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McDonald's Kings Cross

July 16, 2009 14 Comments Filed Under: Uncategorized

Pommes frites servis avec un coulis de tomate

My anarchist mates, my foodie friends, would be horrified if they knew my secret vice: every so often I go to McDonalds.

Decor: hard, shiny, not allowed to sit down.

Service: Young, generally foreign. I asked if they could wipe down the counters which had blobs of other people’s food on them. They didn’t understand the word ‘counters’.
I once went to a McDonalds with my mother. She sat down and asked

“when is the waitress coming?”

For mains I chose the filet o’ fish meal. I didn’t have it ‘supersized’.
The fishburger is one of my favourites. I always know if I’m pregnant because I start craving this. I totally love the gherkin sauce. This fish however was a little over-fried.
The trick with McDonalds fries is to eat them very quickly. If you take more than a minute, they harden into cardboard. They are accompanied by, on request, Heinz ketchup. Which is good cos, barring having it home-made, Heinz is the best.
Drink was a recent vintage of Coke (which I prefer to Pepsi). Did you know that in France, Coke is given as a medecine for a bad tummy? In Mexico Coke is made with natural sugar cane. In countries where they prefer Pepsi, Coke is made to taste more like Pepsi.
View: Kings Cross….a weathered man (although quite sexy under the hair and tache) handing out cheap phone cards, businessmen drinking Cadbury’s milkshakes (how can we take them seriously?), herds of people with wheely suitcases…traffic, grime, police, sirens, the usual downtown utopia stuff of dreams…
Price: £3.99p
McDonalds
Kings Cross
Corner of Caledonian rd and Pentonville rd.
N.1.
No booking required.

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Comments

  1. MissWhiplash

    July 16, 2009 at 2:55 pm

    I remember once going to McDonalds with my granny when I was quite young.
    She couldn't eat any of her food because there was no cutlery…

    Reply
  2. Lizzie

    July 16, 2009 at 2:56 pm

    What?! I bloody love Maccy D's.

    When I was a wee nipper I used to go for a cheeseburger and some chicken nuggets on the side (with sweet n' sour sauce, natch) as an after school snack.

    Nowadays, sometimes I cave in to a sausage and egg mcmuffin with a hash brown on the side, but I also love the 79p cheeseburgers. Mmm – those gherkins!

    My reputation is ruined.

    Reply
  3. Helen

    July 16, 2009 at 3:01 pm

    I admit it – I eat McDonald's about once every two months – depending on alcohol consumption. The cheeseburgers are great – I love the buns. I love the pickles.

    Reply
  4. Dan

    July 16, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    Whilst on one of those steaming drunk, staggering walks to the station for the train home, nothing quite beats a couple of McDonalds Double Cheeseburgers.

    I remember once coming out of a Gallery Preview one evening in Hoxton and dragging myself to McDonalds….then munching happily on my Double Cheeseburgers as I ploughed slowly through the City and home.

    I approached the darkened Bank of England where a mob of equally drunken city workers were heading the other way. As I ambled past, they noticed my cheeseburgers and with shouts of "give us a bite" drunkenly lurched inwards – a maelstrom of gnashing teeth, I ducked and weaved emerging the other side triumphant and giggling.

    No one got a bite.

    It was that kind of good natured fun with passing strangers you only get when your all utterly bladdered.

    I also remember just arriving in Prague one winter and feeling a bit out of my depth and also starving hungry decided that the easiest and safest bet before immersing myself in the language and culture would be get something from the Maccy D's across the Road…..30 minutes later, after being involved in a group discussion involving 5 McDonalds staff members, a Manager and numerous observations from other Czech bystanders I emerged clutching my Meal, humbled and scared of ordering food anywhere else in Prague. (I had no problems anywhere else!)

    So – I love a McDonalds, not only does it provide cheap on the run (or on the p*ss) food. It provides me with anecdotes.

    Reply
  5. theundergroundrestaurant

    July 16, 2009 at 3:47 pm

    hehe Dan. So curry is not the only meal of choice once you have drunk too much in Blighty? McDonalds sweet buns do a good soaking up job too…

    Reply
  6. Mark Ngui

    July 16, 2009 at 4:49 pm

    I left this comment on twitter:

    "There's nothing wrong with McDonalds! Even Pierre Hermé has said he eats there, albeit not very often at all."

    Actually I think I think it was in the context of his awareness of popular flavours.

    I am all about the Le Big Mac with fries and an orange juice. And in the morning, I agree with Lizzie, it's all about the Sausage and Egg McMuffin with a Hash Brown.

    Reply
  7. greendrawers

    July 16, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    thank you. we are relieved of our communal food burden. personally, BK fries are better, but are harder to find in rural england. such is life.

    green drawers x

    Reply
  8. TheFastestIndian

    July 17, 2009 at 9:25 am

    I think I was in that very same McDonalds a couple of weeks ago as required food before getting a late train home from King's Cross. I too had the fish but removed the gherkin.
    Was all very acceptable at about 11:30pm but not somewhere I usually go more than once evey couple of years.
    Think I see it more as emergency food when I'm out and about somewhere, whereas if I was home post-night out I'd be tucking into a big bowl of Burt's crips.

    Reply
  9. The Shed

    July 17, 2009 at 2:44 pm

    I can't say I'm a huge fan, though I've made it my mission to eat a McLobster burger in Canada one day…..

    Reply
  10. neil

    July 19, 2009 at 11:05 am

    Fillet o fish is the best and so unpopular they always make it fresh*

    I can't stomach their breakfasts though, they always sound much better than they taste.

    *loose terminology

    Reply
  11. theundergroundrestaurant

    July 19, 2009 at 7:31 pm

    The fastest Indian: I realise I am somewhat treading on your fast food toes with this here little review.
    Hey, wouldn't it be a really nerdy cool blog if someone reviewed every franchise of Macdo, studying the little differences?

    Reply
  12. Canal Explorer

    July 19, 2009 at 9:25 pm

    Hahaha, my local! I've never eaten from here though I may have used the loo. I don't even do that anymore though, since I got scared Damon Albarn might see me walking out of a branch. Starbucks is now my loo stop, as they're equally ubiquitous.

    I did go through a phase, at about 12-13 years of age, of going into the Middleton MacDonalds, going along with the group, especially after swimming (though chips with curry sauce and gravy from the 'chippy' took over in later years).

    I only really ever got a milkshake – the chocolate one was my favourite. I did try those horrible little ice creams too. I shudder now to think how unhealthy they are. Thank goodness it was only a brief teenage thing.

    At age 17 I was once persuaded by a (much older) boyfriend to have a Burger King 'beanburger' at Paddington Station, only to be told by my college friend back in Oldham, who worked for them, that it wasn't actually vegetarian. YUK.

    Reply
  13. theundergroundrestaurant

    July 19, 2009 at 9:26 pm

    Really? I used to like those beanburgers…how wasn't it veggie?

    Reply
  14. Canal Explorer

    July 19, 2009 at 9:53 pm

    No idea, sorry. I think maybe they were cooked in lard or something. This was in about 1999. I think they're veggie now, but feel so betrayed wouldn't go back. Same with nestle milk chocolate (used animal rennet in production of their whey powder)

    Reply

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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

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Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
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Tonka bean galette des rois

Serves 8
Ingredients
* 140 g caster sugar
* 125 g salted butter, softened
* 100 g ground almonds
* 2 eggs, medium
* 1 tonka bean, grated
* 2 packs ready made butter puff pastry on a roll
* 1 yolk for brushing the pastry
Instructions
* Preheat your oven to 200c.

* Blend the butter with the sugar then add the almonds. Make sure it’s well mixed. Add in the 2 eggs one at a time, then add the tonka bean.

* If using a block: divide the puff pastry into two and roll out to 5mm thick. 
* Make two circles about 15 cm’s each in diameter. Lay one circle on a silicone mat/parchment paper on a baking tray and fill with the almond cream leaving a 3 cm border around the edge. 
* Paint the border with the egg yolk. Then lay the other circle on top, sealing the edges with a fork. 
* You could then carve designs into the top. Make a little slit in the middle to let steam escape then brush the top with the egg yolk
Mapo tofu is probably my favourite Sichuan dish. T Mapo tofu is probably my favourite Sichuan dish. This is a vegan version. ***

Ingredients:
- 400 g box of soft tofu not silken
- 5 soaked dried shiitake mushrooms, diced, keep water
- 1 red bell pepper, finely sliced
- 400 g fresh shiitake mushroom, sliced thinly
- 400 ml vegetable stock
- 1 thumb fresh ginger, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 4 tbsps groundnut or vegetable oil
- 3 tbsp fermented bean paste
- 1 or 2 small red chillies, minced or a spoonful of Chinese chilli paste
- 1 tsp heaped sichuan peppercorns, finely ground
- 2 tbsps soy or tamari sauce
- 2 tbsp cornflour in 3 tbsps water, mixed into a slurry
- 4 spring onions, finely sliced
- large pinch fresh coriander leaves

Prepare the tofu by cutting it into one inch cubes and soaking it in hot but not boiling salted water. Drain after 15 minutes.
Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms, covering them in boiling water. Leave until soft, then dice the mushrooms. Retain the mushroom soaking water and add to the vegetable stock water.
Prepare the other ingredients so they are ready to stir-fry: red bell pepper, fresh mushrooms, ginger, garlic.

Using a wok or deep frying pan, add the oil and heat to frying temperature. Add the bell peppers,fry for a couple of minutes, then add fermented bean paste, chilli paste or chillies, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sichuan pepper.
Add the mushroom/vegetable broth and simmer on high for a couple of minutes.
Carefully add the cubes of tofu, taking care not to break them too much.
Add the cornflour slurry, stirring for a couple of minutes.
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