11 International Costco Food Court Menu Items We Desperately Want To Try

Costco's food court is a godsend for families and individuals seeking a wallet-friendly bite on the go. A $1.50 hot dog or $2 slice of pizza makes the perfect bribe for the kids before a two-hour sojourn in the endless maze of the warehouse, and the ice cream sundae with a warm, oversized chocolate chip cookie on the side is a hard-to-beat snack for the drive home. In the United States, Costco's food court items are foods most would consider squarely American: pizza, sandwiches, salads, chicken bakes, soda, coffee, and sundaes.

However, Costco currently operates stores all over the world. While many food court items found in the U.S. can be found overseas, the international stores also have some wild food court offerings that put the U.S. food courts to shame. Some, like Canada's poutine, are designed to mimic the local cuisine, while others don't make as much sense for the locations (looking at you, chili cheese fries in Taiwan) — but if Costco's behind them, we want to try them no matter what. From fish and chips to bulgogi pizza, here are 11 Costco food court items outside the United States that have us drooling.

Variations of meat pies are common in many cultures around the world. These savory pies typically consist of a puffy, golden pie crust stuffed with loads of gravy, veggies, and a filling like chicken or beef, but recipes and ingredients vary widely. In Australia, you'll often find the country's national favorite condiment, vegemite, in the mix, but that's not the case with the meat pies served at Australian Costco food courts. Costco food courts in Australia serve Aussie steak pies bursting with savory gravy and juicy steak for AUD 7.99 (or roughly USD 5.09).

The retailer's 300-gram meat pie can be topped with ketchup and relish. The sizable steak pie has a gorgeous, flaky, puffy, golden-brown crust enveloping an interior consisting of large chunks of steak swimming in piping hot dark brown gravy. Considering the pie's contents, it appears large enough to reasonably split between two adults, but these meat pies look so tasty that it'd be understandable if shoppers don't want to share. The Aussie steak pies look like they'd fill you up and warm you from head to toe, and we are begging Costco U.S. to get these to our food courts ASAP.

U.S. Costco members living near the Canadian border are in luck as long as we're talking gravy. Costco Canada's dining court not only serves french fries (a luxury that eludes the states) but also fries with the option of gravy or Canada's unofficial national food, poutine. Poutine recipes can vary a bit, but at its core, poutine consists of fries topped with generous helpings of gravy and cheese curds. Costco food courts, well-known for simplicity in their offerings, provide exactly that.

By all accounts, the retailer's cafeteria french fries are very solid on their own, and when smothered with gravy and gooey, melty globs of mozzarella curds, it's like taking regular cheese fries and catapulting them to the moon. Are there better spots for poutine in the gigantic country? Surely. However, at CAD 5.99 (around USD 4.21), Canadian Costco food courts' poutine dish is a steal and well worth a try should you visit a location up north. Psst ... you can also get chicken strips with fries at Canadian Costcos — a dish which, despite fitting in squarely with American fast food options, is unavailable in the U.S.

Iceland seems to have it all — stunning hot springs, out-of-this-world Northern lights viewing, residents who consistently place near the top of the rankings in the World Happiness Report. However, there's one thing U.S. residents have in abundance that you'll be hard-pressed to find in Iceland: an abundance of Costcos. There is only one Costco in Iceland, and it's located just outside the capital city of Reykjavik. That said, the nation's solitary Costco store carries some incredible products, and its food court has one item that has American shoppers green with envy — an Italian-style gelato station.

As is the case with many of the Costcos outside of the U.S., the Iceland store's food court also carries the standard pizza, chicken bakes, and so on. While Costcos in America do offer ice cream, as does the one in Iceland, Iceland's gelato offering looks to be far more sophisticated, with multiple flavor options available. Visiting the Costco food court may not be the first thing on your Iceland bucket list, but it seems well worth a stop if you're a die-hard member of the Costco cult.

With only one store, Iceland may be one of the countries with the fewest Costcos, but France is ahead by just a nose with two warehouses in the entire country. For the record, neither store is in Paris — you'll have to travel outside the city of love to Pontault-Combault or Villebon-sur-Yvette for your French Costco experience. The French menus have several similarities to those of the U.S. food courts alongside a handful of unique items, namely a Cobb salad, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (for some reason), and a fish and chips meal.

Fish and chips have long been a favorite across the U.K. (and especially in Britain) and are not generally thought of as a French delicacy, but hey, it's probably not the weirdest thing you'll ever encounter in a Costco. Why the French Costco carries fish and chips while none of the U.K. stores seem to is a mystery beyond us, but we're drooling at the thought of the big box store's take on the classic dish. These battered fish and crispy french fries (American fries are called "chips" across the pond) can be yours for just a handful of euros.

While Costco is certainly not the best way to sample all the incredible foods China has to offer, Chinese Costco food courts may just be the most diverse out there — at least when compared to those in the U.S. Costco cardholders in China have access to items like coffee, unique ice cream flavors, pork mooncakes, and red wine beef pie, but the item we're most anxious to try is Costco China's okonomiyaki pizza. 

Okonomiyaki originates from Japan and is a popular dish in China and several other Asian countries. It's essentially a savory flour-based pancake crust finished with toppings of the vendor's choice — often proteins, veggies, sauces, and additional accoutrement. Sound familiar? Yep — it's sort of like pizza, and this was likely the thought process behind this unique addition to the menu at Chinese Costco food courts. 

Reddit users have found the dish specifically at Suzhou, China's Costco. The okonomiyaki consists of a crispy crust topped with octopus (umm, wow?!), corn, peppers, mayo, and bonito flakes (fermented, dried, and smoked skipjack tuna flakes). It's a world of difference from the greasy (albeit delicious) cheese and pepperoni slices offered at the American warehouse food courts, and might just be a good enough reason to add Costco to your China trip itinerary.

Just as Costco in Canada took a nationwide favorite dish and turned it into a food court staple, Costco food courts in South Korea sell a few food court items that give a nod to the country's rich culinary culture while replicating some of the comfort foods of the cafeterias found in the U.S. There's a pork bake in place of the American chicken bake, but the item that truly wows is the bulgogi pizza.

Bulgogi is a traditional Korean dish made by thinly slicing beef and leaving it to marinate in a mixture of soy sauce, sweetener (often honey or sugar), minced garlic, sesame oil, and in some cases, pureed Asian pear, which adds a nice acidity to the mix and helps tenderize the meat. Bulgogi is most commonly served over rice, but nowadays, it's possible to find this slightly sweet, umami-rich meat served over salads, in burritos, in bao buns, and now, atop pizza at the food court at Costco. If you enjoy variations on BBQ chicken pizza and have an affinity for the rich, unique flavors of Korean food, Costco's bulgogi pizza in South Korea is a must-have.

Like many of the other countries mentioned on this list, Japanese Costco food courts serve up a menu closely resembling that of the United States, with a couple of twists — for example, while the famous Costco hot dogs in the U.S. are made from beef, you'll find all-pork hot dogs in Japan; and although both countries serve pizza, the offerings for American shoppers are stagnant while Japan's pizza options rotate throughout the year.

One dining court menu item you can't find in the U.S. is — drumroll, please — clam chowder. As we've seen, although many international Costco food court items pay homage to the country's cuisine, there are a few options that seem slightly out of place, and clam chowder certainly falls into that bucket. Still, the clam chowder looks pretty darn tasty. The clam chowder appears nice and thick, loaded with seafood, and offers the option to add oyster crackers (a must-do for clam chowder) to the mix. While it would be cool to see some additional Japanese-inspired items in the Costco cafeteria in Japan, the clam chowder is certainly a unique addition to the menu.

Fried chicken can be found all over the world, but since the explosion of fried chicken-based fast food empires like Popeyes and Chik-fil-A, crispy fried chicken has taken on a distinctly American vibe — so naturally, upon learning that Costco food courts in China offer spicy fried chicken buckets, American Costco members went into a total frenzy. Costco has not offered an official explanation as to why its U.S. food courts aren't currently serving up fried chicken of any kind, but social media speculation indicates everything from rising costs to supplier issues to a fear of deterring customers from the store's popular rotisserie chicken.

Whatever the case may be, it doesn't appear that the United States will be seeing fried chicken in Costco food courts anytime soon, so for now, we'll just have to drool over China's spicy fried chicken bucket from afar. Costco China sells spicy fried chicken in buckets and offers a three or six-piece option consisting of thickly breaded fried chicken thighs and drumsticks (the spicy kick appears to come from an ingredient in the batter). If you've ever dreamed of roaming the kitchen appliances or clothing aisles at Costco and munching on a delicious, freshly fried drumstick, you'd better add a trip to Costco China to your (fried chicken) bucket list.

Shepherd's pie has to be one of the absolute best comfort foods of all time. A savory pie composed of creamy mashed potatoes sitting atop a medley of ground lamb and veggies with gravy, shepherd's pie will warm you to your bones on a snowy day — and, depending on how it's prepared, can be quite a nutritious meal. Cottage pie is almost the exact same thing; the main difference between shepherd's pie and cottage pie is that cottage pie is made with ground beef rather than lamb. In fact, many of the "shepherd's pies" seen in the United States are technically cottage pies, as beef is more readily available and affordable than lamb in the U.S.

Cottage pie is fairly simple to prepare at home, but Costco members in the United Kingdom have an even easier option: picking up some pipin'-hot-and-ready cottage pie from the Costco food court. Named the Aberdeen Angus cottage pie, this U.K.-only food court option consists of ground beef and veggies swimming in a rich, dark brown gravy, finished with a generous helping of mashed potatoes. While it may not be the easiest cafeteria item to eat during a shopping trip, the Aberdeen Angus cottage pie would certainly make for a delicious and filling dinner after shopping.

If poutine is Canada's version of loaded fries, chili cheese fries must serve as the official loaded fry of the U.S. Chili cheese fries typically involve fries, cut into any fry shape — straight, crinkle-cut, waffle, whatever you like, which are then doused in gobs of gooey, melty cheese and topped off with a generous portion of chili. These fries are yet another staunchly American food item not currently available in United States Costco food courts (we don't even have fries, for cryin' out loud). Yet somehow, they've made their way onto the menu abroad.

Costco food courts in Taiwan serve chili cheese fries, and the reviews from shoppers lucky enough to have tried this delicacy are raves. The hand-cut fries look thick and crispy, finished off with cheese, chili, and a sprinkling of raw chopped onions. A well-seasoned and balanced chili is, naturally, a huge part of executing a successful cheese fry, and word on the street is that the Taiwanese Costco food court's rendition is quite good. It's always amazing to try authentic local cuisine in other countries, but if you're traveling in Taiwan and need a little taste of the U.S., the Costco food court cheese fries seem like a great way to go.

In the United States, Costco's $1.50 hot dog and soda combo is tough to beat. Honestly, it's tough to find any type of meal for under $5, so having such a delicious treat at an affordable price is a godsend. That said, longtime members of the big box retailer know that for $1.50, you're not getting anything too fancy — it's an all-beef hot dog in a bun with a toppings bar that includes ketchup, mustard, and relish (chopped raw onions were made available for a limited time, but those are long gone).

However, Costco food courts vary quite a bit when we journey outside of the United States, and while many other countries offer hot dogs, the available meat, buns, and toppings differ depending on location. Take a trip south of the border to one of Mexico's 40 warehouses, for instance, and you'll find a special jalapeño dispenser at Costco, perfect for topping off a hot dog (they also have the chopped raw onions, lucky ducks). The dispenser churns out slices of pickled jalapeños via a hand crank apparatus, allowing shoppers to dress up their hot dogs (and other food court items) with a bit of heat. Not only does a Costco hot dog with jalapeños sound fire, but this jalapeño dispenser sounds like a tool that really should be available at Costco stores worldwide.