McDonald’s has officially launched its own Taobao channel for ordering set meals. There is now no need to leave the couch just because you want some Mickey D fries. The Taobao menu is pretty limited: you choose from a handful of Happy-Meal-esqe type sets. The family sets include a somewhat hideous-looking Ronald McDonald plastic toy. Prices for sharing sets start from ¥38.5, plus a ¥5 delivery fee. This ¥38.5 set on the site called the “Qin Zi” set (supposedly for sharing with kids) looks pretty generous for the price. I wonder if the Taobao prices are lower than in the stores--anyone know the regular prices for this type of set?

Interestingly, all the larger sets come with the soft-serve soda float drink. You’d think the ice cream would melt and the drink would be a luke-warm mess by the time it reached your door, so I’m wondering how quickly they really get the goods across town. And almost as bad as a cup of melted soft-serve mixed with flat soda is limp, cold French fries. I may be forced to test out this delivery service to check how crisp and hot the fries are when they arrive—all in the name of research of course.

Fun fry fact: did you know that culinary pioneer and cookbook titan James Beard was a vocal fan of McDonald’s French fries? But this was back in the day when they still used flavorful beef tallow for frying. Today’s fries have been emasculated and modernized for the saturated-fat-fearing public: they are now fried in pure, plain, bland vegetable oil.

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