Jan 21
CNNGo, CNN's newish (at least to me) Asia-focused blog has a slide show of pancakes from around the continent.
In the Philippines, Western-style flapjacks are served at Jollibee. Homegrown McGriddles are also de rigeur.
But only Pancake Days, a Japanese restaurant, is bold enough to give their hot cakes smiling faces.
As an aside, am I the only one who is creeped out by that self-healing pancake in the IHOP ad?
It's just like the Chinese to unintentionally take a chain restaurant dessert—P.F. Chang's Great Wall of Chocolate—and bring it to life.
My one and only P.F. Chang's experience (there will be another since I got a gift card for Christmas) involved the shot glass version of the massive layer cake, more like a miniaturized Terracotta Warrior.
McDonald’s Japan just launched their first Quarter Pounder in a series of four burgers paying homage to the US, a.k.a.”Big American Taste.” The Texas has barbecue sauce, of course, as well as bacon, mustard relish and fried onions. Sort of makes sense. I can also see the logic behind the California with a red wine sauce. However, I have no idea how Monterrey Jack figures into the New York and the pineapple-free Hawaiian surprises me.>Oddly, the phrase Big American Taste has been used by US Burger King in a confusing ad for BK Burger Shots that invokes Japanese technology.
It’s enough to drive one to drink…which you can now do at Burger King Japan. Whiskey highballs for ¥350 after 5pm. $3.84? Isn’t Tokyo supposed to be expensive?
While incidents like the recent bombings over Malay Christians using the word Allah to describe God have challenged Malaysia’s appearance as a moderate Islamic country, there are bigger issues at hand.
Namely, the McDonald’s Chinese zodiac promotion in Singapore omitting the pig toy. Chinese ladies won’t be able to accurately complete the 12-figurine set (a cupid toy has replaced the pig) and that is not right!
For what it’s worth, no Muslims complained; it was a preemptive corporate approach. And oddly misguided since Singapore is more than three-fourths Chinese (76.8%, 13.9% Malay, 7.9% Indian). Singaporean McDonald’s are halal but I don’t know how religious dietary rules apply to non-edible charms.
The first Maggiano’s outside the US opened in Saudi Arabia and parent company, Brinker, foresees 500 international restaurants by 2014.
Middle East, sure, it’s the African continent you don’t hear much about. Don’t worry; KFC is heading into Nigeria’s Onikan Mall in Lagos (they already have a presence in Uganda, Malawi and Zambia). The fried chicken will be in good company—the mall also has Caffé Vergnano 1882, an Italian chain.
Chick-fil-A tied with McDonald’s as America’s favorite quick serve restaurant according to a Market Force Information Inc. survey. Panera Bread and Subway also had a strong showing.
Subway takes the number one spot on Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 list. Twenty-one sandwich shops made the list in total
Quiznos and Subway seem to get all the glory, but that’s not stopping Blimpie from beginning its Middle Eastern expansion in Kuwait next year.
Not sandwich-related unless you count that doughnut burger, Krispy Kreme is coming to Shanghai.
At this point I would’ve imagined that American chains had done a good job of infiltrating the world. That’s why I’m often surprised to learn of a new one staking their claim. Yum Brands has had Pizza Hut and KFC in India for some time.
Now they’re introducing Taco Bell and going for the youth market. Niren Chaudhary, general manager of Yum's India business says, "What consumers are looking for is not an Indian version of Mexican food but a truly Mexican-inspired food experience.”
I have absolutely no idea what a Mexican-inspired food experience might be—will it involve piñatas and sombreros?
Illustration from Our Delhi Struggle.
Why am I just now hearing about a tapas bar in Granada, Spain called El Rincón de Michael Landon?
Apparently, they have Michael Landon trivia nights on Wednesdays and name the dishes after ‘80s shows. The French fries are “Las Chicas de Oro.” Yes, The Golden Girls. And best of all, the morcilla has been dubbed Webster.
I guess naming a small brown sausage after Emmanuel Lewis is no worse than Malaysians calling their black-and-white soy milk and black grass jelly drink a Michael Jackson.
Sadly, I can’t find much of anything written about this bar in English. And even sadder are my extremely rare Photoshop attempts (ok, I’m lying—I have Paint Shop Pro).
Keeping balance in the universe (or at least the Asian continent), Japan loses Wendy's after a 29 years in the country while the chain returns to Singapore after a ten-year absence.
AP Photo/Koji Sasahara
Jeez, I don't read the news for a week and American chains take over the world.
Nepal got a Pizza Hut/KFC combo.
Pakistan is getting a Hardees.
Russia has 78 Subway shops and they're going to have 922 more by 2015.
Europe will welcome its first Chipotle in London come April.
Linen Theme by The Theme Foundry
Copyright © 2026 . All rights reserved.
Follow
