Costcos in China Offer Fried Chicken in the Food Court and Americans Are Jealous

What’s interesting about Costco is the wide variety of cuisines you’ll find in international stores. Some foods are a staple of its menu around the world, like hot dogs from the Costco food court, but many countries serve foods distinct from their region. In China, there is one item on the menu that is not available in the United States but is one of the defining dishes of American cuisine: fried chicken. While the Chinese love to eat finger-licking good poultry, Americans are jealous to taste it.

Among the many different and delicious styles of international fried chicken, the one you’ll find at Costco food courts in Shanghai, Suzhou or Shenzhen is the classic Southern version, with thick, crispy breading fried until golden brown. golden brown but with a spicy kick. In fact, spicy fried chicken is a very popular dish in China, where it can be found almost everywhere, including fast food restaurants like McDonald’s. It comes in a bucket like you find in American fast food restaurants and consists of thighs (drumsticks and thighs), sold in three or six pieces.

People have expressed their desire for Costco fried chicken – for example, on Reddit, where comments range from cries of “I’m jealous of their selection” (via Reddit) to disappointment like “I’d trade that with my American menu I think” (via Reddit).

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More Costco Foods You Won’t Find on American Menus

A few other Costco warehouses in other countries also offer their versions of fried chicken. In Taiwan, it is also sold by the bucket (eight pieces), and although it is not listed on the menu as spicy, it is actually quite spicy, perhaps because it does not have much flavor. ‘dough coating to absorb spices as is the case in China.

Yet other countries also offer similar options that Americans covet, like chicken tenders or the bucket of wings from the Costco Canada food court. In France you can get fried chicken strips, and in Japan you can order a big bucket full of chicken nuggets. The Costco food court that Brits offer and Americans want includes not one but two fried chicken tenders in a sandwich.

China offers even more specialties that aren’t available to US Costco shoppers. These include a creamy shrimp bisque and shrimp katsu burger, a giant bulgogi dish (Americans only get the chicken version), pork mooncakes, and an okonomiyaki pizza topped with octopus, bonito shaved, green peppers, corn and Japanese mayonnaise (per Reddit). Even the hot dogs at Chinese Costcos are different than what you’ll get in the United States because they’re made with pork instead of 100% USDA kosher beef.

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Read the original article on Food Republic.