The Golden Arches – August 8, 2017 – Grand Trunk Road, Punjab, India As we come around a highway curve Nancy points and says, “There are the golden arches”. She is right. Not more than 300 meters/yards on the left or our side of the road is a McDonalds. We quickly confer and decide this will make a good lunch stop. And whom else did we expect to find sitting on a bench at the entry door.

We parked and walked toward McDonald food. But is it going to taste Indian or American?

Looks like a McDonalds with the children’s play area but the building is huge. Second floor is more dining area.

We walked in and up to the counter to order. When we are driving cross-country in the U.S. one of my favorite food stops is McDonalds. Three cheeseburgers and a small fry. I wasn’t surprised that this order isn’t available at this McDonalds. I don’t believe I have seen beef on any menu since our arrival in India. Heck, in the last five months I have read of several non-Hindus being beaten to death by Hindus for raising cattle to eat.

Nancy ordered the fish sandwich and I followed her recommendation and did the same. Divide the listed prices by 60 to get the price in U.S. dollars.

As soon as I put a French fry in my mouth I knew we were at an American-tasting McDonalds. Only McDonalds fries taste like McDonalds’ fries! Nancy being the expert on the fish sandwich told me there was no difference between the taste of her sandwich here and any she had had in the U.S.

The dining area was very modern and appeared very new. As we completed our meal the manager and two employees came to our table to ask if our meal was good. We replied, “Just like home”. Of course, we then had to pose for a picture or two but for our troubles were awarded a strawberry ice cream cup on our way out the door.

Neither of us understood the location of this restaurant. When we pulled into the parking lot it reminded us of a very small U.S. strip shopping center. What was strange was it appeared to break the only rule of retail, “location, location, and location”. There was nothing else in the way of a city, town or village for miles on either side of the McDonalds – only the McDonalds a half dozen other shops.

May your McDonalds provide you as good a meal as this McDonalds provided us. Our guide this morning (Amritsar, India – August 10, 2017) pointed at a McDonalds and told us we were looking at the only totally vegetarian McDonalds in the world. Don’t know if he is correct but I do know they don’t allow any type of meat near the Golden Temple (not arches) and therefore he just may be correct.