Tower Cheese Monstrosity Returns!!

Cheesy Monstrosity was back for one day only!

Despite my intended focus of this blog being games and Japanese media and culture I keep getting sucked into the wonderful world of Ltd. Edition foods and drinks that are constantly being churned out here!

On 20th November, the hamburger chain Lotteria re-released their limited edition tower cheese burger for one day only. The last time they did this they sold out so quickly, but this time I got lucky!
For ¥500 you get just the burger, or for ¥700 you get a small drink and fries too. The drink is essential for all the damn meat you are about to eat...!

The tower cheese burger consists of a bun, 5 big meat patties and ton of cheese wedged inbetween. I saw some pretty horrific monstrosities on twitter the last time this promo took place so was pleasantly surprised to see that mine sort of resembled the promo photo!

It's difficult to eat, being bigger than the average mouth. I chose to attack it from the side, a salaryman infront of my tries to attack it from the bottom but he became a greasy mess within seconds...! The meat is...disappointing. It is edible but one word I would use to describe it is 'mushy'. Didn't feel solid at all, compared to other popular burger chains this is definitely dog food tier meat. There is no way cheese should have that bright yellow colour either, just doesn't look natural!

The main problem was grease, the bun inevitably gets soaked and makes your hands stink! I had to use a bunch of gatsy wipes to get rid of it. As you can see here, the greasy aftermath after you have finished instantly makes you regret your decision.

Is it worth it? For ¥500 you can argue that it is cheap for what you get, 5 patties is filling! But the taste leaves a lot to be desired. It is a good novelty burger to show your friends (...or the internet/instagram!)

If you are interested, I recently saw a sign for another one day only buying chance for the 10th of December, so go find a Lotteria near you and try one!

Burger King's KURO Pearl VS. McDonald's Cheese Tsukimi!!

In Japan, who is better?

During my three or so years living in Japan I have probably eaten way more McDonalds than I have in my entire lifetime in the UK!! Why? It's cleaner, brighter, friendlier, tastier and the staff smile and go out of their way for you. Not to mention the fact that they release some AWESOME specials that always seem to be experimenting and keep things exciting. (As exciting as fast food can be anyway...)

Right now in Autumn 2014 the two rival chains have released two seasonal specials:

McDonald's contender is the '月見 (Tsukimi - literal translation is moon viewing!) Burger' that draws from the traditional harvest moon festivals. Its main attraction is the juicy egg on top to resemble the moon with some bacon and 'special sauce' to go with it. It comes in at 491 calories for those of you that care about that kind of thing. I chose the cheese version as this rivals the BK offering more closely. 

Burger King have capitalized upon their successful Star Wars burger campaign of last year and have released another set of 'KURO' burgers, essentially 'black' burgers....literally the entire thing is black from the bun to the cheese. It comes it two variants, one with salad and one without, I chose the basic one since the 月見 is one of the rare burger offerings that comes with zero salad. Good for the fussy fatties out there! This comes in at 465 calories, probably due to no bacon.

Lets see what they actually look like!

McDonald's is up first!

Ta-da! We open it up to find...

Sexy eggyness

The first thing you might notice is that is actually kind of looks like the actual damn photo! That's one main point I have noticed since eating here is that more often that not, what you see is what you get.

Sexy bacon

Inside too is an actual chunky piece of bacon, a pleasant surprise from the paper thin stuff back home. The egg is surprisingly soft and 'just right' too, none of that stiff, stodgy overcooked type of eggs that I usually associate with fast food. The special sauce though is pretty much just a combination of ketchup and Japan's sexy mayonnaise. The burger has a good balance between sweet and savory and is pretty moist without making the entire thing soggy. Overall a really tasty choice! Also the fries were piping hot and fresh too!

Burger King's turn...

I actually had to go out of my way to find a BK restaurant since they are far fewer in number!

Black wrapper, nice start...

DARRRRRRKNESSSSSS

 What Burger King's limited edition burger has going for it is definitely the novelty and shock factor of eating an entirely black burger. Some would find it massively off putting, associating it with something dirty or burnt. It actually tastes quite fresh and has been darkened using bamboo charcoal, same goes for the cheese...

Yay or Nay?

 The sauce is a squid ink enhanced garlic sauce, it has a pretty tangy taste to it, one of my friends commented that it has a strange smell but I was too infatuated with the colour to notice! Taste wise there isn't a lot else going for it due to the basic ingredients. They provide a ton of sauce though which inevitably drips out.

Looking at this pic in hindsight, the bread does look kind of 'doughey', similar to the chocolate bread that is so common here. Tasted fine though! One other big difference between McDonald's and BK is that the BK burgers actually feel meaty, almost twice as thick and you can definitely taste it more. The burger itself looks cool but it didn't actually taste that special.

The Verdict?

The McDonald's 月見 Burger is by far the better burger overall, despite costing the same you get more for your money, both in taste and ingredients. Coupled with the app coupons you can get you can usuall score a large drink and fries with it too.
Burger King are slowly expanding again in Japan after having given up several years ago and are vastly outnumbered by McDonald's but if they continue campaigns like this then their appeal should grow! This burger is good for a novelty meal and something to say HEY LOOK, I ATE THIS! But it isn't something I would rush to buy again.

Wow...I've never written so much about fast food before!