Cycle 5 – Item 297
29 (Wed) October 2014
Hamdesal
0.5
from McDonald’s
in my office
-Ermita, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines-
solo
Pulled an all-nighter to finish drafting the new tobacco control act for Papua New Guinea, a project that had remained incomplete since our in-country mission a couple weeks back, deadline fast approaching. 11 hours nonstop, from 1800 to 0500, facilitated by the obsessive-compulsive part of my brain.
Pandesal is a type of Filipino bread. Made of flour, yeast, egg, sugar, salt. Despite the name – from the Spanish for “bread (pan) of salt (de sal)” – it’s sweeter than it is salty. Soft and squishy. Often dusted. Usually eaten at breakfast, either on its own or as a sandwich.
The Hamdesal is a breakfast sandwich developed by McDonald’s Philippines. Consists of a pandesal + slice of ham + egg + mayonnaise + syrup. Straight up simple sugar syrup – not maple syrup, which would also be disgusting but at least could be explained on the basis of twisted precedent.
It was the most atrocious thing that I can remember eating, ever.
(See also FAST FOOD)
(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)
(See also RESTAURANTS IN PHILIPPINES)