Finding a quick and easy breakfast is not easy in South Korea unless you’re traveling and visiting a highway rest stop.
That’s why, when McDonald’s introduced a breakfast menu years ago, it was actually very successful as a quick and easy way to get some coffee and a hot breakfast sandwich, especially now that many of the locations have a drive-thru.
One of the items that I had always read about, and even gotten to try, was the McGriddle that many people seem to like. Having visited Canada and trying one of these was wonderful, especially on a cold snowy day.
For those of you unfamiliar with the McGriddle, it is similar to an Egg McMuffin, but used two maple syrup infused pancakes for the buns as opposed to an English muffin.
Here in South Korea there are two versions, one with sausage and one with bacon, and on a recent day trip to Gyeongju to see some pink flowers, I decided to try them both.
The location I was at was not too busy, and I was able to order using the touchscreen right away. They were a little pricey, but these days many things seem to be.
It did take a long time for my order to be ready, as I guess these days drive-thru customers get more attention than patrons who are eating inside the store.
Finally, my order was ready, and I headed to the empty second floor to try these two out.
The first thing I noticed is that they look very similar to the ones that I had enjoyed in Canada, and there was a strong maple syrup smell when I unwrapped each McGriddle.
I decided to try the Bacon McGriddle first.
To be honest, I was quite disappointed in the Bacon McGriddle. The pancake buns were quite soggy, as though they had been sitting in the heating area for a long time. Also, there wasn’t a strong maple syrup flavor when eating, despite there been a strong scent.
Finally, the bacon here in South Korea is often just not very tasty. If it is imported then it’s nice, but locally produced bacon is very thin and not very salty, so it just doesn’t add a good flavor to the sandwich.
The Sausage McGriddle was a bit better. The pancake bun suffered from the same soggy problem, but the sausage patty had a much better flavor to it, and as it is thicker added more heft to the McGriddle.
This one I liked much better, as there was a much nicer ratio of sweet to salty than the Bacon McGriddle.
I have to say that my first experience with South Korea’s McGriddles was underwhelming. Perhaps it was trying them on a snowy Canadian morning that made them so special the first time, but I hope that in the future McDonald’s Korea can make a better version of the McGriddles than now (and hopefully get some better bacon in the future!)