During our trip to South Korea, we arrived late in Seoul tired and hungry. While I would’ve liked to have had some local food, Kim and I decided that we needed to be quick and play it safe for our first meal. In the process we’d still get to check off something we do when visiting a new country.

There was a McDonald’s across the street from our guesthouse so it was a good time to check out what local menu items might be available. Lucas would be happy to visit to get a toy! Win, win!

I’ve previously written about McDonald’s we’ve visited in:

• Russia
• Japan
• Serbia
• Germany
• Romania
• USA (Mozzarella Sticks)
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• Canada
• Poland
• Costa Rica
• Ireland

(I’ve also visited McDonald’s in many other countries that I haven’t written about.)

Here are the items we tried at McDonald’s Korea.

Waffle Fries:

McDonald’s French Fries can be really enjoyable at times. However, when I see different potato items on McD’s menus, we usually give them a try.

We got one order of Waffle Fries and they were good but they really aren’t a good substitute for regular fries. The Waffle Fries are extremely crispy which isn’t a bad thing but they are essentially potato chips.

Supreme Shrimp Burger:

I was really excited to see the Supreme Shrimp Burger on the menu. I loved the shrimp burger in Japan so I figured it would be quite similar and it was but I didn’t really enjoy it as much.

The sandwich is best described as ground up shrimp which is formed into a patty and breaded. There was some lettuce, a tomato (which I removed) and a mildly spicy sauce.

In Japan I remember loving the Shrimp Burger. In McDonald’s Korea, the sandwich wasn’t bad, I just didn’t find it to be so great. The shrimp patty was a bit moist inside which created a bit of an odd texture. The taste was decent- mild shrimp, sauce etc.

I should’ve gave the sandwich a try one more time to see if it would’ve been better.

Bulgogi Burger:

The Bulgogi Burger was the most Korean dish on the menu by far.

Bulgogi is marinated and grilled beef or pork. In McDonald’s burger form this looked like a very thin patty on a bun with lettuce and a sweet Asian sauce.

The bun looked so nice it could’ve been fake.

I wasn’t sure what kind of meat the Bulgogi Burger was at first but it’s safe to say that it’s pork based on the color of the meat. For such a thin patty, the burger was juicy and loaded with great flavor. Some of the flavor also came from the sauce which we really liked.

If McDonald’s ever decided to offer the Bulgogi Burger at home, I’d be a customer for it.

Churros:

Who knew that Churros were such a popular item in South Korea? Kim and I were surprised to see them all over.

We ordered two churros to share between Kim, Lucas and I. (Sorry Theo, you were too young for a taste!)

The Churros arrived fresh and very hot. We kept them in the packaging while we ate for that reason and also due to the sugary powder the churro was covered in.

Kim and I were really impressed with how soft and fresh the inside of the Churro was. The sugary coating wasn’t overly sweet but it added great taste to this snack.

Overall, we were surprised by how good McDonald’s Korea Churros were. If US McDonald’s were to start selling Churros, I’d have to stop by from time to time for them!

Final Thoughts:

McDonald’s Korea really got the job done after our late arrival. Some new items, one very local and tasty made this a fun visit. I would’ve liked to have seen a Korean-inspired sauce offered but I didn’t notice one. I also wondered why there wasn’t any McKimchi on the menu!

Do you like to visit McDonald’s when visiting a new country? If so, do you have a favorite menu item that you came across?