Ramadhan offers in Singapore

Ramadhan tends to see a lot of food-related promotions in Singapore. Here's a selection:

Seen at the Geylang Serai Hari Raya Bazaar - buy S$25 worth of Mirinda drinks to get a free Mirinda jug, or buy S$25 worth of Yeo's drinks to get a free Yeo's jug.

Fanta invites consumers to "make Raya more special" by creating their own soda recipes with mixers, with lychee flavour as the latest. The recipes can be shared, but instructions will only be shared on radio at Warna 94.2FM.

Mr Bean has come up with takeaways from halal-certified suppliers. There are jelly delights, six for S$10, soybean biscuits (salted bean or pineapple flavours), eight for S$10.80, or grass jelly bowls (ala carte pricing).

McDonald's Singapore does not list its Ramadhan offers on its website. Its sunset and pre-dawn meals come with a free picnic mat, and the sunset meals include free dates. Sunset meals range between S$20.95 and S$49.95. For S$49.95, the sunset feast includes 1 Big Mac, 1 Quarter Pounder with cheese, 2 McSpicy burgers, 1 Filet-O-Fish, 1 McChicken, 1 Spicy Nuggets (20 pieces), four large French Fries, three banana pies, three hot fudge sundaes, three medium iced Milos, three medium Cokes, and six free dates. Plus the picnic mat. The pre-dawn meals range from S$17.95 to S$29.95. For S$29.95 enjoy a breakfast supreme, a sausage McMuffin with egg, one portion of hotcakes, a chicken muffin, three hash browns, two medium iced Milos and two medium cappuccinos. The meals can be pre-ordered. McDonald's delivers 24 hours a day. Terms & conditions apply; there is a surcharge for delivery and a minimum order amount, for example.

Hashtag: #sghalal

McDonald's Arabia focuses on family-related activities and children's books this Ramadhan

McDonald's Arabia is running different campaigns in different countries to celebrate Ramadhan.

McDonald's Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman have lantern-related activities. Visitors to the website can share a Ramadhan greeting on Facebook or learn how to make lanterns.

Source: McDonald's KSA website.

McDonald's in KSA, Qatar and UAE will offer daily Ramadhan inspirations.

McDonald's Kuwait is running reading campaigns for children on Tuesdays and Fridays at its branches, while McDonald's colouring books are being sold for Ramadhan under the tagline "happiness is a colour some kids don't often see" in some locations.

The Ramadhan charity of choice in KSA is the Kafel Charity Society for Orphans. All proceeds from the children's colouring books in the western region of KSA (Jeddah, Makkah etc) will be donated to the The Kafel Foundation assists orphans as well as widows and their children with social welfare, education, healthcare, training, and work qualifications.

For the Kingdom of Bahrain all proceeds from the colouring books will be donated to the ‘Smile’ initiative for the support of children with cancer and their parents. The ‘Smile’ Initiative is part of the Future Society for Youth that has a mission to support children and families, and to create awareness about childhood Cancer through entertainment, social and educational activities in the Pediatric Cancer Ward’ in Salmaniya Medical Complex.

McDonald's: Would you do DIY?

McDonald's has introduced DIY burgers beyond JEM. The 'Create Your Own' invitation is now available through self service kiosks at other branches, including Suntec City as well as Raffles City. 

View from the Jurong East MRT station showing the walls of the McDonald's at JEM advertising the Create Your Own burgers.

The self-order kiosks at McDonald's in Suntec.

Want to know more?

Read the Suroor Asia review of my experience when JEM was the only outlet offering the DIY burgers.

McDonald's introduces DIY burgers with premium ingredients

Dinner at McDonald's JEM: a small French fries, Heaven & Earth green tea, and an Angus beef burger that I designed myself, with a slice of Colby cheese, tomato, lettuce, garlic sauce and tomato jalapeno sauce.

The McDonald's at JEM has introduced self-service order kiosks which allow diners not only to order what's on the standard menu, but also to create do-it-yourself burgers with premium ingredients. According to the friendly McDonald's staff who was there to help people creating their own burgers, custom burgers may only be ordered through the kiosks, and not at the counter.

The basic burger with an Angus beef patty costs S$8.95 but may be more expensive as a meal (add S$2 for small fries and a soft drink) or if various options are added. While much care has clearly gone into the design of the software, the actual ordering process is somewhat confusing.

Firstly, diners may have to scroll down to view the full set of options. There is no indication that there are more options onscreen, and diners have to be aware that they should swipe up on the screen in order to view the rest of the screen. I, being used to Windows, tried swiping up on the scroll bar to the right. That did not work.

The next question mark had to do with which options are part of the basic burger at S$8.95, and which are not. There is no pricing information on the screens. There are some options clustered on the same screen which are included in the base price, such as red onions, jalapeno peppers, lettuce and tomatoes. You can choose more than one sauce as well. There are other options for which you may only choose one, such as the type of bread, and still others which come with an additional charge. While I'm willing to pay for a customised burger, I would still like to know how much that burger is going to cost as I go along.

I ordered a burger meal and was surprised to see that the bill did not list the French fries, though it noted that I had changed my drink to Heaven & Earth green tea. What I didn't realise was that when the receipt says 'Create Your Own Meal' that it meant that there would be French fries and a drink involved, and if it doesn't say 'meal' that it's just the burger. As a first-timer to reading a custom burger receipt, it worried me that my French fries were not listed, but the McDonald's staff assisting me assured me I would get them, and I did.

My burger meal cost me S$11.45 in the end, $8.95 for the burger, $2 for the meal and $0.50 for switching to green tea (I thought it was $0.30 if you buy a standard meal but it might have gone up while I wasn't looking). Payment is cashless and painless, and the receipt comes with a number that you can use for picking up your order at the counter. Custom burgers come with those buzzing discs that will sound when your order is ready for pickup - you pick one at random from a stack by the side of each kiosk, and tell the software what number it is. Strangely enough, I was told that I don't actually need to wait around for my order - they would actually serve it to me. In this case the disc acted like those numbered signs that tell staff where to find you.

The meal, when it arrived, was very prettily arranged on a wooden Moda breadboard, on dull gold paper. The fries came in a little wire basket that was lined with paper, and my green tea in a clear plastic to-go cup instead of the waxed paper variety. I had a 'hand & face refresher' wet tissue in addition to serviettes which was a nice touch, and a straw in a paper jacket. The only thing which was missing was the tomato or chilli sauce for the fries (if you want them).The assistant, to his credit, had actually asked me to go get the sauces, but it would have meant giving up my seat as a lone diner and sauces in little disposable plastic saucers spoils the mood somewhat.

The taste test? It is definitely much better than the normal McDonald's burger because of the Angus beef - a different texture - and all the other ingredients. The standard burgers don't come with a tomato slice and that always makes such a difference for me. The sauces - I chose a garlic sauce (creamy garlic aioli) and a tomato jalapeno sauce (tomato jalapeno relish) - added a definite sparkle to the taste, and I contemplated asking if I could have extra for the French fries, because it would have tasted SO good with them. 

I left without clearing up because I really wasn't sure what to do with the wire basket - you can't possibly toss that into the bin like you would with the remains of a standard meal. More guidance on how to clear up would be useful.

The verdict? Be warned that the burger isn't huge - you would get more dollar for dollar at Swensen's - but I loved the idea of deciding exactly what I wanted to have in it. I loved the 'plating', which by the way is about the same internationally; I have seen variations with fake newspaper but it's all breadboards and wire baskets. When you consider that some of the standard burger meals at McDonald's are pretty close in price 'Create Your Own' is a definite winner, especially if you go with others and can discuss your choices with each other.

I'm told that JEM is the only McDonald's in Singapore with the Create Your Own option, though self service kiosks may be introduced to more outlets in future, paving the way for fewer counter staff as diners will do all the ordering and paying by themselves. The next time though I might try the pre-designed options, which look like they would cost more than S$8.95 if you put them together by yourself.