Russian Fast Food

I think the question that I get most from family and friends back home is, "Have you been to 'so and so fast food restaurant'." Starbucks, McDonalds, KFC, it doesn't matter, people want to know what it's like abroad. While I heard places like Hawaii (yeah, I know it's not abroad) or Japan have interesting items on the menu, Russia really isn't like that, at least for McDonalds.

I haven't eaten many places, but, overall, the food tastes just as good or slightly better. I eat at McDonalds a LOT. I don't really like to cook because it's so hard to find random things like cream of chicken soup or broccoli in the grocery stores. Not to go off topic, but if you have any good, simple recipes please send them to me! Going back to McDonalds, I ate it a lot in the USA so the food is pretty comparable, but it's everything else that's different. Any fast food restaurant you go to everything is al a carte even the kids meals. It's kind of annoying when you are really want a lot of food for a bundled price. However, it's good because you can pick and choose what you want.

KFC was different for me too. The food was good but its more similar to McDonalds and Wendy's than the KFC I remember. I haven't been to KFC in forever but I remember it having fried chicken, biscuits, and lots of side dishes. The KFC in Russia has chicken burgers and fries. I constantly call KFC Wendy's and people look at me weird because they don't know what Wendy's is. Subway is the same, but Russians put ketchup on everything so ketchup on a sub is kind of gross, but I ate it.

Unfortunately, there aren't many other American fast food places in Ufa. There are a lot in Moscow, like Dunkin Donuts which I'm dying to go to. There is a Burger King, too but I haven't been there. One thing I miss about American fast food is being able to buy a salad. Russian "salads" are anything mixed with mayo. Sometimes I just crave a bowl of lettuce with vinaigrette dressing, but lettuce is really hard to come buy even in the grocery stores. You can find salads some places but they are usually really small and expensive.

Another big difference are drinks. I drink so much pop because you just can't drink the water here. If you want water you have to order a bottle which is pretty expensive for bottled water. I usually end up getting Coke. Free refills aren't a thing either (except at KFC). I'm one of those people who will drink three glasses of water at a restaurant, but I can't do that here because I can't get water or free refills. It's probably why I feel so dehydrated all the time. Also, I HATE that you cannot get a good cup of coffee. I will have random cravings for just a cup of coffee, but the only thing you can find here and in Europe are specialty drinks like espresso, cappuccino, or a latte. Even the Americanos are gross. I miss just having a cup of coffee with cream.

All the opinions in the post are my own and do not reflect the views of the companies mentioned.