Dutch-inflected McDonald's
Like I wrote earlier, McDonald's Netherlands seems to have a strategy of driving food "news" to gain repeat traffic to stores. This winter, they had special "winter weeks" featuring rookworst (smoked sausage, very Dutch), stroopwafel McFlurry (McFlurry with caramel-laced cinnamon-y cookie pieces), and three different kinds of burgers representing different cities of the Netherlands.
I think the one I tried was the Harlingen Burger. But to be honest, I don't think anyone could have told the difference. Like the "Great Tastes of America" series I wrote about in my earlier post, the only differences between the Harlingen Burger, the Sneek Burger, and the Franeker Burger was the "Harlingen Saus," the "Sneek Saus," and the "Franeker Saus." (Saus = sauce of course)
The stroopfwafel McFlurry on the other hand was excellent. You could taste the caramel, you could taste the cinnamon, and the distinctive stroopwafel cookie crunchiness was distinct. Stroopwafels and soft serve were born to be mashed together.
Last month, McDonald's had a special "Dutch Deluxe" on offer. On the box, it says "The most Dutch burger from McDonald's, with 100% beef on a multigrain bun, fresh tomato, fresh lettuce, onion, and cheese. So I guess what makes it Dutch is the square multigrain bun. Which actually does seem really Dutch to me. This burger was actually pretty good - I liked the sesame seeds on the bun, though the bun itself was more spongey than I would expect. I think of Dutch brown multigrain bread to be more chewy. What also really made this burger was a special mayonnaise based sauce. Have no idea what was in it, but it was good.
