McDonald's and McDonald's

According to marketers, one of the draws of fast food chains is familiarity: a traveler can stop into a McDonald's anywhere in the country and know what to expect. The menu items will be the same, the quality will be the same, and the service will be the same. In most cases, even the store will be the same, or at least vaguely familiar, since McDonald's restaurants are usually built with the same exterior look and one of only a few general interior layouts.

That is why it is noticeable when one of the chain's stores breaks the trend, and goes for a different design. Since the restaurants are franchises, individual owners can sometimes express their own creativity when constructing their buildings. Below are some of the more creative McDonald's buildings I have come across. I am sure there are others; let me know if you have any in your area.


Big Mac, Filet-o-Fish, quarter pounder, French fries, icey Coke -- are you singing along yet? While we're all familiar with the generic stable of McDonald's menu items, we continue to be amazed by the crazy stuff you can get at a McDonald's overseas. In fact, we might have to move to Germany. In Deutschland, you can order a beer with your double cheeseburger. (Hello, snack attack!) We asked the experts over at the Medical Insurance site to lay out all our options. After all, eat too much of this stuff and your doctor -- and belly -- isn't going to be pleased.
If you think McDonalds sells the same burgers and fries everywhere in the world, think again – here in Asia they’ve had to make some concessions to local tastes and come up with some peculiar fast food variations on Asian favourites.

It all started with the Samurai Pork Burger. I saw this advertised outside a McDonalds in Bangkok back in 2004 and was somewhat perplexed. Why is it a Japanese name when I’m in Thailand? And what do Samurai have to do with pork? Actually, why is it called Samurai at all? Sadly, I never actually found out any of the answers, but it made me start paying closer attention to McDonalds everytime I went to another country in Asia

Finally, on I-44 near Vinita, Oklahoma stands what is billed as the world's largest McDonald's. Correct that: over I-44 stands the world's largest McDonald's. Here the famous golden arches span over all 4 lanes of highway, with the supersized restaurant forming an overpass. You can enter the building from either side of the highway and eat your McNuggets while looking down at the McTraffic below.