For some reason, the idea that fast food in the UAE, especially some of the most popular American chains, somehow tasting better than anywhere else found a place in my mind long before I visited the country. I believe it was a mix of some YouTubers commenting on the issue and a few Reddit posts by Emiratis that ranted about not finding the same quality of American fast food in the USA that put this thought in my mind some time ago. It goes without saying that such remarks piqued my interest. I love food, and while I am not a big fan of fast food and refrain from eating it frequently back home, I could not help but eat a lot of fast food during my time in the UAE. The truth is, it was often quite cheap, and as you will soon find out, as tasty as it was claimed. Now, as a pescetarian, there were certain limits to what I can try at some of these franchises, nevertheless, I do think that my experience with them can give you an overall idea regarding what to expect from American fast food in the UAE. Without further ado, let us go over some of the greasiest and yet at times tastiest food that one can find in the UAE.
McDonalds
Let us start with the Golden Arches itself, the classic fast-food joint for most people across the globe. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was also the first American chain that I enjoyed as a child as well. While I liked my meal at McDonalds in the UAE, it did have some notable issues. For example, their fries were not as good as the ones I could find elsewhere, and in fact, paled in comparison to most other fast-food fries within the UAE, which was surprising given how famous McDonalds normally is for its fries. The veggie burger was fine, mostly thanks to its rich sauce, but it was not something special that I would want to go back for. Interestingly, it was their karak chai that was the biggest hit with me. All in all, this was not a bad meal per se, it just lacked something special to bring me back to an Emirati McDonalds, or to consider it to be far superior to the ones found in other countries.
Burger King
To my surprise, Burger King provided me with the best fast-food experience in the Emirates, well, if we do not count Al Baik as fast food that is. Back when I was not a pescetarian, I almost always opted for McDonalds over Burger King, though I acknowledged that the latter often had better burgers. Apparently, over time, Burger King really upped its game, or perhaps, it is just so much better in the UAE than its archnemesis. They have an excellent side here, called the Tex-Mex Fries, which is basically fries that comes topped with a spicy sauce, some cheese sauce, and a generous serving of fried onions and jalapeno peppers. This side dish alone is reason to visit the Emirati Burger King. However, there is even a better reason to do so. They have, by far, the best vegetarian burger in this price bracket. They do not throw in a half assed vegetable patty in between their buns and call it a day. No sir! What you will find within these buns instead is an extremely tasty and actually quite nutritious paneer patty. It is a cheesy mess that you will want to eat over and over again, and from my memory, tastes much better than vast majority of actual hamburgers sold by any of these fast-food franchises. Honestly, I would eat in a Burger King every day if the food tasted this good in all of its branches in every country that it is present in, alas, we all know that this is not the case.
KFC
I most definitely did not expect KFC to have any vegetarian offerings, though I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that they indeed had a so-called vegetarian zinger burger waiting for me. The taste of their vegetable patty was alright but combined with that zinger sauce we all know and love, this burger managed to blow me away by how tasty it was. Since this is not a very popular item in a fast food joint known for its fried chicken, for obvious reasons, it always comes up fresh, no matter when you order it, which certainly helps with its superb taste. Perhaps more interestingly, I must admit that the Emirati KFC had the best fries of all-American fast-food chains I visited in the UAE. This has very little to do with the fries themselves and instead has everything to do with the chili powder that they are covered in if you ask for spicy fries. What can I say, all of this clearly Indian influence on fast food in the UAE actually made it not only edible, but outright extravagant. This is yet another much recommend American fast food franchise to visit during your time in the UAE.
Subway
While it remains a mystery to me as to why they use so much sugar in their bread, Subway has been one of my favourite fast food chains for a long time. I just really enjoy customizing my sandwich, and I adore their cookies. Unfortunately, the branch of Subway I visited in Al Ain turned out to be undergoing some renovation, and as such they did not have everything freshly available at the time. However, in an effort to amend this problem, they gave me two cookies and completely filled my sandwich to the brim with the ingredients I asked for, which shows the lengths local franchise owners here can go to serve their customers well. After a tasty meal, all I could think about was how if this is how a not so fresh Subway sandwich tastes in the UAE, I cannot imagine its performance when everything is fresh as it should be. I know that this can be controversial to some, as Subway has its haters and practically generated a genre of memes dedicated to dunking on it, but nevertheless, I would recommend eating in the Emirati Subway, as much as I would recommend eating there anywhere else. It is always a decent experience to those who love their breads filled with ingredients and topped with an unsightly amount of sauce.
New York Fries
Well, I can already hear some angry Canadians fuming at the idea that I consider New York Fries an American franchise. I obviously do not. I know that they are Canadian. However, I would like to note their existence somehow, and this article seemed to be the best place for it. Compared to their branches in Canada, I have to say that their gravy in the UAE simply tasted a bit off. It tasted better than the one in Turkey, but worse than the authentic one in Canada. This may have to do with the fact that the gravy in the UAE was fully vegetarian, which is excellent for me at the moment, and the one in Canada likely was not, though I cannot remember clearly now since I was there all the way back in 2018. Nevertheless, while a bit overpriced, I did enjoy my poutine here, perhaps because it brought me back some fond memories from my exchange semester in Vancouver, perhaps because topping fries with sauce and cheese is never a bad idea.
Papa Johns
Pizza does not seem to be as popular in the UAE as I assumed it would be. I could not find many local franchises specializing in this Italian delicacy when I was there, and I certainly did not find many budget-friendly pizzerias as well. This was unusual for me. Normally, pizza is a cheap dish you can find anywhere in the world, often with a few local variations of it. The way I see it, though I may be mistaken, there are two kinds of pizzas in the UAE. The fast-food ones, and the premium ones. Funny enough, the franchises are not that cheap as well, at least compared to the decent budget eateries that the UAE has to offer. Perhaps, much like Turkey, pizza may have a more “sophisticated” image in the UAE, which could explain this phenomenon partially. In any case, I am happy to report that Papa Johns here tastes like Papa Johns everywhere else, which is a comment on Papa Johns being rather uniformly mediocre all across the globe and not a specific take on the Emirati Papa Johns. This is not a hit piece on Papa Johns, mind you. I just do not think that any pizza chain is good, compared to the real pizzerias. Papa Johns, at the very least, has its excellent garlic dip going for it, and its tasty crust was doing the uplifting in this case as it often does as well. At the end, it was a pleasant experience that was just a bit costlier than I was comfortable with paying for fast food pizza.
Pizza Hut
I was pleasantly surprised to found out that Pizza Hut in the UAE is, in fact, far superior to any one of its counterparts elsewhere, at least the ones that I tasted so far. Perhaps I should have seen that coming as this was also the most expensive meal I had in the UAE, coming to almost 50 AED for a small pizza, a pasta, and two slices of garlic bread, as well as a soft drink. Their shrimp pizza was full of, well, plump shrimps, and all the other ingredients were fresh and tasted right. The pizza sauce was plentiful and fragrant, and the pasta was a much welcome addition to my tray. The garlic bread was alright too, and the soft drinks tasted as close to the canned versions as possible here, at least in the branch that I visited in Fujairah. Once again, this was a rather expensive meal, compared to the average of 20-30 AED I was usually spending per meal in the country, but it was somewhat worth its price at the end.
Verdict
Well, suffice to say, American (and Canadian) fast food does taste good in the UAE. With that being said, in some franchises, the situation is better than the others. For example, Burger King, KFC, and Pizza Hut certainly do certain things better than they normally do them elsewhere. That is to say, American fast food does taste better in the UAE, at least some of them. On top of this, Burger King and KFC are certainly quite affordable as well. If you are looking for some budget friendly, tasty, and ultimately easily relatable food during your travels in the UAE, you really cannot go wrong with these two franchises. However, I would still urge you to go ahead and try the local cuisine instead or at least give the country’s rich selection of other foreign cuisines a chance. For better or worse you can find these brands across the globe, unfortunately, more often than not you cannot find the Emirati and Saudi brands you can easily enjoy in the Emirates, at least not yet.