Taste

McDonalds in Japan is a strange creature. Familiar yet at the same time alien. One would think upon first thought that maybe McDonalds doesn't really fit into the mold of Japanese cuisine. But like most foreign things in Japan it has been altered to suit the Japanese taste and sensibilities. That is why pizza in Japan has CORN and MAYONNAISE and why taco's are NOT ACTUALLY TACOS AT ALL. McDonalds is no exception to this food altering rule. Yes ladies and gentleman, this blog is about McDonalds in Japan. I'm sorry for you vegans and vegetarians out there. This might make you sick.

I should point out that I don't really go to McDonalds all that frequently. I should also note, however, that the concept of new and interesting burgers does intrigue me. So for the last year and half (or however long I've been here), I've made the effort to try out a new burger every time one comes out. Only problem? It seems every month there is some kind of new burger waiting to be eaten by me and my pal Kevin.

The standard menu has the classics such as the big mac, the cheeseburger and the quarter pounder. These are the favourites that McDonalds has used to conquer the world with. The taste appears to be the same and they're really nothing to call home about. So what will I call home about? What does home NEED to know about? Let's start with the standard menu.

The Prawn Burger

(crustaceany!)

Imagine the Fillet'o'fish but with prawns instead of ... fish. It also has some kind of thousand island dressing / mayonnaise sauce dropped on top. I don't really know what the sauce is but it's like an orange pink colour so there are only so many things it could be right? My brief research into this burger says that McDonalds first launched this to fight drops in sales due to the mad cow disease scare of '02. Even though apparently McDonalds uses Australian beef which was not under threat. Holla!

The Teriyaki Burger

(SHINE!)

Does anyone actually know what flavour teriyaki is supposed to be? I can tell you that the word itself comes from two Japanese words, teri meaning 'to shine' or 'to have lustre' and yaki referring to the cooking method, that is to say, grilling or boiling. I believe the burger patty is made of pork but with such vague definitions of what meat must go in it's really anyone's guess. The teriyaki sauce is pretty good if not a little bit messy but it's a decent size and is generally pretty popular here.

The Pork Burger

(Obviously it never looks like this)

You may have noticed I'm leaving out the Mc- prefix of a lot of these burgers. This is technically the McPork burger but I don't need to insult your intelligence. This is about the size of a cheese burger except the patty is actually slightly larger than the bun resulting in a humorous hang off (not in the picture obviously). It comes with a garlic and black pepper sauce and is available on the 100￥ menu. It's got a tangy taste to it but the pork patty is a little soft. It makes me too conscious that I am eating pork.

The Nippon All Stars

(apparently too amazing to show the entire burger)

Every now and then McDonalds has some kind of promotion to sell new stuff for a limited time only. The first time this came around during my time here in Japan was the Nippon All Stars (Japanese All Stars). Four burgers apparently chosen because of their greatness.

You can pretty much tell what's in each from looking at them but for the few among you that require explanations there is the Egg Double Mac which features meat, eggs and bacon. The Tsukimi burger (moon viewing burger) which takes out a patty of meat from the previous burger and adds in an... interesting 'moon viewing' sauce. The Chicken Tatsuta burger which replaces lettuce with cabbage and was apparently popular due to mixing the taste of soy sauce (on the chicken) and mayonnaise. Finally the Gracoro burger which was essentially a cheesy, creamy mix that is deep fried (a croquet) with croquet sauce to boot.

I can only assume that these burgers have been on the menu at some stage and have now made a comeback with a brand new ad campaign featuring an extremely stereotypical American family freaking out about the wonders of the Japanese burgers. A lot of foreigners weren't happy with this because the family really are stupid, but I found them to be charming.

Here Mr. James is saying 'Tamaran desu', his catch phrase, meaning 'I can't resist it'. It's written in katakana which is the Japanese alphabet usually reserved for sound effects or foreign phrases. That is to say, when things from other languages need to be spoken in Japanese they use this alphabet. Meaning that even written, Mr. James is quite clearly a foreigner. What a champ.

The America Burgers

So after the whirlwind that was the Nippon All Stars, the world of McDonalds calmed down for a little bit and life returned to normal. That is until one day when word of the new series of America burgers were unleashed upon poor unsuspecting Japanese folk. Four burgers apparently featuring flavours from various states of America. New York, California, Hawaii and Texas to be exact.

(AMERICA!)

New York is defined by a quarter pounder with tomato, bacon, fancy cheese and mustard sauce. A lot of mustard sauce. Practically 73% of the burger is mustard sauce. There was a lot of mustard sauce.

California is supposedly quite similar to New York but this time the cheese is a little bit spicy and instead of drenching the SHIT out of the burger in mustard sauce they use quite a powerful tasting red wine based sauce.

The Texas burger takes a step sideways and features bacon, fried bits of onion, a mustard relish and barbeque sauce. In true Texan fashion it also provides a segregative wall/bun to keep the above ingredients away from the white people / burger.

Lastly is the Hawaiian burger. You may all be surprised that it in fact does NOT have pineapple. What the hell is Hawaiian food without pineapple?! It's got bacon and lettuce which is fine. A slice of American cheese (just so the world knows who it belongs to), gravy and an egg. I don't really see how it has anything to do with Hawaii but what do I know? Nothing apparently.

Pretentious Chicken Burgers

(The most eligible bachelors this side of the 1800's)

Just when you thought everything was coming in fours, McDonalds sends a big karate chop to your over inflated ego with two chicken burgers that will leave you spinning... Due to the karate chop. I am talking about the Salt and Lemon Burger, and the Aurora Burger. Lacking no official name as a duo I've given them a title worthy of the general attitude surrounding them.

The S+L burger is some fried chicken with the usual stuff and a salty lemony sauce. Surprised? It's not so much circular as it is oval in design. It's quite interesting though! In fact it seems it was so interesting that it appears to have weasled itself onto the standard menu! It's sister the Aurora burger however was lacking something, i.e. the good sauce, and had a mysterious 'aurora' sauce (also know as BIG MAC SAUCE) instead. Disappointing.

iCon Chicken Burgers

Lately McDonalds has been trying to infiltrate the chicken section of the fast food market. Sure they've had the McChicken for ages but who really gets that? Chicken nuggets are pretty popular though... I digress. McDonalds have upped the ante with four new chicken burgers. It should be noted though that these are the most recent releases and so as such have not all appeared in stores. But McDonalds in Japan like to pre-release some of these burgers in only a few stores around the country so that means I have had two out of the four burgers.

(The width of the picture is approximately how fat they will all make you)

First up is the Cheese Fondue Burger. Get a piece of fried chicken, chuck it in cheese, put it on a bun and then add more cheese on top. The taste is OK but sort of just OK. I don't regret buying it but I probably wouldn't buy it again.

Second is the German Sausage Burger which suggests that chicken just isn't enough and

chucks in some German sausage! Woo!

Third is the Diavolo Burger or with better spelling, the Diablo burger. My friends tried

this recently at one of the pre-release releases and said that it was a good level of spicy.

Finally the Carbonara burger. That yellow stuff seeping out the top looks like corn

but there isn't any kind of immediate corn taste so I'll just go ahead and guess

that it's some kind of carbonara sauce...

Other
So now you've been privy to the kind of burgers McDonalds has been splashing around Japan. I realise that in Australia we've got the healthy option menu and the McCafe's etc. but we're all used to them by now. They're boring. McDonalds Japan are trying to make their foods seem fresh by just constantly changing what's on offer. When giving new burgers isn't enough they've got plenty more up their sleeve.

Green Tea & Oreo McFlurry.

Stuff you Oreos! Japan is going to do to you what it does to every. single. thing... and make you green tea flavoured!

McGriddles

The concept of these makes me sick. Regular breakfast Mcmuffins with... burstlets of maple syrup in the buns. I'm sorry. No. Guess what country THESE initially came from?
Banana milkshake

McHotDog

I chose this picture over I nice clean one because of the writing above the title. "200% Taste". Just for when simple 100% isn't good enough. Not also the MEGA SAUSAGE. Eating this I guess would be akin to getting a punch in the jaw.

Mega Muffin

I won't lie to you. This can absolutely hit the spot after a big night drinking. I haven't ordered one in aaaages though because they make me feel guilty. Look at it. You know why.

McDonalds appears to be able to create burgers of good, and also burgers of evil. It's not such a big issue though because it's not like we have to eat it. I have three McDonalds in my town but none of them open for the breakfast menu and they all close at 8. Which sort of rules out prime McDonalds eating time of 12am - 3am. The drink choices vary a lot more too and have things like ice tea, melon soda and ice coffee etc. 'Meals' are referred to as 'sets' and instead of Large, Medium and Small - they use 'L saizu(size)' 'M saizu' and 'S saizu'.

What's most interesting is that working for McDonalds doesn't appear to be devalued by society! As an ex-McDonalds employee myself I could regale you all with what I went through in my 5 months of McDonaldship but that my friends, is another story.

...... I'm not writing a blog about that.

And before you all start slagging off McDonalds for being the worst fast food venue in the world. Look what the Japanese restaurant, Loteria, has created...

(Ladies and gentleman... the TOWER BURGER)

Monstrous.



kris.