Idaho to the east, Miami to the west

The four special burgers for the Big America 2 campaign at McDonalds in Japan have all had their turn on the menu.

And now McDonalds Japan is bringing back the “Miami Burger” and the “Idaho Burger“.

Back on the menu for one week only...2011 March 25th - 31st.

I think the two best burgers of the “Big America 2” campaign were the “Texas2 Burger” and the “Miami Burger“…but, unfortunately for me, McDonalds isn’t bringing back the “Miami Burger” and the “Idaho Burger” to their stores across the whole country.
The “Idaho Burger” will be in their stores in 東日本 (east Japan), except for the 東北地方 (“Tohoku Region”) which is the area that was hit by the recent disaster, and the “Miami Burger” will be in McDonalds in 西日本 (western Japan).

Tokyo, which is where I live, is in eastern Japan…so the “Idaho Burger” is available here until 31 March. I prefer the “Miami Burger” though.

I won’t be buying an “Idaho Burger“, but I do plan to try the other new burger that is currently on the menu at McDonalds Japan…the 「チリチキン」 (“Chili Chicken”) sandwich.

The "Chili Chicken" sandwich is available at McDonalds all over Japan.

I love chili and I love chicken…so I think I’ll like this sandwich!

McDonalds Japan 40th anniversary

McDonalds opened their first restaurant in Japan in 1971. So this year (2011) is their 40周年 (40th anniversary) in Japan. (That means I came to Japan before McDonalds 20周年 (20th anniversary) here! Hard to believe.)

The sign says "Makudonarudo (McDonalds) Hamburger"

For their 40th anniversary, McDonalds Japan is currently offering the “Big America 2” burgers that I mentioned in an earlier post.

They’re currently offering the third one (out of four)…the “Miami Burger“.

The “Miami Burger” looks good. I’ll probably try it.
The “Texas 2 Burger” and the “Idaho Burger” have already been on the menu…the “Texas 2” was quite good. I didn’t try the “Idaho Burger” though.

In addition to the “Big America 2” campaign, McDonalds Japan is also offering Chicken McNuggets for only ¥100 (about US$1.20) this week for their 40th anniversary.

And if you use your cell-phone to access the McDonalds Japan cell-phone coupons page (only in Japanese), you can get both Chicken McNuggets and a medium-size drink (I prefer hot coffee…which has free refills, by the way) for only ¥200 (about US$2.40).

Next week, instead of McNuggets, the “Filet-o-fish” will be discounted to ¥100.

The breakfast menu is also having specials for McDonalds anniversary.
From now until the end of March, a different breakfast sandwich and drink set will only cost ¥200 for two-weeks each.
Currently, the “Salad Marinade Muffin” and drink is only ¥200. Then the “McHotdog“, “Egg McMuffin” and “Filet-o-fish” will be discounted one-at-a-time for two weeks each.

If I eat fast-food, I usually choose McDonalds because of their ¥100 – ¥200 menu items, cell-phone coupons, and “bottomless” coffee.
If I want to spend more than a few hundred yen on lunch, I’ll go get “real” food.

Big America 2

Last January, McDonalds in Japan began offering, for a limited time, four new burgers at different times that were collectively known as the “Big America” burgers.

First they offered the Texas Burger, then the New York Burger, followed by the California Burger and finally they offered the Hawaiian Burger.

Click here to read my post about the McDonalds Japan “Big America” burgers campaign.

Of those four I thought that the “New York Burger” and the “California Burger” were the best and the “Texas Burger” was the worst!

I guess most people felt differently though because it seems that the “Texas Burger” was the most popular of the four. I don’t understand why…I thought it wasn’t good at all.

Anyways, now a year after the original “Big America” campaign, McDonalds Japan will begin the “Big America 2” burgers campaign next week.

The first burger will be the “Texas 2 Burger” because of the popularity of the original Texas Burger.
The “Texas 2 Burger” will become available on 2011 January 7th until late-January. And it says that the recipe has been changed a bit…hence the name “Texas 2“.

After that, from late-January until mid-February, the new “Idaho Burger” will go on sale. As the U.S. state of Idaho is mostly famous for it’s potatoes, this burger will have a potato hash-brown on it!

From mid-February until mid-March, the “Miami Burger” will be available and it will have nacho chips on it!

Then, beginning in mid-March the “Manhattan Burger” will be on the menu. It will be designed to be like a NY deli sandwich with pastrami beef and mozzarella cheese.

I still think that the Texas Burger doesn’t look good…even if they “updated the taste”. The Miami Burger (even though I think nachos on a burger is a strange idea) and the Manhattan Burger look the best to me.

Which do you think looks good? Will you be trying any of these?