Back in 2005, I made my first trip to Hong Kong. I remember sitting in the Shun Tak Centre (Sheung Wan) waiting for a ferry to Macau with my classmate Roger. I wasn't hungry, I was tired and jet-lagged, but the Twisty Pasta Breakfast caught my eye. I think this was the first time I had McDonald's outside Canada and the U.S, and though I didn't take a photo of the meal (I started photographing my McDonald's meals in 2006), I remember wondering how many different meals McDonald's had around the world. I didn't become serious in hunting for McD's items for another year or two, but I will always remember this as the start.
As you can see from the official photos, the Twisty Pasta is not a limited edition meal, its a regular menu item, and its available at all HK and Macau McDonald's but only for breakfast. In HK you can get a Sausage&Egg McMuffin 24-hours a day, but you can only get this during breakfast hours. Therefore, I have had the Twisty Pasta many times since that first taste in 2005, trying the sausage&egg, grilled chicken, and more recently, being able to add 2 HKD (25 US cents) and have cheese on top. The photo is from my trip to HK with Mini (my girlfriend) in 2010, and its the only photo I have that has both variants.
HK people love their soup noodles, and McDonald's does it rather well. The noodles are always cooked well, and the broth, isn't overly salty at all. The sausage & egg are the same you would have on a McMuffin, and the grilled chicken is 'GCB' patty. Strangely, the chicken comes pre-sliced, and the sausage does not. Trying to cut the floating sausage into bite sized pieces with only a plastic spoon, is harder than you would think. Also, you add cheese to the ONLY to the sausage version, but not the chicken, I asked, and they won't add it to the chicken. For the price, its a very filling meal (soup, hashbrown and medium coffee), and because its soup, you might even get a little vegetable in you. It's a much better value than a McMuffin set, which costs about the same and is much less filling.
Consumed on - 21 August 2010
Price - Sausage&Egg Combo - 24HKD (~$3 USD). Grilled Chicken Combo - (~$3.25USD)
Location - McDonald's Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Rating - 4.5/5