Go! Go! Asia!

Besides the western (mostly American) fast-food chains that are in Japan, there are number of Japanese original fast-food chains. Most of them are actually much better than McDonalds and Burger King.

Probably the most popular Japanese chain is MOS Burger.

Their name is  頭字語 (an acronym) for Mountain, Ocean, Sun.

I have eaten at MOS Burger many times. Their food, although a bit expensive, is quite good.
I didn’t know before though that the Japanese hamburger chain MOS Burger has restaurants in other countries around Asia.

Currently MOS Burger is having a special campaign at all of their stores in Japan and across Asia.
This campaign is being called “Go! Go! Asia!”

Now until early February, MOS Burger is offering a new limited-time-only grilled chicken burger as a part of their “Go! Go! Asia!” campaign.

It’s called 「塩バターチキンバーガー」 (“Salt Butter Chicken Burger“) with ペッパー風味 (pepper taste).
The burger has a grilled chicken patty covered in salty butter sauce with crispy French Fries on top.

Kind of unusual. It might be good but I don’t eat at MOS Burger very often so I probably won’t be trying it.

How about you? Does this burger look good to you? Would you try it? Have you ever eaten at MOS Burger in Japan…or in another country?

In Japan, the price for the 「塩バターチキンバーガー」 (“Salt Butter Chicken Burger“) is ¥360 (about US$4.30).

タワーチーズバーガー

I wrote a post last October about Burger King Japan’s Whopper 7, which was a giant burger that Burger King in Japan offered for a limited time that had seven patties.

(Click here to read that post).

Well, now they’ve been outdone by the hamburger chain ロッテリア (Lotteria Japan).

At Lotteria you can buy the 「タワーチーズバーガー」 (“Tower Cheeseburger“).

If you order this burger, you pay the basic price of a cheeseburger (¥160) and then an additional ¥100 per patty that you want added.
Up to a total of ten patties can be on your “Tower Cheeseburger“.

Lotteria's ten patty "Tower Cheeseburger"

But if you order the full ten patties, they’ll give it to you at a reduced price of ¥990 (rather than the full ¥1,060).

I didn’t try Burger King’s “Whopper 7” so I definitely won’t be buying a ten patty one either!
But a double cheeseburger costs ¥260 and a triple cheeseburger costs ¥360…

The double burger would be alright...but even a triple is too much, I think.

Big America

McDonalds Japan will be offering four new versions of their “Quarter Pounder” burger starting next month.
Only one of the new burgers will be available at a time though.

All four of the new burgers are known as “Big America burgers. And individually they are: “Texas Burger“, “New York Burger“, “California Burger“, and “Hawaiian Burger“.

The first of the four that will be available is the “Texas Burger“. It will be available starting on 2010 January 15.
It has bacon and BBQ sauce.

Next will be the “New York Burger“. It will go on sale in early February 2010.
It’ll be like a BLT meets a Quarter Pounder“…bacon, lettuce and tomato on the burger.

Then in late February 2010, the “California Burger” will be the one available.
It’ll have Monterrey Jack cheese.

And finally, in March 2010, the “Hawaiian Burger” will be on the menu.
It’ll have a egg and is called a Hawaiian Loco-moco style burger.

On the McDonalds Japan website, visitors an click a button if they intend to try all four of the Big America burgers. When I checked the site, it said that “105,423 people will try all four burgers“.

To me, none of them sound all that special. I don’t think I’ll buy any of them.
How about you? Which of them sounds good to you? Would you try all four?

Are these burgers available at McDonalds in your country…or is it only in Japan?

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Anyways, the Xmas decorations went down yesterday in Japan and were replaced with the traditional Japanese New Years decorations.

New Years is Japan’s biggest holiday.

Here’s a New Years window display at a store that my family and I went to today.

And while we were out, we passed a little league baseball game near the river:

Fastfood Summer Campaigns

Today was a beautiful clear day, and the sounds of 蝉 (cicadas) could be heard…but it was also very hot and humid!

Definitely summer in Japan.

Alot of people like to eat spicy food in the summer. Supposedly it helps cool you off.
Whether or not that’s true, I’m not sure…but I like spicy food (especially with beer! 🙂 ).

Many fast-food chains in Japan are offering special items on the menu for the summer only. Alot of those items are spicy.

I already mentioned Lotteria‘s new burger (and special money-back guarantee) in an earlier post (Click here to see it.)

◆ McDonalds Japan is offering a 「ヨーグルト味 McShake」 (“Yogurt flavor McShake“) for only ¥100.

「ヨーグルト味 (Yogurt Flavored) McShake」

◆ McDonalds Japan also has Spicy Juicy Chicken sandwiches. They offer two flavors 「ブラック・ペッパー」 (Black Pepper) and 「赤とうがらし」 (Red Chili).

Spicy Juicy Chicken (Black Pepper or Red Chili)

◆ MOS Burger has a campaign that says: 「夏はチキンとスパイスだ！！」 (“Summer is chicken and spice!!”).
They’re offering two spicy chicken sandwiches this summer too. 「ホットチキンバーガー」 (“Hot Chicken Burger“) with salsa, and 「カレーチキンバーガー」 (“Curry Chicken Burger“).

MOS Burger's "Hot Chicken Burger" & "Chili Chicken Burger"

◆ Wendy’s Japan is also offering two chicken sandwiches this summer. One is 「和風」 (“Japanese style”) and the other is 「洋風」 (“Western style”). Their campaign poster says: 「ふたつの夏チキン、PLEASE!」 (“Two (types of) summer chicken, please!).
The “Japanese” sandwich is 「おろしチキンサンド」 (“Grated Radish Chicken Sandwich“) and the “Western” one is 「サルサチキンサンド」 (“Salsa Chicken Sandwich“).

"Japanese" or "Western" style chicken sandwiches. Which would you choose?

◆ Burger King has introduced the Angry Whopper to Japan in time for the summer. I heard that Burger King in the U.S. already had this burger…but the Japanese one is a bit different—customized to Japanese tastes. For example, the U.S. version has bacon and the Japanese version doesn’t…and U.S. one and the Japanese one have different sauces from each other.

This burger has ハラペーニョ (jalapeno peppers) and you can choose how many jalapeno peppers you want on the burger…from level one which has four peppers up to level five with twenty peppers!

Burger King Japan's "Angry Whopper"

Burger King America's "Angry Whopper"