The Wendy's Menu In Dubai Is A Lot Different Than You're Used To

Fast food restaurants are an interesting cultural phenomenon in that they are, paradoxically, both universal and not-universal at the same time. As anyone who's ever traveled abroad and found themselves nostalgic for the taste of good old American KFC or McDonald's can testify, what starts out seemingly so familiar can bring you up short when you realize there are some subtle, or not-so-subtle, differences at play. This disorienting aspect can be observed when you pay close attention to the venues, the amenities (including condiments), and perhaps most strikingly, the menus themselves.

As a case in point, we're taking a look at how the Wendy's menu in the U.S. compares to the one offered by the Wendy's location in Dubai. While at first glance the online menu from the UAE Wendy's looks fairly similar to the U.S. Wendy's menu we're all used to, one difference jumps out right away: there's no Baconator, Instead, there's a burger called the Beefanator. This is because the UAE is a Muslim country, and therefore pork products aren't eaten there. While this burger does contain bacon, it's actually bacon made from smoked beef.

When it comes to the breakfast menu, Wendy's Dubai offerings seem to be more extensive than the ones we have available to us here. They have something called a cinnamon cruffin (you guessed it, a croissant-muffin hybrid akin to the cronut), as well as a pancake platter, pancakes Benedict (kind of like a McMuffin/McGriddle cross, only with hollandaise), a breakfast wrap, a full breakfast platter consisting of a mushroom-cheese omelet with hash browns, an English muffin, chicken sausage, and turkey bacon, and a breakfast sandwich made from fried halloumi cheese served on a toasted quinoa pide bun (pide, according to Gulf News, is a type of Turkish flatbread).

Moving on to main dishes, the Dubai Wendy's has a range of rice bowls unknown to its U.S. counterpart, these consisting of jasmine rice topped with beef or chicken and served with mushroom gravy on the side. Their Wendy's also has chicken wings (boneless), but they don't have baked potatoes. Their salad range is slightly more limited (garden, Caesar, or Mexican), but they offer a wider choice of Frostys (coffee, M&Ms, and triple chocolate nut in addition to chocolate and vanilla). In addition to the aforementioned Beefanator, Dubai Wendy's also has a few other sandwiches we don't have here: a veggie burger (on the value menu), a mushroom melt, and a BBQ pulled beef brisket sandwich.

YouTube channel Traveling Solo Logs reviewed the three sandwiches named above while visiting Dubai. While the reviewer thought the veggie burger, made from potatoes, peas, carrots, and sweet corn, "sound[ed] really delicious," he wound up disappointed. He did say it "tastes alright," but admitted he wouldn't order it again.

The mushroom melt, however, was a hit. This sandwich consists of an Angus beef patty with cheesy mushroom sauce plus extra cheese and mushrooms and beef bacon, and he found it to be the cheesiest of the three sandwiches (not surprising, since the veggie burger contains no cheese and the pulled beef sandwich only has one slice). The pulled beef, however, he absolutely raved about, proclaiming it "so delicious" and saying it's "definitely worth going to Wendy's in the Middle East just for this." (Umm, okay, passport hassles and pricey plane ticket aside.) Overall, he found the Halal beef impressive, despite its being imported from Australia, thus making it unlikely that Wendy's can promise "fresh, never frozen" in the UAE. Nonetheless, the reviewer felt "the beef quality is a lot higher... more pure." 

While Wendy's offerings in Dubai might be not the same as you'd get in Dubuque, they're going to be just as tasty, or perhaps even better. Plus, in a city where temperatures range from really quite warm to insanely freaking hot (via Climates to Travel), it's always a great time for a nice cool Frosty.