Location - McDonald's ulitsa Bol'shaya Bronnaya, Moscow, Russia
Price - Around 200 RUB = $6.66USD
Calories - Unknown, www.mcdonalds.ru is down...
Oh how lazy I was back then, and how ill prepared I was for Russian McDonald's. I had no idea what this burger was until I researched it for my blog, nor was I aware of the sheer number of unique options I could have had during my short stay in Russia. I only had a 3 day transit visa for Russia, as I was connecting in Moscow en route to Armenia and I didn't want to deal with the hassle of getting a proper Russian visa. My 3 days there allowed me to see what I wanted in Moscow (sadly, my only day there, was the day of the week the Kremlin was closed to tourists), and then take a new Antonov flight up to St Petersburg for the following two days. As ill prepared as I was for McDonald's I was even less prepared for the Russian winter. Stupidly, I only brought a regular winter coat (bought for $16 in Honolulu, Hawaii of all places) which was barely warm enough to keep me alive in Korea, was not made at all for a Russian winter. In retrospect I don't know how I survived without buying a new coat, I guess I am just that cheap.
Looking back at my wonderful notes for this burger from my Facebook page in 2010 was as follows:
"Something Black, Unknown and Russian - Not bad. Moscow Russia February 2010"
That "something black" is actually the whole wheat bun on a burger called the Beef A La Rus. You can find quite a bit more about it online with a quick Google search, though I found this to be one of the more 'interesting' things you can find.
Other than the dark bun, it's a pretty standard burger. According to this Blog, the Mayo is a Tartar/Mayo mixture, and sadly its a bit too far in the past to remember if I could taste the difference or not. I remember that I wasn't disappointed with the burger, but as I wasn't thinking about writing a lengthy review when tasting it, I can't remember the exact flavours, and I was basically just eating it for the photos. One think I do know was that in countries where I don't speak the language, I don't try to order my burgers without ketchup (which I can't stand), and this burger was served with ketchup, and I still finished it because the other flavours hid most of the ketchup grossness.
I prefer whole wheat buns on home made burgers, and I this is something I would order again if I had the chance. You can actually get whole wheat buns on burgers in Scandinavian countries, (which I passed on in Denmark last Autumn in favour of a El Maco Jr, and a Daim McFlurry).
Also, please leave a comment if you know if this burger has been discontinued or is still being served in Russia. I haven't found anything online relating to it since 2011, and the official McDonald's homepage is still down (been waiting for the last 12 hours).
Rating - 4/5