The 5 Best Ways To Enjoy International Styles Of The Filet-O-Fish That We Discovered In 2026

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It is no secret that McDonald's adapts its menu around the world to better suit local palates, but with an item like the Filet-O-Fish, which has hardly changed since it was introduced over 60 years ago, any departure from the norm comes as a surprise. For McDonald's customers curious about tasting the chain's fish sandwiches in other global markets, a few order customizations — and occasionally an extra ingredient brought from home — can give the Filet-O-Fish an intriguing touch of international flair.

Since its introduction in the early 1960s, the Filet-O-Fish has been a mainstay of the McDonald's menu around the world. It was first introduced to bring in Catholic customers on Fridays, but the chain's first non-beef menu addition proved to be popular with people of many cultures. Nevertheless, the Filet-O-Fish recipe has hardly changed over those ensuing decades. The fried fish patty is now made from Alaskan pollock, rather than the original halibut, but it still comes on a steamed bun with half a slice of cheese and the signature tartar sauce featuring pickles, capers, onions, and parsley.

Around the world, McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich is generally available in that same original format, but other variants also crop up. The fast food giant's goal when tinkering with this menu item is to appeal to different tastes and different cultures, so some of the fish sandwiches on this list may not appeal to everyone. Then again, you never know until you try it, and maybe tasting a take on the Filet-O-Fish from Belgium or Norway will change your McDonald's order forever.

One of the simplest ways to convert your Filet-O-Fish into an international counterpart is to order it as the French do. In addition to the standard McDonald's fish sandwich, menus at French outposts of the Golden Arches also feature a sandwich called the McFish. The McFish is a pared-down version of the original, and the McFish Mayo really tears the sandwich down to the studs. In this French-style Filet-O-Fish variant, that signature slice of cheese never finds its way to the bun, and neither does the tartar sauce. Instead, the fried fish patty is dressed only with a bit of mayonnaise.

It is fitting that the McFish Mayo would be a French variation, not only because of the origins of mayonnaise, but also how the country's cuisine tends to focus on carefully layering delicate flavors, rather than knocking the palate out with punchy spices. In order to pick up a McFish Mayo yourself — in style, if not in name — all you have to do is make a few customizations when placing your order. On the McDonald's mobile app, this is quite simple, but ordering it in-store isn't too bad either. "No cheese, no tartar sauce, add mayo" — that's all you have to say.

Hop a train across the border to Belgium, and another variation of McDonald's Filet-O-Fish appears on the menu board. Here in the U.S., it is most common to serve french fries with ketchup. Belgians, however, top their fries with mayonnaise, like many other Europeans. This sauce reversal doesn't just affect french fries — or frites, as they are called in situ — but also the McFish sandwich. This Belgian Filet-O-Fish variant has neither mayo nor tartar sauce, instead arriving with the fried fish drizzled in plain old ketchup.

For many Americans used to eating fried fish almost exclusively with tartar sauce, substituting ketchup can sound childish or simply gross, though you shouldn't knock it until you try it. If the prevalence of this sandwich on McDonald's menus is any indicator, the combination works. The McFish is not unique to Belgium, also popping up in France, as discussed above, as well as the Netherlands and Spain, among other countries. It may sound strange to some, but it shouldn't be hard to imagine that a sweet and tangy sauce like ketchup would work with a piece of fried fish. Ketchup is, after all, the base ingredient in a classic cocktail sauce, and no one blinks an eye at dipping fried seafood in that. If you want to sample this McFish for yourself, the instructions are nearly the same as for the secret menu McFish Mayo, with the exception, of course, that you'll add ketchup instead of mayonnaise.

Heading northward, the McFish disappears from Mickey D's menus, but it is replaced with a heartier and healthier sandwich that even includes a few vegetables. Alongside the traditional Filet-O-Fish on menus in Norway — and Sweden, too — McDonald's customers have the option of a sandwich called the Fish McFeast. In this sandwich, that fried fish patty takes on the role of a burger, settling itself into a sesame seed bun and being dressed with just about every hamburger fixing on offer.

If you want to replicate this sandwich exactly, the first trouble will be swapping out the standard steamed bun of the Filet-O-Fish for a sesame-studded burger bun. For that, you will likely need to order in-store. If you are okay with ordering a Norwegian-style Filet-O-Fish with only a few slight differences, however, everything can be done in the app. Nix the tartar sauce on your order and add lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. That will get you most of the way there. The Fish McFeast also comes with cheddar instead of American cheese, which may not be an option at the restaurant. Finally, the Fish McFeast technically features an eponymous "McFeast Sauce," but the ingredients are very similar to mayonnaise, so that swap should do just fine. With the available mobile-app or in-restaurant substitutions you may not be able to replicate the Fish McFeast exactly, but simply dressing your Filet-O-Fish up like a burger will deliver a very similar dining experience.

The next international Filet-O-Fish variation on this list is one that will require you to bring along some of your own supplies, but it is one worth exploring. When it comes to the best dipping sauces for fish besides tartar sauce, there is one Asian-inspired combination that really does the trick: wasabi mayo. McDonald's is not blind to this fact, and in certain Asian markets you can actually order a Filet-O-Fish sandwich topped with Mickey D's own signature pale green wasabi sauce.

Unfortunately, while there was a different wasabi-topped Filet-O-Fish that made an appearance on French McDonald's menus, wasabi mayo is not a condiment that you will find as an easy addition in U.S. McDonald's restaurants. In order to make this one, you'll need to stop by the grocery store first. The benefits of this are that you can pick your own favorite wasabi sauce and you also get to decide exactly how much to slather on. A bottle of Kikkoman Wasabi Sauce will only run you a few dollars, and contains plenty to dress quite a few sandwiches. Or, for even more control of the flavor (at the cost of a bit more labor) you can pick up a tube of Fusion Select Real Wasabi and whip up your own wasabi mayo with as much kick as you like. Other than adding that pungent green sauce, all you need to do to replicate this fish sandwich from Asian McDonald's restaurants is cut the tartar sauce and add lettuce.

The final entry on this list isn't one that you will find on a McDonald's menu anywhere in the world. Instead, it is an internationally themed viral Filet-O-Fish modification that simply bears mentioning. It is not particularly hard to turn a Filet-O-Fish combo meal into something that resembles an order of fish and chips, as it already includes both fried fish and french fries, but the real beauty comes when they are combined into a single sandwich — and if the idea of putting fries on a sandwich doesn't sound great, definitely don't look up another British standard, the chip butty.

To upgrade your Filet-O-Fish into the British pub staple, all you really need to do is order the combo meal and then lift up the top bun and pile some fries in there. A half slice of American cheese isn't something that you'd find with a typical order at the chip shop, but when it comes to finding the middle ground between these two classics, it certainly doesn't hurt anything. Tartar sauce — spelled with an extra "e" on the end in the U.K. — is a common accompaniment to fish and chips, so you can go ahead and leave that in the sandwich order, as well. For the full experience, though, you might want to pack in an ingredient or two of your own. A squeeze of lemon rarely goes awry with fried fish, but nothing beats the authenticity of dressing both fish and fries with a splash of malt vinegar. You'll have to pack the bottle yourself, but if you want it to taste like the real thing, it is more than worth it.