I Went to a Bootleg McDonald's in Algeria 

Okay so it seems I didn't make this super clear in the video. But when I mention the 51% tax, that only affects international chains, not local businesses. Don't worry, McMerc didn't have to pay 51%!

PLEASE MAKE THIS A NEW SERIES. It will give you extra content for when you travel. Honestly just local foreign restaurant reviews in general would be enjoyable.

Hey. Just a little correction about WHY there's no McDonald's here. It's not that they're not ALLOWED per say, because they technically are (we have pizza hut and KFC and a bunch of french fast food chains) it's just that they are only allowed if they comply with the 51/49 rule, which isnt that the government needs 51% of the profits, it just means that the company needs to be 51% owned by an Algerian citizen in order to operate in the country.

McMerc sounds like a mercenary hangout where they eat McDonald's and discuss their next contract job.

They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds.

The crunch of that dessert pizza was outrageous

what a beautiful country

This was an awesome video!! Knock-off McDonald's are a common trope/joke in Japanese fiction, with "WcDonald's" or "WacDonald's" appearing in a lot of anime. So I couldn't stop thinking throughout the video, there's some excellent inspirational material here for future animes!

Here in Algeria, everything should contain the Algerian touch, whether food or even shops, together preserving Algerian values, and also welcome to Algeria. I hope that Algeria really enjoys a lot of things 🌺🫰

A New Yorker trying algerian pizza, thats funny

I was envious watching you eat that dessert at the end. That dessert is better than the squirt of cream and sugar we get.

Wow! This IS an extra special episode

Really interesting to see how the Golden Arches are becoming the pictogramme for “fast food”, not only in Algeria but in many if not most developing countries.

Oh that fruit cookie pizza thing looks amazing! I would love to have one of those! I'm diabetic and can't eat that stuff anymore, but I'll take the high blood sugar for the day lol

i don't know what's with the weirdo who was trying to "warn" you about not branching out, but i quite like these styles of videos. i've always wished to see more of the cultures you interact with on your hunt for fruits! don't think there's any harm at all in having fruit videos and travel vlogs, i think they are a good compliment and context to the fruit videos and you have a very enjoyable mild and open-minded manner about you. cheers!

As an Algerian I love your content on our country. I was both surprised and glad to see that there was more of it after your fruit series was over. But there is a correction I want to make, as of now there's no McDonald's in Algeria (your initial assumption was correct). The "McDonald's Algeria" Instagram account you found is totally fake and lacks the verification symbol found in other official McDonald's country accounts. And the two "McDonald's" locations found in Google Maps are both fake and propped up by bot accounts, with one of them being located in a rural town in Kabylia, which makes no sense for that to be a priority location, there's also a bunch of reviews on both addresses saying that they're fake. It seems like you too got fooled by Algerian McBootlegs.

this makes Algeria incredibly unique, because they have their own cultured food and each place seems to have their own unique food, that desert pizza looked amazing!

The sound you made biting into that crepe was incredible. That is almost entirely unlike a thin pancake or any puff pastry. It was almost _crisp_

Love this Weird Explorer vlog style videos

There is a mcdonalds that sells pizza, it's also the worlds largest mcdonalds and its in Orlando, Florida. The pizza is what you'd expect for mcdonalds as far as flavor.

I really enjoy videos like this, doesn't have to be weird fruit, weird franchises are cool too. The channel is called "Weird Explorer" anyway.

This is hilarious 😂 had no idea this existed and I love it. It's small owned and they are all doing something together 🎉

My favorite kind of fruit

McFoul was my favorite. I spotted it as you were driving by, but it it is both funny, unfortunate and one of the most accurate assessments of the US McDonalds. Maybe of McDonald’s in every country. Thanks for the lesson and review.

I wish you had tried our traditional food, but we are glad you visited Algeria and we hope you will come back

thats actually genious marketing, people will notice and think "somethings not right"

3:56 i love the surprise and instantly going back in, gave me a good chuckle.

I agree, fascinating. Always enjoy your off-the-beaten-path vids.

There's a lot of places that serve rare items that Mcdonalds once sold. Ex: Spaghetti, another would be pizza. Hawaii still sells the fried Apple Pies. Pretty much making it the only place to buy one.

I'm 100% positive that the Algerian bootleg McDonald's is 100 times healthier and made with real and organic ingredients then the American one haha

Random fact: The beverage Orangina is from Algeria ✨

Dear Algeria, you’re not missing anything unless you want cold fries, and a game of the ice cream machine is broke.

I’m dying at “fast food mc bell” 😂😂😂😂😂

I think for McDonald's they need to own the land in order for them to open in some country which is impossible thing to do here in Algeria since foreigners are not allowed to own a property, I think our authorities asked them to rent a place and they just refused

Always a pleasure to watch you enjoy foreign junk food in addition to all the foreign fruit. That’s really interesting about the fake McDonald’s everywhere.

This is just fantastic. I'd absolutely love to see more should you decide to partake in "knockoff" American fast food joints in other places. Even if it's just a salad you're getting, I'm absolutely interested!! Thanks for sharing this with us, Jared. I hope everyone is doing well and having a great day!

Bootleg McDonald's sounds like a great name for a Garage Punk band.

as a matter of fact, the old Algerian investment code required foreign investors to find a local partner who should own 51% of the business, this code has been reversed last year for all sectors except energy, mining and pharma. Foreign investors got some incentives too, as in 3 to 10 years of tax excemption.KFC took advantage of the new investment code and they are now present in Algeria.

I just noticed your subscriber number and it has grown so much!!! You were at 12k when I subscribed, I’m so happy for you!🎉

that desert looked so good & so did the fries at the end! I wanted to watch you finish eating / reviewing it too lol. loved the cat

Your delivery of McDonald’ss and I’m lovin eat had me crying laughing

Years ago a friend pointed me at the McDonald’s India website. Apparently, at least then, each restaurant had a vegetarian and a meat kitchen, kept separate and supposedly very clean. Few menu items looked familiar.

Thank you for visiting ore country it's a pleasure ❤

I always enjoy your regular content but this was quite fun too!

This is SO AWESOME! I LOVE that they stick apostrophes in random places, its hysterical! So cool that they just serve what they want, that dessert pizza looks delicious. When you're back in the states, id LOVE to see you try and rank all the apples you can get in a (well stocked) grocery store... I recently tried an apple called Sugarbee and i literally cant stomach any other apple anymore. My supermarket only has it once a month if im lucky...

Hey there Jared, I really enjoyed this episode the most....you have given us a clear eyed tour of this city in it's non Anerican culture.....its been fascinating and refreshing....thank you ❤

I love seeing these shops in other countries! cool video

My man got himself a Selecto, he knows what's up !

My favourite series from you the Algeria series

Fun fact: there is no obesity in Algeria. Western (burgers) and Midle Eastern (shawarma) fast food are relatively new in Algeria, we cook our own food with fresh ingredients. Frozen and processed food doesn't exist in Algeria. It would be nice to try some actual Algerian fast food that you can't find anywhere else: algerian pizza (pizza carré, pizza couverte), coca, mhadjebs, Algerian grill, soufflés, Algerian sandwiches, garantita, Algerian ice cream (créponé) etc.

such a wonderful world you connect us to, thank you!

❤ your choice of music for this video. Nice work. I learned a lot!

I haven't been in Algeria for more than 5 years, this brings so many memories :'-)

Lest we laugh at countries like Algeria for doing this kind of thing, America did it too in the early days of burgers. New Jersey is still dotted with places called White [Something] that make onion-steamed sliders, riding on the coattails of White Castle. And every big city is going to have bootleg versions of any restaurant that has gained any kind of trendiness or popularity. Like, after the Seinfeld soup nazi episode, there were soup shops popping up all over New York with names like Soup Nutsy. The truth is, most human beings are not particularly original or creative, or are otherwise boxed in by social expectations even if they do have their own ideas. People just want to have what their friends and neighbors have, and can't imagine anything better or different, and there will be merchants who step in to fill that demand, merchants who themselves are risk-averse and unoriginal. It's how traditional crafts happened even before the rise of civilization, and it's how styles and fashions continue even to this day. Human nature.

I love these types of videos, thanks for sharing your adventures :)

I now desperately need that dessert "pizza" and a bottle of Selecto!

I really want to try Selecto. That stuff sounds awesome.

wow that wonder-pizza looks so good. I want to try the La Cherri one

I like this new theme of travelling around the world exploring different cultures an you showing us these wired things

I loved this video so much. Amazing and fascinating!!

In Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 I encountered several knock-off McD’s restaurants such as McDoner’s, McMagic’s, McBurger, RaMburger, and KazBurger. There is even a burger place simply called DONALD’S in Almaty. LOL. I also saw K’FC (Kazakh Fried Chicken).

And these Algerian MCs are serving healthy natural food with no msg, high sodium preservatives,GMO stuff ...better than the real McDonald's.

What beautiful backgrounds when you’re outside!

This was an awesome video. really enjoyed it. very Mcinteresting

Great new content, loved it! That dessert pizza looked awesome! Micky D's was put to shame in Algeria, irony at it's finest.

That dessert pizza... I want to try it!

That was pretty cool and functional . The whole video was interpreting a new kind of gastronomic views . I would like to see more similar videos like this especially in Algeria . Your analysis points where extremely important this may develop the people benefits . And I think you can make some videos with the same idea but by defining another domain.

Ah, yeah it's like Hoover or Velcro. Both are specific brand names, not a type of product, but people commonly use those words to describe any similar product. I guess in Algeria they use McDonald's for "take out", "takeaway", and "fast food".

Those fries at 11:53 look insanely good, so many of them too for what I assume is an amazing price.

Actually the laws changed, the 51% thing is no longer the case .... actually it is not 51% tax but it was 51% partenership so companies used to find an Algerian partener and Mcdonalds owns the land and it is impossible in Algeria.

I love your channel and I'm so grateful you came to my country 🇩🇿 We also love the USA

i've been to bootleg McDonalds in Ecuador! There is even a couple of photo blogs detailing them. ...I got sick.

I am just pissed off that there are no bootleg mascots. They missed a golden opportunity to introduce Algiers' own Reynolds McMerc, Gram Ace, The Hambezzler, and Bird's-eye the Punctual Parrot.

Good for them! I dig the creativity

Loved this episode, it reminds me of how all the fried chicken stalls here always kind of copy the style of the most successful ones. And how some big brands have come and go from here, Domino's pizza, as huge as it is, went out of CR, and now it came back. Wendy's and Popeyes also came and went away.

I was in Algeria back in 1980. They didn't know much about hamburgers then. I ordered a hamburger in a restaurant in Oran, and they brought me a cooked beef patty with an egg on top, sunny side up.

If a New Yorker admits pizza from anywhere else is even edible I'm willing to bet that's a good pizza

That's a very good point that the golden arches have become a worldwide symbol for fast food in general.

Top tier episode

There are no McDonalds in Algeria. That was fake. You can see it from the middle Eastern looking clothes on that guy in the picture. That picture is probably from Dubai.

Really interesting video, very different to see how other countries do it. Probably healthier food too.

this vid rocked

welcome to algeria ❤🇩🇿 I'm glad you came ❤

Welcome to Algeria, i felt ur pain eating that pizza, I know I know 😅

They are protected from American junk food! Good for them 👍

Yep I'm an Algerian and I love our McDonald's versions

cool video, I agree with your reasoning/explanations for the bootlegs

Is this Bebouzzar? God I miss my country

I wish I was brave like you and traveled all over the world.

Actually 200 DA is less than 1 dollar in the black market, because almost everyone exchange his money in the black market in Algeria. So a slice of pizza with a bottle of soda are less than 1 dollar.

honestly the food looks better then mcdonalds

At least you don't have to worry about broken ice cream machines.😂

i laughed my ass off, do more here please yoooo

Nice content 🔥🔥

The unemployed friend at 1pm

I think I'd find a "mock" McDonald's more interesting to eat at than a real McDonald's in a country. Just to see what they do food wise.

It better for the locals to not be destroyed by these huge food chains. glad you visited Algeria.

I love your videos ❤

Great to see Mc”donald” is actually serving real food

Take me to the MacCasbah. Lol