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Continuing the saga of exploring McDonald's restaurants outside the U.S. begun last spring in Spain, I checked out the local McDonald's during a recent trip to Edinburgh in Scottland.

First off, I had the trusty Big Mac.  Just as good as in the states.  No obvious differences.  Sorry for the angles on some of these pics, I tried to make them legible.

There's that Big Tasty we first encountered in France.  Below we see the Scotts really love them some chicken:

And here are some other interesting items:

Here's a link to the other European McDonald's reviews.

Zaxby's is a regional fast food chicken chain with over 500 stores in 11 states.  Founded in Georgia in 1990, Zaxby's focuses on fresh chicken items (grilled and fried).

I enjoyed my visit to Zaxby's.  The staff was friendly and the food was served hot.  The menu entirely made up of chicken items, with a focus on chicken breast sandwiches, wings and strips.  I opted for the Cajun Club, a hearty meal with a large white meat breast, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo on a sturdy bun.  The "basket" I ordered came with crinkle fries, a welcome sight.  The soda fountain even had crushed ice, my favorite kind.

Next time you find yourself in the south and are hankerin' for a quick chicken snack, bypass that other southern chicken juggernaut and try this down home fast food treat.

Check out the menu

Here's a scratcher I found in a box in my garage.  It's McDonald's Easy Pickin's Quiz, where you match a question against multiple choice answers.  If you guess correctly, then you scratch off one of six boxes to reveal a prize.  Here you can see I won a regular order of fries.   It is a crime that these fries have gone uneaten for 30 years (the contest was in 1980).  I also neglected to take advantage of the Wherehouse music coupon good for $2 off either a Smokey & The Bandit 2 or Xanadu soundtrack.

It's hard to read the fine print here, but the game was somewhat lame now that I read it: "Breakfast prizes will be awarded only during breakfast hours with the concurrent purchase of a breakfast entree" and "all other McDonald's food prizes will be awarded during dinner hours with the concurrent purchase of a large sandwich."  No wonder I didn't redeem - I couldn't drive in 1980 and my mom probably wasn't going to take me to McDonald's just for some free fries at dinner.  By the way, one of the large sandwiches that qualifies is the "Chopped Beefsteak Sandwich."  What happened to that?!

Still, I miss contests like this.  I am always happy when the Monopoly game rolls around.  There is something satisfying about the potential for instant wins, akin to the thrill of lottery tickets.  McDonald's - BRING BACK GAMES LIKE THESE.

Cheeburger Cheeburger is a small chain with a handful of restaurants in about 20 states.  They're best known for their "invent your own taste" menu with over 30 free toppings that you can mix and match.  Check it out.