Vive La France! Home of the Best McDonalds in the World (according to us)
#TFATM HQ have been busy compiling a list of the best McDonald’s restaurants in the world… No, seriously!
When you travel with kids, yes, OF COURSE you want to try the local cuisine, but we have fussy kids and so sometimes a good old MacDo is the easiest option.
I remember the first time we tried French McDonald’s and it became obvious very quickly that McDonalds in the UK is substandard. It turns out as we’ve sampled more and more McDonald’s menus abroad that in most places other than the UK, you get more for your money, and a lot more choice.
So, here’s our league table (so far)!
France comes out on top with 37 out of 50!
Cleanliness
Best for Cleanliness was a 4-way tie between Bruges, Bogotá, Tilburg, and Florida. DLP in France sadly doesn’t make the cut on cleanliness, partly down to just how crazy busy it is there all of the time! Understandable as it’s in the heart of Disneyland Paris!
Nuggets
Our family are nuggets-lovers, so it had to have its own category. Pretty consistent marks across the board, with French nuggets coming in at a solid and respectable 3/5. The meat quality (and therefore taste) however is so much better just over the border in Belgium.
Breakfasts
Sadly we’ve only tried the breakfasts in New York and Florida and can I say the breakfasts in the USA are FAR superior to those in the UK. It’s like a full on cooked-breakfast in a tray, with eggs, sausage, bacon, a scone (Americans would call this a ‘biscuit’), and pancakes. Maybe next time we can try the French breakfast and update the table with our findings!
Drinks
The McCafe in France and the Netherlands is great - it’s its own separate section of the restaurants and in France in particular there are amazing selections of pastries that you just don’t get in other McDonalds’ around the world.
Desserts
See above re French pastries, but a special mention has to be given here to the standalone McDonald’s ‘Postres’ (Desserts) stores in Colombia! Completely new to us and we loved them!
Happy Meals
This is where the main reason for France just being so much better than the other countries comes in. Happy meals come with so much more and much healthier options. Drinks are not just sugary, sweetened fruit juice, you have selections of milks, water and smoothies and fruit juice, they were way ahead of the curve in providing books instead of toys (along with Spain), have far better options for the main and come with additional sides including carrot sticks, fruit, and/or yoghurts. It’s an all round winner for our kids!
Location
You can’t fault the DLP location - it’s really in the heart of Disneyland Paris and so it’s right up there for ease, BUT the restaurant in Bruges is in a stunning building with amazing surroundings, and a very central location. Our favourite so far, for sure.
Accuracy
Despite how busy the DLP McDonald’s is at all times, they’ve never once missed anything from our order. We think they’re the best one for speed and accuracy out of every one that we’ve visited!
Eco-Friendly
The USA are bottom of the list - they still have plastic straws! It’s actually quite disheartening when you realise a massive country like that hasn’t made the same changes that others have. Most of Europe are on par for this one, but the Netherlands is ahead of the curve again with the least plastic being used!
Veggie Options
Again, most of Europe are on par with their Veggie options, however it’s slightly more difficult if you want a vegetarian Happy Meal. Belgium only had a pescatarian option with the McFish, but again France had plenty of options for vegetarians. The only one where we had a real difficulty when I was vegetarian was Greece, but that was back in 2014!
