McDonald’s taste better in Japan

40 comments

1. Trust me when I say any enthusiasm you may think you see is no more real than you get told your 日本語 is 上手.

   And honestly, unique monthly offerings aside it tastes exactly the same… As it was designed to.

2. There are YouTube videos comparing UK and US McDonald’s and the ingredients of almost every item are completely different (the UK versions generally have way less ingredients/additives). The beef is also advertised as 100% British beef

   I don’t know if Japanese McD’s tastes better, but I’m sure McDonald’s in Japan makes a few changes to their recipe lists here too

3. The chicken nuggets in Japan are magical

4. Let’s Ask Shogo made a video talking about how Japan allows a totally ridiculous number of additives in their food compared to any other country. Iirc it’s like 2000 vs a few dozen. He makes the claim that it is causing health problems in Japan. That might be why, if they’re allowed better-tasting food additives.

5. The food tastes better. The restaurants are cleaner, and the employees are more diligent on the whole. Better experience all around.

6. Yes absolutely right. They do prepare and handle the food with care and pride and many ingredients are banned.

   They do taste better here in Japan. Although, I can’t say the same for KFC. KFC in Japan are so dry and tasteless. Again, there must be some banned ingredients which affects the taste.

   KFC Japan has such poor quality. You can’t choose the chicken you want and they have limited types. KFC take pride in themselves and not for customer service.

   I avoid McDonald overseas but I go often in Japan.

7. Disagree, every fast food tastes better in France IMO.

8. They have teriyaki burgers, and Mcdonalds in my country doesn’t. So even if the quality was exactly the same there would still be a reason to go there.

9. Higher standards.

10. I don’t know where you’re from but as someone who grew up in the UK McDonald’s is identical to me in both. Apple Pies might be slightly different.

11. I think McDonald’s is university better outside of the US

12. I can’t say that it tastes better. But the monthly specials are always a treat.

13. I think this is simply a reflection of your positive impression of Japan in general

14. This is correct. A lot of it is just diligence. For example, the fries are crispy every time. They are made to order; they are precisely cooked; they are appropriately drained.

    In general all fast food is better in Japan. KFC is as good as it was in the USA in the 1970s; Wendy’s is so much better; Burger King is better. Only fast food Japan didn’t have correct was tacos, but a lot of that is because tacos require spice, which isn’t a Japanese forte.

15. I’m a McDonald’s french fries connoisseur. I have tried their burgers and fries in more than a dozen countries. It tastes slightly different in each place, mostly bcs as others have pointed out, there are different ingredients and standards in each place. Turnover is another important factor. The fresher, the better. And what no one has mentioned is staff quality. As a Japanese, I complained to my American friends about how bad the fries taste in the US and they told me, US staff don’t really follow procedures to the tee. Japanese staff do. In other words, how robotic the workers are (which isn’t necessarily great all the time) contributes to the, on avg, better taste in Japan. As many have pointed out, McDonald’s is all about providing a similar taste and experience around the world. So McDonald’s tasting better in Japan is just on average and not absolute. However, the chances of me getting perfectly fried french fries is, maybe 2 out of 10 times in the US, while it’s 8/10 in Japan. Unfortunately, I too once had American taste buds and could not taste the difference in quality of food. It takes years of eating locally sourced fresh food that is freshly cooked to truly understand the various flavors each food product has to offer. As you can see in the comments here, some ppl can taste the difference, others cannot.

16. I like that they add/remove things from the menu seasonally.

17. As someone who ate at McD in several countries around Europe, the US and Japan, I can say, McD tastes better outside the US.

18. I found the McDonald’s to be basically the same in Japan when I was there, taste wise. It was consistently prepared better than the US though, which is a crapshoot, depending on location (except the coke).

    I’ve never got a coke or the mcnuggets in Japan though. I will say, I think the sausage McMuffin tastes pretty different in Japan, the spices in the sausage seem toned down, idk. Maybe I was on one that day.

    I do love how Japan McDonald’s always has new items and rotating stuff though. American McDonald’s is boring. Boring would be fine, if the quality stayed consistent. Fresh hot fries and a quarter pounder with cheese made right, still hits the spot.

19. With all the food in the world, why would you go to McDonalds of all places

20. Wasn’t a fan of McDonalds milkshakes in Japan they tasted slightly different no idea why.

21. Also Japan uses the same beef as New Zealand McDonald’s uses. They both uses Kiwi beef.

22. As someone who started at the bottom and became a Manger for a few years the absolute main problem in America is employees. The reason you remember mcdonalds tasting better when you were younger was because it literally tasted better. The main culprit involves the cleanliness of the oil and grills and I can taste the difference instantly if they are using gross old oil on everything and the difference is mind blowing. The shocking thing is that there isn’t a single mcdonalds withing 100 mile radius of me that changes their damn oil and it is sickening.

    I’m sure this will ruffle some feathers because “workers have it tough” but so did I and I still gave a shit.

23. Japanese also see it as a dead end job. Japanese just have a better work ethics than Americans.

24. I think the thing is its just more consistent in Japan.

    Sometimes in the west you run into McDonalds where the staff are a bit sloppy, the burger is lopsided, has the wrong quantity of sauce, and just isn’t done right. Though I do think McDonalds is a lot better at this than say KFC, it isn’t very common that I’ve ran into it.

    In Japan its like a factory made it every time.

25. As an American, with +5 to hamburgers racial, I hard disagree. Tastes the same.

    In fact, I have more f-ups to my food here than I’ve had in the States. This year I’ve found a dead, soggy horsefly at the bottom of my Mcflurry and a burger that seemingly had an entire salt shaker spilt onto it. I’ve found the workers to be just as careless in their work as their American counterparts. Though they are more polite without a doubt.

26. I dunno but maybe we are all overthinking this. Probably the buns and sauce in Japan has more sugar or something to help cover up the taste of the low quality meat.

    I worked at McDs as a teen. I don’t get the argument that the fries are worse due to staff in most cases. They come frozen. You pop them in the basket and it drops into the fryer. The oil in the fryer is a standard temp and composition. It beeps when the fries are ready. You take them out. That’s it. You could mess it up or leave them out too long but most places are busy so they get turned over quickly so are fresh.

27. Assuming you’re American because McDonald’s anywhere outside of the US tastes better. Have visited the US many times and I refuse to eat the trash they serve up at McDonald’s. I will say though, the Japanese menu has much cooler options and seasonal items

28. I find it’s about the same as my country’s. Problem is that there’s no mcspicy here 🙁

29. Okay to be fair I’ve only been once. But I was gonna say the opposite. I’m Aussie, and honestly Maccas is way better in Aus, especially the fries and bread

30. It tastes better. Burger king too. I think it’s just better quality and fresher. KFC however is lacking.

31. I think it’s because in Japanese Mickey Ds phlegm isn’t used as a topping nor urine in the pickle vat.

32. For me, it’s the apple pies that are light years beyond what the US McD’s makes

33. I actually prefer the taste of US McDonald’s and having a few extra burger options, but I prefer the service, presentation, and seasonal rotation of Japanese McDonald’s

34. McDonald’s in Australia is magical too. Actual good, not just decent, and quite consistent.

35. [deleted]

36. This was a *big* point of contention between my friend and I while we lived in Japan. We had both heard the “McDonald’s tastes so much better in Japan” claims, so we would visit one every few weeks.

    My friend came down on the side of the US being better. I was pretty ambivalent and legitimately couldn’t taste a difference, but generally preferred the menu over what’s available in the US.

    It should be said, though, that every McDonald’s is different. Folks are casting some wide nets in this thread. There are some *amazing* McDonald’s in the US. Each franchisee is given a lot of leeway to run their restaurant how they want and so you’ll get some that are run almost like a Mom and Pop place and the food will be up to a higher standard with more items being prepared fresh or from scratch.

    So I wouldn’t be able to give a definitive win to either one personally; they’re just not that drastically different. But I do miss the heck out of the Ebi Fillet.

37. Honestly it is exactly the same aside from the potatoes they use for chips are denser than the ones used in the UK and they use more salt.

38. It does taste better there. I’ve made a post about it. I spoke about it in a YouTube video after leaving a McDonald’s in Japan. But the whole experience is better not just the food. The greeting is nice unlike the us where the person acts like you ruined their day. The food is accurate and also hot. I walked into a mcds in asakusa at like 130 am and the lady threw away a whole batch of fries and made new ones for my order. In the us I would have gotten that trash.

39. I got food poisoning at a McDonalds in Japan. It was years before I ever ate at any McDonald’s again. I don’t think I went to another in Japan again, but I’m not entirely sure.

40. I think it’s not as good as McDonald’s Australia. But pretty much every country is better than US McDonald’s.