Location: Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, Montreal
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

McDonald’s is currently running a promotion called “The International Menu Heist,” and I feel like it was pretty much made for me personally?  Aside from the fact that I get oddly excited whenever McDonald’s does stuff like this, I also make it a point to visit a McDonald’s and try at least one or two of the unusual local items when I’m travelling.

(For those who are unaware, McDonald’s always has a few menu items in each country that are supposedly tuned to the local palate.)

Perhaps the oddest item in this particular promo: the McPizza Bites, an import from Italy. Here’s how McDonald’s describes these things: “The taste of Italy is here with McPizza Bites, the antipasto you’ve been waiting for.  Made with melt-in-your-mouth mozzarella cheese and rich tomato sauce, all wrapped in a delicious, toasted pizza dough – good enough to make you say bravissimo!  It’s time for a pizza party, and you’re all invited.”

I should note that if a pizza exists that’s good enough to make me say “bravissimo!” it certainly isn’t at McDonald’s.

The last time I had a pizza-pocket-esque concoction at McDonald’s, it was the horrifically bad Veg Pizza McPuff in India, so my expectations: not high!

This was totally fine, however.  I don’t think it’s particularly different from something you can get at the freezer section of the supermarket, but for what it is, it’s tasty enough.  It’s probably like 90 percent sauce and 10 percent cheese, but the sauce is pleasant and the cheese has some nice gooiness.

The crust has some extremely mild crunchiness, but is mostly just there as a vehicle for the sauce and cheese.  Like everything else about this, it’s perfectly acceptable.

The menu suggests that this and the Garlic Mayo-Style Sauce from the UK are “great together,” and yeah, the menu is not wrong.  It’s a very good dip; it’s creamy, it’s got a nice zestiness, and it’s garlicky without being overwhelming.  It completely overpowers the flavour of the McPizza Bites, but it’s tasty enough that I’m not complaining.