I’m not a huge fan of McDonald’s, and can count the number of times I have eaten there in the past 20 years on one hand.

I will usually go into a McDonald’s while traveling, just to see what adaptations they make to their menu to make it more “local”.

McDonald’s Next garnered major attention by converting an existing McDonald’s in Hong Kong into this new concept.

McDonald’s Next first surprise is the addition of a salad bar. It is not a do it yourself salad bar, but it does include 19 ingredients including quinoa.

Bakery items, sandwiches, and panini’s are also included on the menu.

Perhaps the game changer of McDonald’s Next is the ability to customize your burger. There are interesting ingredients available such as Portobello mushrooms, several types of cheese, jalapenos, a variety of sauces, avocado’s and other interesting ingredients.

I wanted to see how expensive a burger I could build. When I began the ordering process, there was nobody at the build your burger station. I maxed out just about every ingredient, but as time passed an influx of customers came in. I didn’t want to hold up the line so I quickly finished up my mock order.

The grand total came out to $285 HKD, or ~$36.77. I think if I was able to still add a couple of remaining ingredients to their max, you could have a burger from McDonald’s costing over $40.

That’s just incredible.