American fast food chain McDonald’s has invoked social media outrage and scathing reviews from Mumbai’s foodies with the launch of the masala dosa brioche. On Friday, January 13, the fast food purveyor added the hybrid bun to its breakfast selection across 44 outlets of the chain in the city. For its menu in India, McDonald’s has regularly drawn inspiration from local tastes and flavours as evidenced by the McAloo Tikki burger and the mint sauce in the Chicken McGrill bun. But unlike these popular inventions, the masala dosa brioche has done a disservice to the beloved South Indian dish.
The problem with the burger lies in its misleading name. It’s neither a dosa or nor a brioche. The burger is made up of a flattened fried potato and peas patty flavoured with cumin seeds, green chillies and curry leaves and sandwiched between the chain’s standard soft breakfast bun. Though inspired by the potato filling of the masala dosa, the patty tastes practically the same as the chain’s heftier McVeggie burger and barely like masala dosa stuffing.
The advertised molagapodi, the pungent ground spice and dal powder served as a condiment with idlis, dosas and other South Indian fare, in the mayonnaise smeared over the patty is undetectable. The creamy spread tastes no different from the mildly tangy mayo present in the majority of the chain’s pedestrian burgers. Only the thin wheat-brown paper enclosing the fusion burger comes remotely close to resembling a dosa at least in terms of colour.
The masala dosa brioche, priced at Rs42, is available from 7am to 11am at McDonalds outlets across the city. See here for locations.