I recall back in I think it was 1994 seeing Pulp Fiction for the first time and there is a conversation which takes place between Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta's characters, I think they were named Jules and Vincent, where they are shooting the breeze while on the way to a hit job and a trip to Europe and McDonalds was being discussed. In that conversation they talk about how the "Quarter Pounder with Cheese" doesn't exist in Europe because nobody knows what the hell a pound is and therefore it is referred to as the "Royale with Cheese." Then Jules asks what the Whopper is called in Europe and Vincent responds "I don't know, I didn't eat at Burger King."
Well I never really gave it much thought for most of my life but recently we got our first McDonald's here in Da Nang and as you might expect, it is wildly popular. Everyone I know is ordering from them and I would imagine that their investment in the restaurant, at least for now during the honeymoon period, is really paying off for them. They have been open just a couple of weeks and I have ordered from the several times as has just about everyone else I know.
We aren't overly concerned about our sodium intake, what can I say.
Well I dived a bit further into the menu the other day and there it was staring me in the face. The fabled "Royale with Cheese." I basically had to order it at this point and I wasn't disappointed.
now it isn't exactly the Royale that I first mentioned and this might have a bit to do with a bit of resentment that the Vietnamese have towards the French. I didn't ask. It is close enough though that I figured it probably was the Quarter Pounder.
That's exactly what it is and I gotta say, even though this was delivered to my house on the other side of town in a motorbike taxi with a heat bag on the back, I am impressed with the quality. It ended up costing around $2, which is probably less than it costs back in US and A.
So if you find yourself in Vietnam craving a quarter pounder just know that we do have them here, they are just Royales. I would say that they probably put a bit more care into ensuring a decent product here than any McDonald's I have been to in USA but then again, that is true with most fast food places that exist in both countries.