Trying out cuisines from other countries can be one of the best parts of traveling, and it’s a great way to better understand the country’s culture. But Americans who have traveled abroad for a long time will likely experience homesickness, especially when it comes to food. So, it can be comforting to turn to more recognizable meal options, like American restaurant chains.
If you’re craving something familiar, like a McRib or a Frappuccino, you might find solace at one of these fast food restaurants. They might look like the real thing at first glance, but upon a quick inspection you’ll see there’s something slightly off about many of these overseas American imposters, like Mash Donald’s or Sunbucks Coffee.
Here are some of the funniest fast food restaurants you never knew existed. And then don’t miss the 8 worst fast food burgers to avoid right now.
China is home to many counterfeit restaurants inspired by famous American chains. KFD’s logo, for example, depicts someone who looks a lot like Colonel Sanders, except he’s missing the goatee and his bow tie is a bit more pronounced. Based on photos that fans have shared on social media, it looks like KFD is serving KFC’s signature dish: fried chicken. It might not be the original – and we still don’t know what the D stands for – but KFD looks “finger-licking good” enough anyway.
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This Spanish chain takes serious inspiration from Dunkin’ Donuts with both the “DD” logos and the pink and orange color scheme. And while Duffin Dagels has plenty of donut options, there are other items on the menu as well. A photo of a Duffin Dagels location shows some extremely decadent milkshakes, with donuts on top.
The logo for this Chinese cafe is certainly reminiscent of the Starbucks logo, but it features a dragon, rather than the Starbucks signature siren. Another fake Starbucks restaurant based in China has an even more interesting name—Cafe Sffcccks– and exists in a busy location near H&N, Zare and Appla stores.
At first glance, the yellow and red logo of this restaurant in Kazakhstan could easily be mistaken for McDonald’s Golden Arches. It’s not the real deal, even though the burger and fries in the window look strikingly similar. And it’s also not to be confused with the restaurant of the same name United Kingdom, McDonald’swhich serves pizzas, burgers, wraps and chocolate cakes, to name a few.
The red and white design of these KKFC buckets will look more than a little familiar. Instead of faking a Colonel Sanders lookalike at KFD, this Nepal-based restaurant — KKFC stands for Krispy Krunchy Fried Chicken — opted for a bird logo on its food containers. Really fluid.
The upside-down “M” resembles that of the McDonald’s logo, but the name of this Chinese restaurant has an interesting background. According to a Reddit userthe film Alone at home is translated as 小鬼当家 in Chinese, which literally means “Little boy, the head of the family”. And “麦” is a common phonetic transcription of “Michael” in China. McDonald’s is 麦当劳 in China and this Chinese counterfeit changed its characters to make it authentic in the eyes of the locals, which became 麦当家. Translated back, it becomes “Michael, the Head of the Household”, which can be linked to the film and thus, “Michael Alone” was born.
Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any pictures of the menu for this Mexican establishment. But the mascot’s red and white striped shirt bears a striking resemblance to Ronald McDonald’s signature look, not to mention the red and yellow logo with a replica of the “M” for McDonald’s.
This counterfeit McDonald’s in Iraqi Kurdistan is so popular that it has its own Wikipedia page. According to the Wiki entry, MaDonal serves “Big Macks”, which certainly doesn’t sound like the name of McDonald’s signature item. Apparently, he sells an average of 1,000 burgers a day!
Why settle for 7-Eleven when you can upgrade to 7-Twelve instead? Based on this photo of what appears to be a Fiji-based establishment, it appears the convenience store sells quick-to-go sandwiches and any egg sausage.
If you put an ampersand in the name, is that still copyright infringement? This Palestinian cafe definitely looks inspired by Starbucks – even the circular green logo is similar to Starbucks.
At least this place chose to go with a pink and blue color scheme, rather than directly mimicking the pink and orange that Dunkin’ Donuts is known for. The Nuremberg, Germany store eventually changed its name to crazy donuts and has since closed. Maybe they should have chosen orange.
Iranian restaurant Mash Donald’s looks a lot like its American counterpart, doesn’t it? There are no McDonald’s in Iranso this is as close as people can get to the “real” thing.
This Tehran knockoff just changed a letter in the restaurant’s original title, but they added a very stylish red fedora in the logo to match. We have to admit the pizza is a lot like Pizza Hut’s, just with a lot more dill it seems.
Meghan DeMaria
Meghan De Maria is editor-in-chief at Eat this, not that!, specializing in food, product and restaurant coverage. Read more
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