with a choice of boneless chicken or sausage and egg.

Japan
One of the tastier-sounding items unique to McDonald's Japan, the cheese katsu burger features a deep-fried pork cutlet patty filled with melted cheese. This tasty-sounding but limited menu item is so popular that an occasional rerelease is enough to generate international headlines akin to the McRib in the United States.

Malaysia
One of the staple non-burger dishes at Malaysian McDonald's has been this version of national specialty Bubur Ayam, a white porridge with chicken, ginger, and diced chilies in the mix. A similar stew called SingaPorridge has also featured prominently on Singaporean menus.

Philippines
Filipino and Taiwanese McDonald's locations have sold beef and fried chicken varieties of the McRice burger with dried rice cakes subbed for standard buns — a gambit that won't sound too wild to anyone who's tried a ramen burger stateside. Hong Kong locations offer a similar rice cake chicken sandwich, though they call it the Kao Fan Burger.

Singapore
Another fixture of McDonald's stores in Singapore and other East Asian markets, shaka shaka chicken is a do-it-yourself menu item in which you pour a packet of Chinese five-spice seasoning mix over a deep-fried chicken patty and "shaka" the components together in a wax paper bag. As in several other East Asian nations, this and other McDonald's offerings are available for delivery.

Canada
Poutine is a well-known Canadian dish consisting of french fries topped with gravy and melted cheese curds, so naturally, McDonald's stores in Canada have come up with their own version. For curious Americans who want to try this dish without crossing the border, try the McDonald's at the corporate HQ in Chicago where international menu items are made available on rotating schedules.

Related: Over-the-Top French Fries

Japan
Instead of the apple pie pockets, McDonald's stores in Japan have sold a similar dessert filled with gooey baked taro, bacon and potato, or s'mores fixings. Japanese McDonald's locations carry numerous singular main dishes too, such as the Idaho burger with an onion-flaked bun, bacon, mustard seed sauce, and a potato patty; the Sakura Teritama burger with pork patty, over-easy egg, and a cherry blossom-infused bun, and a whole line of fried-egg-topped tamago burgers.

Asia
One more from Japanese and other East Asian McDonald's locations: the EBI Filet-O is a breaded shrimp burger served on a Big Mac roll with spicy sauce. The international chain's fusion of Eastern and Western culinary traditions extends to the dessert menu with items such as the green tea and Oreo McFlurry.

Canada
The other major novelty you'll find on Canadian McDonald's menus is this Atlantic lobster roll with an all-too-predictable name, served only in certain locations during summer as availability dictates. This one isn't entirely limited to stores outside the United States, but also makes the occasional appearance at locations in New England.