McDonald’s Create Your Taste menu means vegetarian reporter can have a burger with Special Sauce

AFTER leaving the world of meat-eating in 2013, this reporter assumed she would never again taste a McDonald’s burger or Special Sauce. She was wrong.

QST_WRH_MACCAS

A VEGETARIAN diet has merits on ethics and taste but simply does not deliver on Big Mac Special Sauce consumption.

Testament to this are the websites and online tutorials dedicated to making vegan and vegetarian versions of the burger giant’s flagship burger and sauce.

But for the first time since going vego in 2013, I’ve had a Maccas burger complete with the tartare-like sauce thanks to its new DIY burger menu at Capalaba McDonald’s.

Create Your Taste allows customers the novelty of building their own burger and, perhaps unintentionally, gives people with special diets more options.

The burger

In the absence of a veggie pattie, my burger’s hero ingredients were mushrooms, caramelised onions and an egg.

Actually that’s a lie, the hero ingredient was the Special Sauce.

It was all on a bakery bread bun accompanied by tortilla chips, beetroot, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, animal rennet-free Swiss cheese, and red onions.

The verdict

It was delicious.

The Special Sauce proved worthy of my nostalgia, the tortilla chips gave it a satisfying crunch and the egg and mushrooms were hearty and filling.

Jim Park, licensee of Capalaba, Capalaba Park, Tingalpa and Wynnum West McDonalds, said the new menu was bringing new people into his restaurants.

He said products catering to vegetarian, vegan or gluten free diets would only be a small portion of what they sold.

“But we need to have it here so those that fall into that category and come in can have something to enjoy,” he said.

To sum up the experience: rather than putting on a brave face while eating salad or chips on my next Maccas run with friends, it’s good to know I can now chow down on a burger.

WHERE ELSE TO GO:

Vegetarian burger options in Brisbane’s east

Independent and chain eateries alike are responding to rising numbers of vegetarians (and flexitarians) by putting delicious veggie-friendly options on their menus.

Pelican’s Nest by the Bay, Wynnum

Fish and chips may be out of the question these days, but a delicious feed by the water is not. Pelican’s Nest on Wynnum’s Esplanade sells an affordable, yummy vego burger with the lot. With a side of chips, an iced chocolate and ocean views you won’t even care about the missing fish.

Grill’d, Carindale

OK, so Grill’d restaurants are pretty much in every corner of Brisbane but with no less than three (three!) vegetarian burgers (that can be made vegan) it’s earnt its place on the list. Choose from Garden Goodness (veggie pattie with garden salad), Friends of Falafel (falafel pattie with slaw, tzatziki and hummus) or Field of Dreams (giant mushroom pattie with roasted peppers and cheese).

Cafe Green Bean, Wynnum

The Green Bean Cafe prides itself on healthy, whole foods. Its enormous, homemade veggie patties served with gourmet salad ingredients for under $10 is a customer favourite. (And it’s vegetarian lasagne is also worth a bite.)

Disclaimer: McDonald’s provided the Create Your Taste Maccas burger at no cost for this story.