A few months ago, when I first found out where I my homestay family’s house was, I looked up the area on Google Maps. I saw that there was a McDonalds just a few blocks away from the house, and I thought, “If I don’t like Japanese food, atleast I won’t starve.” Therefore, you can imagine my excitement when I visited the actual Japanese McDonalds I saw on street view.
The Texas Burger is the newest offering at Japanese McDonalds, but I didn’t try it.
After I entered the store, I approached the counter and waited patiently, as a father was ordering for himself and his two young children. I didn’t completely understand what they were saying, but there seemed to be some confusion about one of the combos. The woman working at the counter spent about 5 minutes talking to the man, and the entire time I was thinking about how people would not stand for this delay in an American McDonalds!
After I finally placed my order, I received a large paper bag. The large bag had two smaller paper bags in it, one for my food and one for my drink. A paper bag for my drink? This was actually pretty cool! I was also surprised at the size of my cup. Although it may not look like it from the picture, this “regular” sized soda was much closer to a small at our McDonalds.
The main event! I ordered what I think is the equivalent of the quarter pounder with cheese, and it tasted basically the same as its American counterpart with a few small exceptions. The bun was considerably drier and overall not as good as the American hamburger bun. This came as a surprise, as the bread in Japan has typically been better than American bread. Burger = B
The fries were considerably different. The Japanese ones were cut more thickly, and the potatos were more oily than usual. Overall, they tasted more like American Wendy’s fries than the McDonalds fries that everyone loves. Like Wendys fries, but worse. Fries = C+
Overall Grade = B- . I thought that typically foreign McDonalds tasted better than American McDonalds – I remember when I visited England, the McDonalds was considerably better. In Japan, you pay more but end up with lower quality food. Nevertheless, it was fun to eat a burger and fries again.
