McCaféanian Depression

It was a rather sad outing. Not that it ended in tears, but certainly with a depression.

Yes, not everything at absolutelyBangkok.com is happy and nice. Just visit one of Bangkok’s newest additions: A McCafé at McDonald’s. And you know what we mean.

McCafé is serving Cappuccino, Espresso, Long Black, Flat White, Latté. But in an environmental blandness, you’d better have headed for a Thai oliang coffee down at noisy pak soi.

Not that BangkokDan doesn’t appreciate the culture McDonald’s brought to the world. I’m a child of whatever instants, be it instant food, instant infotainment, instant pleasures. I do not like to wait for things to happen. Things have to happen here and now, as waiting – not to be mixed up with patience! – is a pure waste of possibilities and probabilities.

McCafé is embodied missed possibilities and probabilities.

At least at the McCafé Major Ekamai: You’re forced to sip your coffee in the atmosphere of a waiting hall.

Starbucks in comparison becomes the culmination of functionality and design, as that McCafé is nothing than a Starbucks-went-very-wrong.

While we all remember to what great lengths McDonald’s went that nobody can copy its trademark “Mc”, now there’s McCafé – a blunt, failed copy of that coffee culture that took the world by storm.

Bangkok already has 9 McCafés – with 4 more about to be opened.

You may try their trimmed-down Cappuccino called Flat White, the Long Black or the Latté. But even if cheaper than anywhere else: That bill comes with a heavy price: Where’s the ambiente, a true Italian would desperately exclaim.

Yes, there is a meager selection of newspapers to read. But where to relax?

And yes, they got some cookies and pastries, such as the unavoidable blueberry cheese cake, the brownie or – listen up! – a carrot cake.

I went for McCafé’s Mango Frappé with extra whipped cream – delicious! But no, the flashy, sterile environment just doesn’t cut it.

Don’t we all suddenly love Starbucks’ darkish worlds with the soft sofas and that perfume-like smell of fresh coffee and the freshly baked in the air?

Now there is the soulless Starbucks – or a soulless Vanilla Café for that: McCafé, site of bright lights, uncomfortable chairs and the smell of cold old french fries in the air.

The undeniable advantage though being, if those hamburgers and french fries you just ordered clog your belly, the belly-unclogging espresso is available at the very next counter.

But can you believe it: People still order those stale coffees at the “old” counter, leaving the eager coffee brewers at the “new” McCafé longing for customers.

The only worse crime would be ordering a Nescafé at Starbucks.

BangkokDan’s conclusion is short and sweet: McCafé – now avoidable in Bangkok.




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November 12, 2007 | Filed Under Food & Drink 

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