Tsinghua's Copycat McDonald's: Marketing Genius or Abomination?

Tsinghua University's Qingqing Kuaican has been operating a rough knockoff of McDonald's for over ten years. When it came up on our radar recently as potentially being one of Beijing's worst meals, we decided to head down there to see for ourselves.

A couple weeks ago, I put out a call for Beijinger's worst dining experiences and promised to reenact some of the meals. I've now eaten my way through each of the places mentioned in the comments section, and I can safely say that the fake McDonald's, as mentioned by Tom O'Malley, was the worst of the lot. I would rather each the starfish at Wangfujing, and trust me, that's saying a lot.

Qingqing is located directly north of Tsinghua's south gate on the righthand side. If you're coming by taxi, you'll have to get out about halfway through and walk up the pedestrian/bike lane. The brick facade of the restaurant, with its two faded photos of chicken sandwiches, didn't exactly scream McDonald's, but the two students enjoying soft-serve ice cream cones out front did.

When we dropped by last Sunday afternoon, the place was packed with students. Across the three open registers, more than 20 people were waiting in line.

QQ is close enough in its mimicry of actual McDonald's and KFC outlets to elicit that nagging feeling of déjà vu, but everything is just a little off. For instance, once you get up to the counter, you can see that they're using similar machinery as the real thing. It's just older, dirtier and off-brand.

We ordered super-beef hamburger, savory fish hamburger and grilled chicken hamburger combos, as well as an order of fried spicy chicken, a chicken skewer and some ice cream. The total bill came to RMB 56. It's easy to see why the place has appealed to Tsinghua students with its bargain prices, but I couldn't help imagining the corners they cut to get there. Which brings me to the food. In keeping with the general appearance of the place, the food aims a few rungs below McDonald's.

On first bite, there was nothing particularly egregious about the fake Big Mac, but the paste-like consistency of the "meat" soon had a nauseating effect. The fake Filet-O-Fish was fishy in both senses of the word, while the chicken sandwich was somewhat edible, although a bit slippery. Fries were bland, but inoffensively so, and the coke was watery. The ice cream was cloying with a milky finish.

The only normal thing we tasted was the one item not found on "real" fast food menus: the chicken skewer, which tasted like the low-grade chuanr that it was.

We left QQ with rolling stomachs, but there's no way of telling whether it was the food or just sheer paranoia that caused them. On our way out we passed a bride and groom trailed by two assistants dressed like courtesans.

So is Qing Qing Kuai Can Beijing's worst meal? Probably not, especially in terms of taste or value. However, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the worst for you. Think about it. The Golden Arches are already scary enough in their authentic form, so imagine how much worse shanzhai version is.

On the bright side, at least the place has an "A" sanitation score.