Uncasual Pâtisserie: Royal avec Cheese & Gyros

Time for some Parisian fast food!

In Quartier Latin, there are TONS of eateries to choose from. Most of them are pizzas, pastas, raclette and traditional French. But there is this corner where all the gyros (pron. yer-ros) gather. Both offer pretty much the same thing, it's just a matter of whether you want to turn left or turn right.

Their meat is a bit different than what we get here in town. We get the processed loaf, there, it is layer upon layers of mutton slices packed into a giant loaf. In my opinion, the less processed my food is, the better.

Fries, meat and veggies all in a pita. It's like eating your entire meal

altogether at once.

They also offer the same gyros on a baguette. But when the smallest gyros (pictured above) will fill you up and then some, the baguette will be overkill.

What I don't really understand is why they put your fries into the gyros, they'll get soggy and the gyros gets too big to fit into my mouth so I end up having to pick at the fries first. It was very good nonetheless.

We turned right. You can see the loaf being roasted.

Prices aren't too bad either.

Ah McDonald's, it's part of many people's childhood memories, also a comfort food for some, especially when in a foreign land. To me, it's a bit of both, but also a third reason for visiting McDonald's even when surrounded by rich foods - curiosity about their menus.

In Hong Kong, McDonald's have Nestle Iced Pear Tea, pies with a deep fried empanada crust which includes yam pies, mung bean pies, taro pies, apple pies on a monthly rotation.

In Japan, some years ago, they had a burger named "Teridama", a teriyaki patty with an egg on top. Nasty, I was told.

In Thailand, my parents went to investigate the local McDick's without me and discovered they serve papaya salads.

In the US, they have Dippin' Dots "ice cream" and their Big'n'Tasty is actually the equivalent of a Big Extra here.

So, why the hell would I not investigate a French McDick's? I've heard enough references about a "Royale with Cheese" from Pulp Fiction, now I have to find out.

This building is a FRIGGIN' McDonald's!!

@St. Lazare

We didn't eat at the one in St. Lazare because all the tills are self-serve and requires you to have a French bank/credit card to pay. It doesn't even have a full menu.

A Royale with Cheese and a 250mL beer.

A Royale-O-Fish and a 16oz pop as opposed to the 21oz we get in Canada.

They also gave us packets of mustard-mayo for fries.

@Opera

Mr. Meow got the Royale with Cheese combo, nothing different about the burger. I find the beer amusing though. It will never happen in North America because we're so frigid. McDonald's is a place for kids and god forbid that they be near alcohol or someone drinking it! They might turn into violent alcoholic bums by proxy!! Or worse yet, scarred for LIFE just by seeing the alcohol!! North America has a higher instance of alcohol problems than Europe because kids get a rush by doing something that's "taboo" when they were kids or generally frowned up by society, the more they get away with it, they more they do it. If it's treated just like another kind of beverage, then it's not an issue, there's no desire to binge when given the chance. /rant

Meow got a Royale-O-Fish. This is different. The best way to describe it is a McChicken but someone put a fish fillet in there instead of a chicken. It's not bad, but I'd much rather it have the tartar sauce than the mayo, it just goes better. The soft drink that comes with the combo is smaller as well, 16oz compared to 21oz. It works for me especially when I get their Nestea Peach Iced Tea and it has 33% less sugar than other drinks, you don't get so thirsty.