The Most Glamourous McDonalds In The World?

The Golden Arches: the familiarity, the reliability and the security of knowing no matter where you are you can order a Big Mac, a McChicken Sandwich and some gorgeously salty fries. However, in Hong Kong take a step away from the McDonalds hug you’re used to and say hello to table service and salad bars at McDonald’s Next. 

There’s nothing new here as this branch has been open for a few years now. Nonetheless it’s still pretty exciting and intriguing as to why it remains the only McDonalds Next in the world. Why not in America or the UK where we all notoriously love our fast food and obesity levels seem to rocket each year? Well take a look around Hong Kong and you see a city of the future; towering and shimmering technology around every corner so why not birth your store of the future exactly where the future is being born itself. 

Hong Kong is not short of regular McDonald’s and McCafe’s that grace every street with only a couple of hundred metres between branches. For the real deal experience head to Admiralty train station and it’s pretty much right across from the exit. 

From the outside everything looks the same; no frills or faff, just the big yellow M. Step inside and still nothing is that dissimilar to shock you. When you begin to place your order however, then you begin to notice a few differences. 

Create your own taste! Yes you heard that right - scrolling among the menu options you will see your classics section and then the option to personalise your McDonalds experience to exactly how you like it. Thought a Quarter Pounder was perfect beyond change? Think again for we have 100% Aberdeen Angus beef at least double the thickness of your regular patty; we have truffle sauce, jalapeños, caramelised onions and two choices of bun! Say goodbye to sesame seeds! 

My own creation consisted of: 

Brioche bun, truffle flavoured sauce, Big Mac sauce, sliced fresh tomato, whole leaf lettuce, applewood roasted crispy bacon, caramelised onions, pepper jack cheese and of course one 100% Aberdeen Angus beef burger. 

Order by touch screen, pay at the screen and take your table number. As you walk further in you start to see what makes this place the unordinary. Salad bars, patisserie counters and posters on the perfect burger all finished in sleek metal and dark colours. Gone are the scratched white counters and luminous yellow and red furnishings. Don’t go looking for Ronald McDonald in the kids corner either, this is for grown ups now. 

The seating area follows the same sleek finish, although it already getting a little tattered around the edges. We chose a booth which was completely frozen from the unnecessary blasts of air conditioning freezing this whole side of the ‘restaurant’. The table are fitted with wireless phone charges which didn’t actually work but would have been a nice touch. 

If you go off the classics menu then you stay in the realm of fast food and I believe still collect from the counter. However, if you’ve created your own taste then sit back and wait. And I mean wait. You’re looking at the regular waiting time as though you were actually dining in a restaurant. After about thirty minutes or so our burgers arrived. 

Remember those Marks and Spencer commercials? Well this is not a McDonalds burger, this is a delivered to the table by a waiter, served on a wooden board with cutlery(!!!!) McDonald’s Next burger. 

Don’t worry, it’s not all aesthetics. This burger actually tastes really good and if you were doing a blind taste test you would probably guess a gastro pub or Gourmet Burger Kitchen. 

The burger itself was so much juicier and thicker than what you usually ever get at McDonalds and all the added extras tasted really fresh and were exactly what you would expect. Just because you’re in a McDonalds don’t expect the same thinly chopped wilting lettuce you usually get on your chicken sandwich. This burger has been lovely made and piled up with much higher quality ingredients and it shows. 

Now I do believe the ‘Craft Your Own Taste’ feature is available at other McDonalds in big cities around the world but this was our first experience and it really didn’t disappoint. They just need to start selling paper cups of wine complete with a straw (paper ones of course #savetheturtles) and I’ve found a new date night spot. 

As this was no regular pop to Maccies for a fast food dinner we also splurged on dessert, crazy I know! It wasn’t just your old classic McFlurry or apple pie either. A Belgium waffle topped with an Oreo cone and vanilla ice cream. Followed with two affogatos because one can never have too much ice cream. The waffle was pretty top dollar but I would have been happier with just a big scoop of vanilla and no Oreo cone but that’s just me; I’m no Cookie Monster. 

Overall we paid around 165HKD$ which at the time of writing works out at about £17 which is insane. Those burgers would fit happily on the menu of a higher end menu and were an absolute steal for the price. 

If you’re ever in Hong Kong and fancy something cheap, delicious and reliable then I definitely recommend a visit to McDonald’s Next. We sampled the burgers because well it’s McDonalds but you can also create your own salad with completely fresh ingredients and there is even quinoa on the menu - now this really is the next generation. Say hello to the next model of fast food. Order up! 

Love, Rachael x