Maybe it’s because I’ve been going to the place since I was a kid, and thus have fuzzy childhood memories, but I like McDonald’s. I don’t eat there a whole lot, but every time they add something new to the menu, I feel compelled to check it out.
Here in Portugal they have the usual assortment of burgers, chicken sandwiches, and salads — the most interesting thing is their take on the bifana, called McBifana (natch).
It’s alright, I guess. They replace the sliced pork of the original with two pork burger patties; most of the flavour comes from the surprisingly garlicky sauce that they slather all over it.
There’s definitely nothing wrong with it, though at around four Euros it’s almost double what an actual bifana costs. Considering that the real deal is more substantial, tastier, and cheaper, it’s hard to justify ordering this thing.
I didn’t feel like ordering fries, so I got a salad instead. It came with a fancy little bottle of olive oil vinaigrette that actually had a fairly pronounced extra virgin olive oil flavour.
They have a few interesting-looking sundaes on their menu (called Grand Parfaits). I got the lemon pie variety, and it was shockingly tasty. It had a generous dollop of cream on top, a decent amount of good quality lemon curd, and some crunchy pie crust crumbles. I really enjoyed it.