Big Mac is here, almost.

Come July, foodies in the city can enjoy their monsoon evening out at McDonald’s, the world’s largest chain of burger restaurant.

The maiden McDonald’s outlet in Bihar-Jharkhand is coming up at The Premiere Square (Elphinstone and Mona cinemas) at east Gandhi Maidan. The trademark “M” can be seen from the western side of Gandhi Maidan and the McDonald’s board has also been put at the under-construction outlet.

Sharad Kumar, manager (accounts), The Premiere Square, said the new McDonald’s outlet is on the ground floor of the building and its seating capacity is likely to be around 150. Prima facie, the outlet seems to be a dining-cum-drive through unit.

Connoisseurs of burger and sandwich in the city are more than happy with the news of McDonald’s. “Almost every big city in the country, including Delhi, Calcutta, Pune and Bangalore, have McDonald’s outlets. McDonald’s is comparatively cheaper than other retail food chains and its items are also simply delicious. I can’t wait to take a big bite of my favourite Big Mac burger in my city,” said Roshan Jha of Gardanibagh.

McDonald’s apart, other retail food chains having their outlets in Patna include KFC at Gandhi Maidan and Boring Canal Road, Pizza Hut at Exhibition Road, Domino’s Pizza at Exhibition Road, P&M Mall and Jagdeo Path and CCD at Gandhi Maidan, Boring Road and P&M Mall.

The city is also set to have its tryst with a new mall, Central, a hypermarket owned by Pantaloon Retail India, which is going to be opened at Fraser Road in the first week of July.

Cine buffs also have reasons to rejoice as Mexico-based firm Cinepolis too is going to open its second multiplex at the Central.

Food apart, Central would also fulfil the appetite of the shopaholics to much extent. The first four floors of the mall located in front of LIC building at Fraser Road are solely occupied by Central.

Sudhir Kumar, project manager, Central, said there would be around 260 stores at the mall, including those offering cosmetics, men’s and women’s clothing and accessories, footwear, eyewear and watches among others. Popular brands like Wills Lifestyle, Indian Terrain, Baggit, United Colors of Benetton among many others would be seen at Central.

“We have targeted to open the Central spread over the first four floors of the mall in the first week of July. A food court on the fifth floor and Cinepolis multiplex on the sixth floor would be inaugurated later, when the work on them would be completed,” said Sudhir.

Central has outlets in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cochin, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Vadodara, Gurgaon, Indore, Nagpur, Jaipur, Surat and Visakhapatnam among others.

Sudhir added that the Cinepolis multiplex at Central would be having three screens. Another multiplex of Cinepolis at P&M Mall in Patliputra has four screens and it was opened in July 2011.

Facilities apart, steps have also been taken to ensure sufficient parking arrangement at Central. “For the first time in Patna, we have introduced hydraulic parking system at Central, wherein a car would be placed one over the other on hydraulic platforms. On surface, the parking lot in the ground floor of the mall has the capacity of 168 cars, which would go up to 250 vehicles under the hydraulic system,” said Sudhir.

Shopaholics are upbeat about the advent of Central. “Though there are a number of outlets of major brands in the city but at times, I have observed that they do not change their collection frequently, due to which we see the same clothes again and again,” said Neha Srivastava of Gola Road.