British and American "Food Wars" hosts Harry Kersh and Joe Avella swapped places to try each other’s McDonald’s menu items and find all the differences between the two. This is "Food Wars: Foreign Exchange."
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00:00 A Brit and an American swap countries
00:02 to try each other's McDonald's.
00:03 This is "Food Wars."
00:05 We'll start with some things you can find in the UK,
00:09 but I think might be slightly different over here.
00:11 Let's start with the iconic McDonald's Big Mac.
00:13 So, I mean, visually, looks pretty much the same.
00:17 You've got the quite sad, flimsy beef patties.
00:19 Let's give it a try.
00:20 So, I think there are some subtle differences there,
00:23 actually.
00:24 Like, broadly speaking, if you gave it to me
00:26 and were like, "This is a UK Big Mac,"
00:28 I don't think I would doubt you.
00:30 I think it's the sauce, 'cause the UK Big Mac sauce
00:33 has got, like, quite a tang to it, almost.
00:35 And this is very gentle.
00:37 I barely get anything from it.
00:38 The Big Mac.
00:39 Now, this looks exactly like a Big Mac
00:41 anywhere in the world.
00:42 You know what I gotta do.
00:44 I'll just give this a shot.
00:46 If that isn't exactly the same, it's close.
00:50 I mean, if I could do one side by side,
00:51 I'd probably notice, but I do not taste any difference.
00:55 I remember when we did "Fast Food Chemistry,"
00:56 you guys had more chemicals and stuff to use,
00:58 but I'm here to say the chemicals
01:00 have not made a striking difference.
01:02 It tastes almost exactly the same.
01:03 - Then we're on to the fries
01:04 and the Coke aspect of the meal.
01:06 Firstly, I have to point out how enormous these are.
01:09 The size of this drink is ridiculous.
01:10 This is way bigger than almost any fast food drink
01:13 I've seen in the UK ever.
01:14 Even the fries as well.
01:15 Like, this box of fries is huge.
01:17 They've kind of sunk down a little bit,
01:18 so it doesn't really show how full it was.
01:20 But this carton is massive.
01:22 You can fit so many fries in it.
01:24 It feels like almost double the size
01:26 of a carton of UK fries.
01:27 I mean, these are pretty good.
01:29 I will say, I think they've held up a lot better
01:31 after, like, a bit of time out of the fryer
01:33 than UK fries have.
01:34 UK McDonald's fries, I think,
01:35 maybe because they don't have as many ingredients,
01:37 there aren't the kind of, like,
01:38 preservative chemicals in there.
01:39 They don't really hold up very well at all.
01:41 As soon as they come out of the fryer,
01:42 they kind of just get worse and worse and worse.
01:44 So you have to eat them really, like, while they're hot.
01:46 I think taste-wise,
01:47 there are some slight differences as well.
01:49 There is, like, something more
01:51 than just kind of, like, salt going on here.
01:53 So I only know this because we made
01:54 that "Fast Food Chemistry" episode of McDonald's fries.
01:58 But there is, like, a sort of artificial beef flavor
02:01 that's added to these.
02:03 And you do kind of taste it.
02:04 It's very subtle.
02:05 But there's, like, a kind of, like,
02:06 savory depth of flavor to these
02:08 that you just don't get in the UK.
02:11 I kind of like it.
02:12 I can't lie.
02:13 - All right, first thing about these fries,
02:14 these guys are pale-looking.
02:17 Not the bright yellow I'm used to in the States.
02:19 The whole thing is this.
02:20 This is potato, salt, and oil.
02:21 That's it.
02:24 Yeah.
02:26 And I believe it, 'cause these are bland.
02:29 Man, what?
02:31 Mm-mm.
02:32 No, and the fries, USA ones are way better.
02:35 - And then finally, this enormous McDonald's Coke.
02:37 I don't know what it is about McDonald's Coke,
02:40 but it just always hits different.
02:42 That happens in the UK.
02:43 And yeah, kind of still happens here.
02:45 Another iconic menu item that I thought was worth trying
02:47 was McNuggets.
02:48 So just visually speaking, before I even try it,
02:50 these look quite different to British McNuggets.
02:53 I'm fairly sure the ones in the UK are deep fried.
02:55 Correct me if I'm wrong, editor.
02:57 But these ones look almost more deep fried somehow,
03:01 just in terms of the way that the breading
03:03 has kind of puffed up and blistered a little bit.
03:06 I will say, I think the breading
03:07 maybe has slightly more seasoning,
03:09 a bit more flavor going on here than I'm used to.
03:11 The chicken itself, I think, is pretty much the same.
03:13 I think I might prefer British nuggets.
03:15 Sorry, guys.
03:16 - Nuggets look like almost exactly the same size.
03:19 Smell the same.
03:20 Same amount of crispness on the skin.
03:23 No, much blander.
03:26 Much blander.
03:27 You guys are getting a terrible deal with these nuggets
03:30 'cause this is dry.
03:32 I did notice it says 100% chicken breast meat on this one.
03:35 I do not know if that's the case in America.
03:36 Can we get that on screen?
03:38 But I've just been informed, no,
03:39 of the chicken that they use,
03:42 100% of it is chicken breast meat,
03:44 but it's only 45% chicken, right?
03:47 It says 100% chicken breast on it,
03:49 that the implication there is that the chicken
03:51 is 100% chicken or it's 100% chicken meat.
03:54 It is not.
03:56 Deceptive.
03:57 - The last thing we wanted to compare in both countries
03:58 was the McCrispy.
04:00 Here is an American McCrispy.
04:02 It looks fairly similar to ours on the surface.
04:05 This one, I think, is a potato roll
04:07 rather than kind of the more like pretzel-y brioche version
04:10 that you find in the UK.
04:11 There's no sauce.
04:13 It's just pickles and a fried chicken patty.
04:16 I really like the pickles.
04:17 I think pickles and fried chicken is a great combination,
04:20 and it's not super common in the UK.
04:22 I will say, I think it needs a sauce.
04:24 I think technically they claim that they butter the rolls
04:26 and that butter is, I guess, there for the sauce,
04:29 but it's kind of dry.
04:31 The chicken's just a little bit thin as well.
04:33 I feel like the McCrispy in the UK
04:34 tends to be a thicker and slightly juicier piece of chicken.
04:37 This is a fairly thin and quite dry chicken breast.
04:42 - The McCrispy.
04:43 Oh, nice.
04:45 All right, I'm pleasantly surprised by the bun.
04:49 It reminds me of like King's Hawaiian rolls.
04:50 Yeah, this looks like our McChicken.
04:52 It is so close to the McChicken.
04:54 Better bun than the McChicken,
04:57 but the crispiness of the chicken patty.
04:58 It tastes slightly different.
04:59 I would say the McChicken sauce,
05:01 I hate to say it, is a bit sweeter,
05:02 but 'cause I love the McChicken.
05:04 Like, the taste of that is like in my DNA.
05:06 - Here are all the US menu items
05:09 you won't find at a UK McDonald's.
05:11 - Here's all the UK McDonald's menu items
05:13 I can't get in the US.
05:15 - We'll start with some chicken options,
05:16 namely the Deluxe McCrispy
05:19 and the Spicy Deluxe McCrispy.
05:21 Let's take a look at the Deluxe McCrispy
05:23 and see what exactly they're adding to make it deluxe.
05:26 The roll looks pretty much the same
05:28 as the standard version.
05:29 The chicken looks the same,
05:31 but I think when they say deluxe,
05:32 that just means they've added mayo, lettuce, and tomato.
05:36 I don't know if that is enough
05:38 to qualify something as deluxe.
05:39 It doesn't seem super deluxe to me.
05:41 I also think that tomato is just a bad topping for a burger.
05:44 They've kind of made this worse, in my opinion.
05:46 I'm gonna take a bite of the spicy one
05:47 and see if it's good and if it's spicy.
05:49 It does have some heat to it.
05:51 They won't get 'em for my measly British person palate.
05:55 I think I would probably just buy
05:57 the regular version of the McCrispy
05:58 and then add some sauce to it.
06:00 - So you got a bacon mayo chicken and a mayo chicken.
06:04 No, this might be exactly what the McChicken's like.
06:07 Nah, it's a little wimpier.
06:09 Yeah, this is like,
06:10 so this is what you're talking about,
06:11 like it's a Big Mac nugget?
06:13 - Yeah.
06:14 The mayo's weird.
06:18 It's more like stale aftertaste.
06:19 I'm telling you, your guys' breaded chicken at McDonald's
06:22 has no flavor compared to the one in the US.
06:24 Then the Crispy was crispier,
06:26 had more flavor in the sauce,
06:27 and the bun was nicer.
06:29 Yeah, this is like, this is a bummer.
06:31 Ah, the same with bacon, but I really have to,
06:34 now, look at how flimsy your bacon is.
06:38 - Now we're onto some beef options,
06:40 starting with the McDouble.
06:42 I have just some kind of existential questions
06:44 about the McDouble, namely, why does it exist?
06:47 Because we have the double cheeseburger.
06:49 Let's give it a try.
06:50 I'm genuinely curious,
06:52 how is this different to just a double cheeseburger?
06:54 - One slice of cheese.
06:55 - One slice of cheese.
06:56 Joe says one slice of cheese.
06:57 Talk me through it.
06:58 - Okay, so what's going on here is that
07:00 the McDouble has one slice of cheese in between,
07:02 where Double Cheese, we have two slices of cheese.
07:04 I think that's the only difference.
07:05 I honestly think it's, right?
07:06 'Cause this is just the standard McDonald's.
07:09 - This looks very normal.
07:10 - It's just one less slice of cheese
07:11 from what we can tell.
07:12 And the price difference is, let's get that on screen.
07:15 So if you wanna save that amount of money,
07:18 get yourself a McDouble,
07:20 and pass the savings on to you.
07:23 - There you go.
07:24 Cheers, Joe.
07:25 You had it here first.
07:25 Next up, we have the Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe.
07:28 So similarly to the McCrispy,
07:31 they've turned this thing into a deluxe burger
07:34 by just adding some lettuce, some mayo, and some tomato.
07:38 You know what they've tried to do here?
07:39 They've tried to just make a Whopper.
07:41 This is the Double Quarter Pounder with Bacon.
07:43 Now this is a burger.
07:47 This one does what you would expect a Quarter Pounder to do.
07:50 It's just loads of meat and cheese.
07:52 I wanna talk more about this bacon as well,
07:53 'cause this bacon's good.
07:54 One thing that I think we do quite badly
07:56 in the UK at fast food is bacon.
07:58 A lot of the bacon you'll find on UK restaurants
08:01 is like this very pallid pink color,
08:04 whereas this one, stronger flavor.
08:06 You get some like smokiness from it.
08:07 The bacon on this is way better,
08:09 and therefore that makes it a very enjoyable burger.
08:12 Yes, I think the deluxe should just be more beef
08:14 and some bacon rather than vegetables
08:17 that no one wants to eat.
08:17 Come on. - Thank you.
08:19 Oh yeah, now we're talking.
08:20 Two patties, although I'm telling you guys,
08:22 the patty on patty with nothing in the middle,
08:24 it's just weird.
08:25 A poppy-sesame-seed-bun hybrid?
08:28 Whoa!
08:31 Yeah, it doesn't look like barbecue sauce.
08:32 Like barbecue sauce is like an amber-brown.
08:35 Mm, it's like the bacon kinda screws it up,
08:38 but your bacon is so flimsy.
08:40 I think this would work with like American bacon,
08:42 'cause American bacon would just be like crisp.
08:45 I mean, it's not like it has to be crispier,
08:46 it's just this is like really like rubbery.
08:49 What do you guys think barbecue sauce is?
08:52 Bacon double cheeseburger.
08:53 I'm not impressed with your bacon here, guys.
08:55 I'm not impressed.
08:56 Look, look at.
08:57 What American, what number did this is?
09:01 Yeah, like.
09:03 I'm pretty sure we had a bacon double cheeseburger
09:06 at some point at McDonald's, and it wasn't like this.
09:08 Our bacon is like crispier, more dispersed evenly, I guess.
09:12 It's like two strips going right through the middle here.
09:14 Now it's a disaster, a total disaster.
09:17 All right, McPlant.
09:18 Harry, get in here and explain to me what I'm doing,
09:20 what this is.
09:21 This is the McPlant.
09:22 It's McDonald's fake meat burger.
09:24 It took them ages to develop this.
09:25 They tested it in Scandinavia first.
09:27 It was available in Sweden for a while.
09:29 They also developed their own vegan cheese,
09:31 'cause McDonald's couldn't find a commercial vegan cheese
09:33 that they thought was good enough.
09:33 Yeah, I believe it.
09:34 Look at this.
09:35 This looks terrifying.
09:36 You did, buddy.
09:37 Thanks, bud.
09:38 What he said.
09:38 I think it was only available in a few places in the US.
09:41 Came and went.
09:42 So at least the US audience not impressed with the McPlant.
09:47 Yeah, I'm not good.
09:50 There's definitely some plant-based meat that tastes good,
09:53 that tastes like meat.
09:54 This ain't it.
09:55 Wanna take this moment to try your UK Coca-Cola?
09:58 Man, the Coke here is way better.
10:02 You guys make with the real sugar.
10:04 Off with this.
10:06 Does this?
10:07 And these are the dippers, right?
10:09 Who do you think you are, McDonald's?
10:12 Who do you think you are doing this?
10:15 You just took the dippers and put them...
10:17 Oh God, gross.
10:19 What is this like?
10:20 What is this?
10:21 Vegetables.
10:24 No, this sucks ass, dude.
10:27 Yeah, the vegetarian says he loves them.
10:29 Put an asterisk next to that.
10:30 Of all the things you can eat at McDonald's,
10:33 there's two, right?
10:34 And this is one of them.
10:35 So, okay, great.
10:36 I never want this.
10:37 Moving on.
10:40 Ah, Chicken Selects.
10:41 This is closer to like what our McChicken
10:44 and our nuggets taste like.
10:45 Oh yeah.
10:49 Damn, wish we had this in America.
10:51 The sour cream and chive dip is really good.
10:53 Here are all the exclusive wraps and salads
10:55 that you can find in the US that you won't find in the UK.
10:58 That's not a mistake.
10:58 There are just none of them.
11:00 It's not even that there's no exclusives.
11:01 There's just no wraps or salads full stop
11:03 on a US McDonald's menu.
11:05 USA!
11:06 I can't exactly say that the UK salads
11:09 are good at McDonald's, but at least we have them.
11:11 You know, you have an option if you somehow
11:13 are trying to eat healthy,
11:14 but have ended up in a McDonald's anyway.
11:16 Whereas in America, the closest thing you have to a salad
11:18 is this bag of apple slices.
11:21 God, I hate wraps.
11:24 This is a really smart way of presenting this.
11:26 A pita.
11:27 Isn't that a pita?
11:29 - [Producer] It's a pita.
11:31 - Oh yeah, I guess it's closer to a tortilla.
11:33 Pita.
11:36 What do you, how do you say it?
11:37 - Pita.
11:38 - No, that's wrong.
11:39 That's other than I.
11:40 Pita.
11:41 - I would say pita.
11:42 - Well, you'd be wrong.
11:42 (laughing)
11:45 Oh, how kind of dressing is this?
11:50 Well, it's garlic, but it's not very garlicky.
11:54 Okay, so let me have the grilled version of this.
11:56 Yeah.
11:58 No, no, no, no, no.
12:00 (laughing)
12:02 What flavor could this possibly have?
12:05 (laughing)
12:05 Oh, come on.
12:07 - I thought that was a bit of bread.
12:09 - No.
12:09 Oh man, that has no flavor.
12:14 Yeah, you can get a grilled or crispy chicken salad,
12:17 but we didn't get them 'cause I didn't fly
12:19 across the planet to eat a salad.
12:21 Hey, this is fun.
12:22 Nacho cheese wedges.
12:24 Well, we're much further from Mexico,
12:27 so how good could the nacho cheese actually be?
12:29 Not bad.
12:32 Certainly the most flavorful thing I've eaten today.
12:35 - Now it's time for the exclusive condiments,
12:37 and you know what that means.
12:38 S-s-s-s-s-s-sauce talk.
12:41 - The very first sauce talk, foreign exchange.
12:46 - Sauce talk.
12:48 - We're gonna start with this one.
12:49 Spicy buffalo.
12:50 Yeah, so I think that's the same one
12:53 that they put on the spicy McCrispy.
12:55 It's pretty good.
12:56 It's basically like if you take a mayo
12:57 and just pour some Frank's Red Hot in it.
12:59 Let's try the honey mustard out.
13:00 I personally love a honey mustard.
13:02 You certainly get the honey.
13:04 It's pretty good.
13:05 I think the balance of that is more on the honey side,
13:09 and it needs to swing slightly more to the mustard side.
13:11 Now this one I'm excited for.
13:13 It's ranch.
13:14 We call it ranch, not ranch.
13:16 Yeah, that's pretty good.
13:20 Yeah, it's got like a sort of herby tang to it.
13:23 Then we've got a couple of condiments
13:24 which are technically breakfast items,
13:26 but we're gonna count under sauce talk anyway.
13:28 We'll start with the mild picante salsa.
13:31 I think this is supposed to be paired
13:32 with the breakfast burrito, which we will get onto later,
13:36 but I'm gonna try it with a nugget.
13:37 - Oh, Jesus.
13:38 Okay, that's enough.
13:41 Do it.
13:42 - Does what it says on the tin.
13:46 That's just a mild salsa, really.
13:48 Also on the breakfast condiments list,
13:49 we have hot cake syrup.
13:52 I guess like maybe legally
13:53 they're not allowed to call it maple syrup,
13:54 so hot cake syrup.
13:57 I mean like people eat pancakes with bacon and maple syrup,
14:00 so why can't chicken nuggets and maple syrup go together?
14:03 Okay, I thought I'd invented something special there,
14:06 but no, turns out I cannot claim that combination as my own.
14:10 It's butter.
14:11 They have butter on the menu.
14:13 I think again, designed to be used with the hot cakes.
14:17 The final condiment option is some grape jam.
14:20 I will say like we don't tend to have
14:22 many grape-flavored products in the UK for whatever reason.
14:25 - Yeah?
14:30 - It's pretty tasty.
14:31 - Yeah, I mean like-
14:32 - Maybe not in combination with the chicken,
14:33 but the grape jam is quite nice.
14:35 - Already your ketchup, it's bizarre.
14:37 It makes sense why this would be ketchup,
14:41 considering what ketchup is,
14:42 but American ketchup is way sweeter.
14:45 I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing,
14:46 but like I'm eating that and I'm like,
14:48 if that was on a plate,
14:49 I was eating somewhere and that was on a plate
14:51 and I was like dipping into it,
14:52 I'd be like, "Oh, what sauce is this?"
14:54 'Cause I wouldn't think that's ketchup.
14:55 Like, "Oh, it's like this fun tomato sauce you got."
14:56 I was like, I wouldn't go, "Oh, ketchup."
14:58 Yeah, it's like that different.
15:00 Okay, the barbecue sauce from the country with no barbecue.
15:03 Let's see what you guys think barbecue is.
15:07 Nope.
15:07 I don't know what this is supposed to be.
15:09 Sweet chili dip.
15:10 Here we go.
15:11 Better.
15:12 Just okay.
15:13 McDonald's barbecue sauce
15:15 is its own special brand of barbecue sauce.
15:18 Yeah, this is pretty close to a bun.
15:20 This one's a little more mustardy.
15:22 So, okay.
15:24 Yeah, it's not bad.
15:26 All right, sweet and sour.
15:27 Ooh, that's really good.
15:29 Oh, hell yeah, dude.
15:30 Sweet curry.
15:32 Been waiting for this.
15:33 That's really good.
15:34 We don't have any exclusive options
15:35 when it comes to the food inside a Happy Meal,
15:37 but I did wanna get one
15:38 and just kinda like see what the vibe was,
15:39 see what the toy is, crucially.
15:41 So at the time of recording this,
15:43 the Little Mermaid hit theaters recently.
15:45 So they seem to be doing a collab with the Little Mermaid.
15:48 Does that mean I'm gonna get a Little Mermaid toy?
15:50 Let's find out.
15:51 So we got, aw, these fries are so cute.
15:56 So this is a UK large.
15:57 This is what I'm used to.
16:01 I will say, in the UK,
16:02 the fries come in like a paper bag
16:04 rather than one of these simply adorable little cartons,
16:08 which honestly, huge fan of.
16:10 I went for the McNuggets,
16:12 which tend to come in a box of four.
16:15 Ah, there you go.
16:16 You get the apple slices within that.
16:17 This is the American salad.
16:19 And of course, we get a toy.
16:21 Ah, it's King Triton.
16:22 Let's go.
16:23 Place your toy on a phone or tablet for more fun,
16:27 which I do think we have to try and do real quick.
16:29 - Okay, there you go.
16:30 Okay, put it down.
16:31 - Put my phone on the desk.
16:32 - Yeah, you guys are getting this, right?
16:32 - On the table.
16:33 Getting all this, this is crucial.
16:35 - Place your toy on there.
16:36 Take a thing.
16:37 - I'll just go there.
16:39 - Okay, play the game.
16:40 - Turn your sound on.
16:41 I'm gonna be honest, this is a mess.
16:48 Some kind of pattern, learn pattern.
16:51 That one, that one.
16:54 Did it.
16:56 I win.
16:57 - DC, happy meal.
16:59 I've been told that it's,
17:01 well, let's see, we got the toy.
17:03 Oh, poison ivy.
17:04 Fast food fish is way more popular here.
17:07 You guys love your fast fish.
17:09 I do not.
17:10 It smells fishy.
17:16 For the first time, your food being flavorless
17:19 is a good thing.
17:20 Fries, yeah, this is, actually,
17:21 I would say this is also our kid's size.
17:23 Let's take a look at the poison ivy toy.
17:25 What the hell, what is, okay.
17:27 Oh, there's some inside.
17:28 Stickers.
17:31 Good game.
17:33 All right, fun for kids.
17:35 - Now we're into some McCafe and dessert options.
17:36 Unfortunately, I couldn't get a few of these,
17:38 but here are the ones that I was able to find today.
17:40 We'll start with a good old fashioned
17:41 American chocolate chip cookie.
17:43 This looks pretty good.
17:44 We're kind of bad at cookies in the UK.
17:45 I don't know what it is,
17:46 but they tend to be very dry and crumbly
17:49 rather than soft and chewy.
17:50 That's not bad.
17:53 What's more American than apple pie?
17:55 I'll tell you what, an apple pie from McDonald's.
17:58 This is the American McDonald's apple pie.
18:01 In the UK, a McDonald's apple pie is actually deep fried.
18:03 It just looks very different.
18:05 This is a baked apple pie,
18:06 so you get more of a lattice going on.
18:08 You see the filling there, but it's baked,
18:09 so I guess they don't need to seal it on every side
18:12 'cause it's not going in a fryer.
18:13 It's not all gonna spill out into the oil.
18:15 Don't know if this is gonna hold up or not.
18:16 I think the UK might be doing better apple pies
18:20 than the US is, at least when it comes to McDonald's.
18:23 The pastry's fine.
18:25 The filling tastes pretty much identical
18:26 to the filling of a UK apple pie.
18:29 But yeah, the baked pastry
18:30 is just not the same as fried pastry.
18:32 And then there's actually another pie option
18:34 on the menu right now at a US McDonald's.
18:36 This one is a strawberry cream pie.
18:38 That's pretty good.
18:40 As I said, there were some desserts and pastries
18:41 that we weren't able to get today.
18:43 Here they are.
18:44 In the UK, you can also get exclusive McFlurries.
18:47 Could not get them 'cause you're not gonna believe it,
18:48 but the ice cream machines are also broken in the UK.
18:51 You can get yourself a Maltesers McFlurry
18:53 and a Smarties McFlurry.
18:55 Okay, we got them to Cafe Snacks.
18:58 First up, ooh, a donut.
19:00 Hey, who doesn't like a donut?
19:01 Ooh, yo.
19:03 This one is covered in sugar.
19:04 Look at that.
19:05 Muffin, berry, berry muffin.
19:09 A millionaire's donut, huh?
19:11 Ooh.
19:13 With the cream inside, it is pretty decadent.
19:16 I don't know if I feel like a millionaire.
19:17 I don't think millionaires are eating those.
19:18 I'm gonna be honest with you.
19:20 Oh, hell yeah.
19:21 Hell yeah.
19:22 Yep, that's a good cookie.
19:23 Let's talk about the drinks.
19:24 First of all, there are some hot and cold coffees
19:26 which are available in both countries.
19:28 It does seem like the US actually has
19:29 a bigger range of coffees,
19:30 particularly when it comes to the iced versions.
19:32 While in the UK, we're limited to a couple of basic ones,
19:34 like an iced latte, over here you can get all sorts.
19:36 You can get things like your iced caramel mocha,
19:39 your frappuccino Dunkin' thingy majiggy.
19:43 You know the ones.
19:44 There are some interesting non-coffee drinks, though,
19:46 that I do wanna try and talk about now.
19:47 We're gonna start with this one down the end,
19:49 which I believe is Hawaiian Punch.
19:50 Not common in the UK at all.
19:54 - [Henry] (laughs) Yep.
19:58 - Okay.
19:59 If this is the first one,
20:01 I think I have a bit of a storm coming here.
20:03 It's pretty good, but wow, is that sweet.
20:05 This one is an American-style lemonade.
20:08 As I've said before on the show,
20:09 lemonade in the UK is like Sprite.
20:11 It's like a clear, carbonated, lemony beverage,
20:14 whereas this looks like a good old-fashioned
20:17 American lemonade.
20:18 It's not bad.
20:20 It's weird, like, to me that lemonade isn't carbonated,
20:22 but that's pretty good.
20:23 That's actually fairly refreshing,
20:24 unlike maybe the Hawaiian Punch was.
20:27 Also, happy birthday, Grimace, while we're on the subject.
20:30 They did have a special Grimace shake,
20:32 but the ice cream machine was broken
20:34 at the McDonald's that we went to, of course,
20:36 so I haven't been able to get the Grimace shake,
20:38 which I'm really sad about.
20:38 Here's what it's supposed to look like.
20:41 They do not have a good old-fashioned cup of tea
20:43 on the menu at an American McDonald's.
20:45 What they do have is sweet tea.
20:47 I felt like I had to try it as a Brit.
20:48 You know, I have to give my thoughts on everyone's teas.
20:51 (laughing)
20:54 - No!
20:55 - They weren't kidding when they called it sweet tea.
20:58 So this was supposed to be a blue raspberry frozen Fanta,
21:01 and this was supposed to be a frozen Coke.
21:03 However, now it is just a melted blue raspberry Fanta
21:06 and a melted Coke, otherwise known as Coke.
21:10 Ooh, that's pretty good.
21:12 Yeah, it just tastes like Coke.
21:15 It does, somehow, like, still has a bit of fizz to it,
21:18 and the same with the Fanta, actually.
21:20 I do think I would like these if they were frozen.
21:23 I think, like, on a really hot day, for example,
21:25 carrying a frozen Coke around sounds delightful,
21:27 so yeah, would quite like those on the UK menu, maybe.
21:31 Then we have a, what I believe to be, high C drink.
21:35 High C orange lava burst.
21:37 Yeah, so this isn't carbonated,
21:39 but it's not fruit juice.
21:41 It's somewhere in the middle.
21:43 I'd put it, like, reasonably close to an Oasis
21:46 that we can get in the UK,
21:47 which is also, like, a sort of non-carbonated,
21:49 fruity beverage.
21:50 I don't love it.
21:51 Last but by no means least, we have milk on the menu.
21:54 I think this is kind of aimed at kids.
21:56 I never wanna meet a person who is a grown adult
22:00 and goes to McDonald's and orders milk for their meal.
22:03 These are all the exclusive drinks we got today.
22:04 There are some other ones, and here they are.
22:06 - All right, the McCafe exclusives.
22:08 They didn't label any of them, so I'll just guess.
22:11 That's definitely hot chocolate,
22:11 but let's see what it causes compared to the Deluxe.
22:14 Mm-mm.
22:15 Oh, this is that butter thing.
22:17 That's terrible.
22:18 We'll get back to that.
22:19 Let me find the other hot chocolate.
22:21 That's a hot chocolate.
22:22 I can't tell the difference.
22:24 I don't know which one's Deluxe.
22:25 Would Deluxe be size?
22:27 Wait, this one has, like, that buttery oil floating in it?
22:30 And this, I know what this is.
22:33 Tea!
22:38 I don't get it.
22:39 I don't get why this is so popular.
22:40 The McCafe food's pretty good.
22:41 I like it.
22:42 You got a good selection here.
22:43 The drinks, not so much.
22:45 I like banana.
22:45 I like banana-flavored stuff,
22:47 and we don't nearly have as much in the United States.
22:49 This tastes exactly like a banana Laffy Taffy.
22:53 It's great.
22:54 What's Oasis?
22:56 Yeah, no thanks.
22:57 I mean, it's, like, sweet,
22:58 but it, like, reminds me of, like, Gatorade.
23:00 Orange juice, I know what orange juice tastes like.
23:01 What is this?
23:02 Robinson's Fruit Shoot.
23:05 Why is it a fruit shoot?
23:06 What's the shooting part?
23:07 - It's the kids, really.
23:08 - Oh, so it's just, like, shoot in my mouth?
23:09 Like, "Aah!"
23:10 Is that what it's for?
23:11 - I think it's called that
23:12 because it's better for, like, kids in their life
23:13 to, like, get in a fruit shoot.
23:14 - That what?
23:15 - The, like, being cut.
23:17 - I would like to know why this is called fruit shoot.
23:20 Okay, so I think it's called,
23:21 I haven't looked it up,
23:22 I think it's called fruit shoot
23:22 'cause it's when you squeeze, like, shoot in your mouth.
23:24 Like, "Bleh!"
23:24 And Leon thinks it's because
23:28 it sounds better than saying Coke.
23:30 - Now we're gonna talk about
23:31 the most important meal of the day, breakfast.
23:33 We'll start with this one, the Steak and Egg McMuffin.
23:35 That doesn't really look, taste, or feel like a steak.
23:39 Now, next up, America has some breakfast biscuit options.
23:42 So from what I've seen,
23:43 a biscuit looks very much like a scone,
23:45 which is obviously a classic British dish.
23:48 Now, the fact that they would be putting breakfast food,
23:51 like bacon, eggs, sausages,
23:52 into what is effectively a scone is weird to me
23:56 and I think will be weird to a lot of Brits as well.
23:58 So this is just a classic sausage biscuit.
24:00 It looks, does look pretty like a scone.
24:03 It's maybe a bit more, like, smooth on the outside
24:05 than I'm expecting from a scone.
24:07 So dry.
24:09 [laughs]
24:10 - Told ya.
24:11 - Oh my God.
24:11 - Hey, Joe from Food Wars here.
24:12 Just wanted to say this.
24:13 Not a scone, it's a different biscuit.
24:15 I don't know what he's talking about.
24:16 He'll be chewing on that for the next four minutes,
24:18 but it's different.
24:19 - He's right.
24:20 It's different.
24:20 It's not a scone.
24:21 It's somehow worse.
24:22 Yeah, apparently I chose badly
24:23 with the sausage being my first one
24:24 'cause that was dry as a desert.
24:26 So let's have a quick bite of a bacon, egg, and cheese,
24:29 which is a classic American/New York breakfast combo.
24:33 They're still pretty dry,
24:34 but the addition of the other stuff definitely helps.
24:36 What are the takeaways there?
24:38 Scones and biscuits are different, not the same.
24:41 A scone is a little bit more crumbly,
24:43 generally, like, slightly sweeter.
24:46 These are not sweet, slightly more bready texture.
24:50 I'm still not convinced by the notion of them
24:52 as, like, the foundation of a breakfast sandwich,
24:54 just mostly because of how dry they are.
24:56 Hey, who am I to judge American culture?
24:59 Now, these I'm excited for.
25:00 I've heard very good things about these from Joe.
25:01 These are McDonald's McGriddles.
25:03 If I remember correctly from watching Joe eat these,
25:06 they've kind of got, like,
25:07 pancakes that they sort of inject with syrup
25:10 and then use those as the buns for a breakfast sandwich,
25:13 which sounds pretty excellent.
25:15 I'll try the bacon, egg, and cheese, see how we get on.
25:18 Still slightly dry,
25:20 but way less dry than the biscuit and very tasty.
25:23 I'm gonna go even more syrup
25:24 because what's better than adding more syrup
25:27 to something which is already full of syrup?
25:29 McGriddles, yes.
25:31 Biscuits, not so sure.
25:34 So, this was the bacon, egg, and cheese McGriddle.
25:36 You can also get McGriddles with sausage,
25:38 sausage and egg and cheese,
25:40 or the steak, which I will not be trying.
25:42 The next exclusive breakfast item
25:43 is the bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast bagel.
25:47 We used to have bagels on the menu at the UK McDonald's,
25:50 and they were wonderful.
25:51 Part of the breakfast menu,
25:53 toasted bagels with your choice of toppings and fillings.
25:56 Really good.
25:57 Pandemic hit.
25:58 They cut them from the menu,
25:59 and they've not returned.
26:00 And personally, I'm furious about that.
26:03 Yeah, I've missed you so much, bagel.
26:08 Next up, we have a sausage burrito.
26:10 Breakfast burrito is really not a thing in the UK.
26:13 We're just generally bad at Mexican food.
26:15 This is obviously designed to be enjoyed
26:17 with the mild salsa.
26:18 It's actually pretty good.
26:19 And then lastly on the breakfast menu,
26:20 we have these, the big breakfasts.
26:22 The standard big breakfast is a slab of scrambled egg,
26:28 a sausage patty, and a biscuit.
26:29 And this is the big breakfast with hotcakes,
26:32 which is the egg, biscuit, and sausage,
26:34 but then also comes with two pancakes.
26:36 Both of these come with dips,
26:37 including a little thing of whipped butter,
26:39 and of course, the hotcake syrup.
26:41 So I wasn't sure what the difference was
26:42 between pancakes and hotcakes.
26:45 Joe's just done a quick Google,
26:46 and apparently hotcakes tend to be a bit thicker
26:49 and denser than pancakes.
26:50 I mean, to me, that just tastes like a pancake.
26:53 I'm thinking maybe they've just called them hotcakes
26:55 to make them sound more fancy or different, but yeah.
26:57 Not bad.
26:58 And of course, McDonald's UK, I gotta try the breakfast.
27:02 All right, first up, the mini potato waffles.
27:06 Hash browns that are shaped like a waffle.
27:07 I don't know why this specific shape.
27:09 Yeah, dude.
27:12 For some reason, it tastes a lot better in waffle form.
27:14 I don't know why that is.
27:15 This is really good.
27:16 What do you got here?
27:17 Breakfast sandwich.
27:19 This is the bacon roll with brown sauce.
27:22 It's like a hamburger bun.
27:24 Look at this.
27:26 There's your brown sauce right there.
27:27 Mm.
27:28 It's just okay.
27:30 Nothing special.
27:32 It's bland.
27:33 I'm starting to think that you in the UK,
27:36 you guys don't like,
27:37 your stuff isn't as intense as ours in America is.
27:41 Like this wouldn't fly in the US
27:43 'cause it's not dripping with cheese
27:46 and it doesn't have an egg in it,
27:47 and the buns aren't uber buttery.
27:49 It's just too plain.
27:51 It's too boring.
27:52 This is the same thing with just ketchup.
27:54 Oh.
27:57 Now we're getting more in my speed.
27:59 This one has cheese and bacon in it.
28:02 Oh yeah, is that sausage?
28:04 Yeah, this looks more like something they'd get in the US.
28:07 Yeah.
28:08 Cheesy flatbread.
28:10 Oh God.
28:10 Cheesy bacon.
28:14 Oh, come on, guys.
28:15 Yeah, see, this is the bacon.
28:16 This is more like the bacon we're used to.
28:18 - [Man] So that's streaky bacon?
28:19 - Streaky bacon.
28:20 So this is bacon,
28:21 and the other thing was Canadian bacon in the US.
28:25 I don't know why.
28:26 Or ham, I'm gonna call it.
28:28 I mean, this just looks like,
28:29 I mean, this looks like whatever.
28:31 Yeah, this sucks.
28:35 And that's why it sucks.
28:36 It's like the flatbread is too strong.
28:38 I can barely taste the streaky bacon,
28:40 which is what it came in for, so.
28:41 Double sausage.
28:42 Okay, so with this,
28:44 you guys just went double meat on both?
28:46 Oh man.
28:50 Yo, look how much sausage is in here.
28:53 Look at that.
28:54 Hell yeah.
28:56 This, now we're talking, UK.
28:58 See?
28:59 Although, nothing in between the two sausage patties
29:02 is like, you gotta like,
29:04 it's gotta go cheese, meat, cheese, meat.
29:05 You can't just do meat.
29:06 This like, this doesn't work.
29:08 And possibly like a sauce.
29:09 No sauce is weird for this one.
29:11 Your sausage is weird.
29:13 I would say ours is like spicier.
29:14 Not heat, but like the flavor of the sausage
29:18 is more pronounced in the US one compared to this.
29:20 So I know in the US, our sausage is made up of,
29:22 and from what I understand,
29:24 the UK sausage is made up of,
29:26 and that was all done in post.
29:28 I have no idea what it says.
29:30 I do, like, here's the thing.
29:31 I like the double, but needs more cheese.
29:34 Needs to be drowning in some sort of sauce.
29:36 But this one, I'm assuming then is double bacon.
29:40 I don't know.
29:43 This is not double bacon.
29:44 Wait, that's good.
29:45 One, two pieces of bacon's double bacon?
29:48 This is double for you guys?
29:50 For real?
29:51 Yo, you're getting ripped off, guys.
29:53 Excuse me, you've made a mistake.
29:55 You come back in like,
29:56 come like storming in and cutting the line,
29:57 be like, "Ah, you made a mistake on mine.
29:59 "There's only one slice of bacon on this."
30:01 So, all right, let's try it with this double bacon.
30:03 I mean, it's ham.
30:06 Yeah, that's standard.
30:09 That's not, that's not double.
30:12 This is smart that they did the jam.
30:13 I don't know if in the US they have the squirtable one.
30:16 I mean, do I need to like,
30:17 I know what a muffin and jam tastes like.
30:19 I'm not like.
30:21 - [Producer] Do you have a British muffin and jam?
30:23 - If I eat this,
30:24 will I still have had a British muffin and jam?
30:27 I think after this,
30:28 I still have no idea what a British muffin and jam tastes
30:30 like.
30:31 All right, all right, all right, all right.
30:32 Everyone relax.
30:33 Oh yeah, that's really good.
30:37 This tastes way better than the crap that we have.
30:39 Like way better.
30:40 So I've just been informed that in England,
30:42 these are just called muffins, not English muffins.
30:44 Porridge.
30:45 I'm from the US.
30:48 I don't know what porridge is.
30:48 I'm assuming it's oatmeal.
30:51 So from what I can tell,
30:52 you can porridge four different ways.
30:54 One with golden syrup,
30:55 looks a lot like honey.
30:56 One with strawberry jam,
30:58 straight from France.
31:00 One with sugar,
31:01 which they did not include.
31:02 And then one plain.
31:04 So first I'm just going straight porridge,
31:07 no chaser.
31:08 Yeah, there's no flavor to it.
31:10 - Have some golden syrup on the side.
31:12 - Yeah, all right.
31:13 So I've been informed that golden syrup is good stuff.
31:16 I don't know what's interesting,
31:17 golden syrup,
31:18 I guess,
31:19 whatever,
31:20 other syrups.
31:21 You're right.
31:22 It's like,
31:22 it's not quite maple syrup,
31:23 but it's pretty close.
31:25 Makes it a much better, obviously.
31:27 - All right, overall, Harry,
31:31 American exclusives.
31:32 What were some of your likes
31:33 and some of your dislikes?
31:34 - Some of the things I liked,
31:37 you guys have a much bigger breakfast menu than we do.
31:39 I did like the McGriddles.
31:40 They did live up to Joe's pretty high billing.
31:44 I also think that your bacon is much better than ours.
31:46 So I think maybe the double quarter pounder with bacon
31:49 was a strong highlight there.
31:51 Some dislikes.
31:52 There's a few.
31:54 I don't like the biscuits.
31:55 I'm sorry, guys.
31:56 I think they are,
31:57 for a British person,
31:58 too similar to a scone.
32:00 So we can't really mentally differentiate between the two.
32:02 And it's just quite dry.
32:05 And also I think making your burgers deluxe
32:07 by just adding loads of mayo,
32:09 some tomato and lettuce,
32:10 just is a bit underwhelming.
32:12 Not really a deluxe vibe for me.
32:14 - So if you could bring one thing to the UK
32:16 from the US exclusive,
32:18 what would it be?
32:19 - If I could take one of these exclusives
32:20 that I've tried today back to the UK with me for our menu,
32:23 I think I'm gonna have to pick
32:24 the bacon, egg and cheese McGriddle.
32:25 I think it was really good.
32:26 It's a bit of a twist on the classic McMuffin formula.
32:29 Feels like a little bit more decadent, maybe.
32:31 A little bit more sweet.
32:32 And yeah, just a really good fun.
32:34 I like the emphasis you guys place on your breakfast menu.
32:36 - What was the thing you just hated the most
32:37 you were like, "Oh, I'm gonna stay in the US."
32:40 - For the thing that I hated the most
32:42 and would want to remove from all possible menus,
32:46 it's tricky.
32:47 There are a couple.
32:48 But I think it might have to be the sausage biscuit.
32:51 It was so dry.
32:53 And the notion of a biscuit/scone breakfast sandwich
32:57 to a British person is just too bizarre.
32:59 I can't get my head around it.
33:00 And yeah, not the best.
33:02 - Gotta say, I really just liked your bacon.
33:04 Your bacon is weird.
33:06 It ruined everything that it was on.
33:08 I love bacon, but your bacon is just, it is bizarre.
33:11 The things that I liked the most,
33:13 I obviously liked the curry dipping sauce.
33:15 I liked the banana milkshake, separately, obviously.
33:17 That triple chocolate chip cookie was good.
33:20 - All right, Joey, you gotta pick one thing
33:21 to take back with you to the US from my menu,
33:23 and you gotta pick one thing to remove from my menu
33:25 forever.
33:26 - I'm taking back the curry dipping sauce.
33:29 I've wanted to try that since we shot the first episode.
33:33 And then take off your menu.
33:38 I mean, those veggie dippers were pretty dismal,
33:42 but I don't wanna leave vegetarians out in the lurch.
33:46 The thing that's like haunting me the most
33:48 was the grilled chicken wrap.
33:51 I don't even think it was grilled.
33:52 I think it was boiled.
33:53 And I feel bad that that's on your menu, and it's gross.
33:57 And I will do the UK favor.
34:00 All grilled chicken off the menu at McDonald's.
34:02 You're welcome.
34:03 - All right.
34:04 Rolling.
34:07 I'm in New York, and I'm outside a McDonald's.
34:10 I'm gonna go inside, take a look around,
34:12 and see how it compares
34:13 to a British McDonald's experience.
34:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]