Mouthing Off

Need a Big Mac after a fancy dinner? Um, fine dining isn’t about gluttony, so don’t expect American fast food portions

In the US, portions at fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s, Dairy Queen and Wendy’s are huge, but fine-dining restaurants are more about quality over quantity

Don’t complain about the smaller portions at your next fancy dinner. Enjoy the unique flavour experience, and feel free to fill up on cheap chow afterwards

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Fine dining is about providing interesting flavour experiences rather than making customers stuffed. If you’re not full after your meal, feel free to top up on fast food. Photo: Getty Images

Andrew Sun has dabbled in many shades of the media spectrum for 25 years, from college radio, TV, print and online columnist to starting film festivals, managing music labels and authoring food books.

Published: 7:45am, 2 Dec 2022

Like many others in Hong Kong, I am currently visiting friends and relatives overseas, after not seeing some of them for over three years. This means a lot of catching up over lunches and dinners.

While it doesn’t come as a complete surprise, I am reminded through these catch-ups just how large portions can be in North America.

Any casual diner breakfast in this part of the world includes a mound of home fries and toast, and the egg-based entrées typically comprise three freshly laid large ones. A quick lunch is a sandwich piled so high it resembles a Jenga tower.

Even a bowl of wonton noodles in some overseas Chinatowns can feel like a soupy bottomless pit. I recall one hummus tray resembling a pool of quicksand.

Fast food is everywhere in the US, and the portions are typically larger than in many other parts of the world. Photo: Shutterstock

The United States is supposed to be the land of plenty, although often it’s really a wasteland of processed and fast foods. Driving by endless rows of strip malls filled with franchise chains is paradoxically depressing and enticing.