Enjoy McDonald's – it's a fact of life

Do you love McDonald's restaurants or do you hate them? However you view them McDonald's is like breathing and sex; it's a fact of life.

For those of us in the restaurant business, the very notion of acknowledging McDonald's as a "restaurant" may leave us queasy, but what argument can really hold up in the face of 10,000-plus outlets worldwide?

In 1971, as a recently arrived Yank to England, I was horrified by the low standards of food I found here, particularly at prices I could afford.

A taste of home?

So when the first McDonald's opened in Croydon I, along with hundreds of other expats, rushed there to feast, and it was a taste of home and heaven.

As British food improved (and improved), I came gradually to think of McDonald's as fuel rather than food.

That is up until about two years ago, when my wife, a Swede with a sophisticated palate, persuaded me to accompany her and my two teenage sons for a McDonald's Big Breakfast meal - sausage and egg McMuffin, hash browns (served in a bag, would you believe) and coffee (still dangerously hot)… all for £1.69. Now at weekends she makes her own version for the boys and their friends which tastes even better.

So hooked have I become that when we visit our son at Exeter University, we make a point of starting off at 7am so as to arrive at the M5 McDonald's before 10.30am when breakfast stops.

Once we got off to a late start, and, loathe though I am to admit it, I drove extremely fast so as not to miss my McMuffin. Due to my excessive speed, I missed my exit - at 10.25am. The next McDonald's was 20 miles away in Exeter.

I was now salivating like a starved dog and reflecting on the stupidity of risking losing my licence and possibly going to jail, all for nought. Then I had a brainstorm.

I called the McDonald's in Exeter and asked the manager if he had any McMuffins left. "We've got three," he said. He laughed when I explained where I was and asked him (begged, actually) to "reserve" them.

He agreed, and gallantly offered to "reserve" me a table too. Despite the McDonald's company policy to throw out any product not sold within 15 minutes and not to serve breakfast past 10.30am, he did reserve them. Now that's what I call exceeding customer expectations.

And the McMuffin? Tastier than ever.

Perfect weekend break

My McMuffin story doesn't quite end there, however. The Royal Scotsman is super-de luxe train that caters for the very wealthy and wends its way through the splendid landscapes of Scotland.

My wife and I were invited for a weekend train trip as the train was owned by a friend. It was the perfect break - fabulous company, food, wine, service and attention to detail to match any great restaurant and hotel in the world.

Over dinner I found myself telling my McMuffin story to an audience that looked at me as they would a madman, or maybe just another Yank with no real understanding of things culinary. How could I, in the same breath, profess to appreciate the fine food being served on this train, while simultaneously professing a seemingly unnatural love for the lowly McMuffin?

And the perfect breakfast

Very early on the last morning of the trip, the crew, unbeknown to me, had made a special shopping expedition to buy Kraft processed cheese (without which no Egg McMuffin can claim the title), the likes of which no respectable kitchen, such as the Royal Scotsman‘s, would have in its larder.

I ordered my breakfast but it was secretly ignored. Instead, unbidden, and to the delight and laughter of everyone, I was brought a genuine, train-made Scottish McMuffin.

Then the train's general manager came over and teasingly threatened to reveal to this magazine that the president of the Restaurant Association eats McDonald's McMuffins for breakfast. So, just in case he wasn't joking, I thought I had better come clean first.

Incidentally, if you haven't yet tried McDonalds new ice-cream treat the McFlurry, you should. It's especially good after a McMuffin breakfast. You could say that the president of the Restaurant Association personally recommends it.

Michael Gottlieb is president of the Restaurant Association and proprietor of Café Spice restaurants and Pencom (Service That Sells) UK