New Mcdonalds At Thapae Gate

[chiang mai]

This thread makes me want a triple square Wendy's cheeseburger combo and a side of chili con carne, without socks.

If you would have said White Castle then I could be interested, ten for a dollar as I recall, I expect they've increased in price a little these days!

[gotlost]

I'm going to hold this thread hostage till I get a Nations Hamburger.

http://www.nationsrestaurants.com/index.html

[mcgriffith]

So.....how is the coffee at the new McD?

UG, anybody?

Does anyone in brand conscious CM go to a hamburger place to drink coffee?

The poser factor is nil, you have Ronald MacDonald (7 feet of plastic scariness) and bland food.

Particularly the french fries. Not to belabour the point.

I'll take a snippy katoey cashier at Wawee's anyday to a chirpy happy friendly McD "member" in a paper hat.

[harrry]

I'll take a snippy katoey cashier at Wawee's anyday to a chirpy happy friendly McD "member" in a paper hat.

Well I guess everyone has different tastes then but whatever turns you on.

[harrry]

I do not know about here but McDonalds in Australia sell excellent coffee and snacks in their McCafes which are attached to many stores. All their stores there have a very good automatic machine which makes quite acceptible coffee using Fair Trade Cofee. If they do start this here it will probably be the best coffee place in Chiengmai.

Edited December 4, 2009 by harrry

[Ulysses G.]

I'm not really big on coffee. I like fresh brewed and once in a while something tastes special to me, but I have no idea what makes it better than other coffees. I think the McDonald's brew tastes fine, but I was hoping that someone who is really into the coffee scene - like sabaijai - would comment.

[Thakkar]

I do not know about here but McDonalds in Australia sell excellent coffee and snacks in their McCafes which are attached to many stores. All their stores there have a very good automatic machine which makes quite acceptible coffee using Fair Trade Cofee. If they do start this here it will probably be the best coffee place in Chiengmai.

The new McDonald's at Airport Plaza (basement) has an attached McCafe with decent coffee and great-looking cakes, though I didn't eat any.

[gotlost]

So with 5 McD's we can now say "McChiang"!

[chiang mai]

Mods, shouldn't this thread be combined the following?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Exposing-Nor...-I-t319549.html

[gotlost]

Mods, shouldn't this thread be combined the following?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Exposing-Nor...-I-t319549.html

[harrry]

Mods, shouldn't this thread be combined the following?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Exposing-Nor...-I-t319549.html

Only if they are selling Issan Burgers

[getgoin]

Really? Where are you getting your data? Many of the large chains buy their beef from large producers. Micky D's Thailand buys Australian beef.

and where does the grain come from to feed the australian cows?

I'm not sure but I would guess from Australia.

[getgoin]

I have to agree with UG on this one. Thapae Gate is as much a mess as any area of town and has long been sustained by the budget traveler and the boozing sex tourist.

If the city wanted character and zoning they missed the boat 30 years ago.

[uptheos]

With walking street now far more popular than the night bazaar and the plethora of bars and restaurants, it really isn't a cultural place anymore. Once Starbucks moved in it was downhill from there and I believe McDonalds will just be the start of bringing all those establishments down by the night bazaar up to Thapae gate area too - they won't let McD have all the cake.

I'm trying to imagine it in 5 years.

[Ricardo]

Really? Where are you getting your data? Many of the large chains buy their beef from large producers. Micky D's Thailand buys Australian beef.

and where does the grain come from to feed the australian cows?

According to that film 'Australia', with Nicole Kidman, they also have free-range cows in Oz.

[gotlost]

With walking street now far more popular than the night bazaar and the plethora of bars and restaurants, it really isn't a cultural place anymore. Once Starbucks moved in it was downhill from there and I believe McDonalds will just be the start of bringing all those establishments down by the night bazaar up to Thapae gate area too - they won't let McD have all the cake.

I'm trying to imagine it in 5 years.

Lets see, Burger King, KFC, Subway Sandwich, Sizzler Steak House. Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut. I would like to see a Denny's ( oh their Grand Slams ) and a Taco Bell. And to keep the sports fan happy a Hooters. Now this would be progress.

[Ulysses G.]

Don't forget Mrs Fields cookies.

[gotlost]

How about an Arbys and a Cracker Barrel. Also a IHOP and Waffle House.

Edited December 5, 2009 by gotlost

[Loaded]

Can you buy fish and chips in Chiang Mai?

[gotlost]

Can you buy fish and chips in Chiang Mai?

Thanks for the reminder.. Red Lobster and Long John Silver's Restaurants for sea food.

[anonymouse]

McD's true Lana culture at its finest.

A McLanna Burger is perhaps in the making!

While on the subject of Lanna and Thai Culture there is an interesting article in City Life this month that makes the point that the phrase Lanna Culture was first coined way back in 1996

[certified]

This new generation sees McDonald's as their own. Sometimes the critics of McDonald's resent American cultural diffusion. The Thais will will make a choice of what is Thai and what is not Thai.

[Sparkles]

Really? Where are you getting your data? Many of the large chains buy their beef from large producers. Micky D's Thailand buys Australian beef.

and where does the grain come from to feed the australian cows?

According to that film 'Australia', with Nicole Kidman, they also have free-range cows in Oz.

Most cattle in Australia are free range and why wouldnt they be has anyone looked at the size of the country ? There are "feed lots" too some meat specially raised for niche markets such as Japan. On my small farm my cattle were pasture fed with supplements of my own grown corn through winter.

[getgoin]

Really? Where are you getting your data? Many of the large chains buy their beef from large producers. Micky D's Thailand buys Australian beef.

and where does the grain come from to feed the australian cows?

According to that film 'Australia', with Nicole Kidman, they also have free-range cows in Oz.

Most cattle in Australia are free range and why wouldnt they be has anyone looked at the size of the country ? There are "feed lots" too some meat specially raised for niche markets such as Japan. On my small farm my cattle were pasture fed with supplements of my own grown corn through winter.

Where did you sell your beef? Did you sell it by itself or was it sold through a co-op?

[sabaijai]

Now I want some pad thai! Sabai Jai, you are the expert. Anywhere good near Thapae Gate?

UG I'm temporarily more in Bkk than Chiang Mai these days, but there used to be a good phat thai joint down a soi off Chang Moi Rd, heading north from Tha Pha Gate, on the left. It's pretty famous locally. The place does only phat thai, about 20 versions. I forget the name but the cook started out a couple decades ago as a cart on Tha Phae Rd (I remember going there too) before moving into the simple shop off Chang Moi. I'm sure other members here must know of it and can update you. The last time I ate there was maybe a year and a half ago. Very good phat thai, maybe the best I've had in Chiang Mai. But not a patch on what's available in Bkk or central Thailand. That's the way it is ... Chiang Mai cooks don't do central Thai all that well, generally speaking (not that most CM expats would know the difference ).

In Ang Thong, Pathum Thani and Nakhon Pathom cooks still toss sliced som sa into the mix, more orangey than the lime typically used in most places nowadays. I had an excellent plate of phat thai at the Nam Pheung Market in Bang Krajao, on the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya opp Klong Toey, the weekend before last. Also found a place in the Phraeng Phuthon neighbourhood of Bkk that served pretty amazing phat thai as well, Khrua Apson.

But what about that McD's coffee in Chiang Mai? UG you're so close to that location, surely you must have tried it by now?

[lannarebirth]

If it's a matter of Western corporate greed invading a cultural location, then I have to agree with the bad flavor that it would leave in the mouth. However, someone would have to prove to me that Micky D's belongs in the same boat as Halliburton, the oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, weapons manufacturers and insurance companies (all western companies, not just American). You just can't say that just because Micky D's raises cattle that they are bad. Many companies and individuals raise cattle.

it's not that they just 'raise cattle'. it's that the swamp and destroy smaller producers and manufacturers and thereby reduce consumer choice. how can that be a positive thing?

Really? Where are you getting your data? Many of the large chains buy their beef from large producers. Micky D's Thailand buys Australian beef.

Maybe that's why I ate there once several years ago and never been back. I've eaten beef in just about every third world shithole you can think of, but never eaten any beef as awful as that from Australia. Why people seek it out here I just can't imagine.

[Ulysses G.]

I asked my staff and they suggested the same Pad Thai place. They went and picked me up an omelette filled with Pad Thai which I have never seen before - very good!

About the McD's coffee. Thapae Gate McDonald's is not open yet, but I have had one of their new coffees at the Night Bazaar and enjoyed it. I in no way consider myself to have any expertise on coffee, so that is why I wanted other people's imput.

[jackr]

i don't think you know what the words 'authentic' and 'character' mean...

I know what StevieH is saying regards character and authenticity. Them Golden Arches is part and parcel of the slippery slope toward the norm and loss of uniqueness. When the first 7-11 went up in Pai, it was as if the place had been raped and seemed to lose its je ne sais quoi from that point. Walk down any UK high street today and they all look similar, with the same big names 'n chains occupying the showy bits and the interesting family-run places tucked away in the nooks 'n crannies.

It's all about the dosh and is the nature of things for us humans I guess, but what I can't buy is this tree-hugging spiel... McD's do this, that with cows, the burgers are no good for you, they are the antichrist along with Bill Gates and the rest of his ilk. Only yesterday McCartney was on the box moaning about the amount of water it takes to produce a burger - equivalent to running the shower for four hours apparently... and this from a guy who has flown millions of miles, had more roadies taking more showers, baths and Jacuzzis than you could poke a stick at, and has no probably gone through oceans of H2O on his journey through excessiveness.

[anonymouse]

i don't think you know what the words 'authentic' and 'character' mean...

I know what StevieH is saying regards character and authenticity. Them Golden Arches is part and parcel of the slippery slope toward the norm and loss of uniqueness. When the first 7-11 went up in Pai, it was as if the place had been raped and seemed to lose its je ne sais quoi from that point. Walk down any UK high street today and they all look similar, with the same big names 'n chains occupying the showy bits and the interesting family-run places tucked away in the nooks 'n crannies.

It's all about the dosh and is the nature of things for us humans I guess, but what I can't buy is this tree-hugging spiel... McD's do this, that with cows, the burgers are no good for you, they are the antichrist along with Bill Gates and the rest of his ilk. Only yesterday McCartney was on the box moaning about the amount of water it takes to produce a burger - equivalent to running the shower for four hours apparently... and this from a guy who has flown millions of miles, had more roadies taking more showers, baths and Jacuzzis than you could poke a stick at, and has no probably gone through oceans of H2O on his journey through excessiveness.

True to an extent but the problem is most of the concrete box shop houses that make up Chiang Mai had no character in the first place, someone pointed out in an earlier post Chiang Mai should have started preserving its heritage in a better way a long while back, it's past the turning point now. That concrete monstrosity of a hotel won't become anymore of an eyesore because of a McD's infront of it.

[Ulysses G.]

To be honest, I don't like the way these international businesses push all the rents up, but if I were a landlord, I would feel differently.

I could get up on my high horse and make up a bunch of lies and rationalizations about why it is "wrong" for them to be allowed to rent in areas where I might want a store, but the truth is that would be the height of hypocrisy. We live in a capitalist society and communism was a complete failure.