Japanese convenience store food, like you’ve never seen it before.
If you’re looking for value-for-money on your next convenience store run, then Lawson is the place to go right now, because the chain is holding a special “Super Happy Too Much! Challenge” campaign, where select products are being upsized for free.
This is the second week of the campaign, which brings us a new lineup of 10 larger-than-usual products, and the standouts for us turned out to be two products in the bread aisle.
▼ The 51-percent upsized Shrimp Crackers with Sweet Rice Wine got a second look from us as well.
While we ended up bypassing the crackers, we couldn’t resist purchasing the Too Much! Menchi Burger (387 yen [US$2.41])…
▼ … and the Curry Bread and Minced Meat Cutlet (192 yen).
These wildly inventive creations have been causing a buzz since they were released on 9 June, and when we saw them in person, we immediately understood why.
Firstly, the Too Much! Menchi Burger is visually stunning, as the weight of the menchi katsu (miced meat cutlet) has been increased by more than 51 percent compared to the regular version.
▼ The cutlet is now so big it juts out the sides like a meaty moustache.
While the menchi-to-bun ratio is now drastically outweighed, the taste remains outstanding. Since it’s prepared in-store, as part of Lawson’s “Machikado Kitchen” prepared food lineup, the menchi katsu comes out hot and crispy, with an irresistible, freshly fried crunch.
▼ The inside of the cutlet is plump and generous, with onion adding extra flavour to the juicy meat.
Next, we move on to the curry bread, which has a Japanese name that translates as: “Too Much Pairing! European-Style Curry Bread & Jutting-out Menchi Katsu“.
Curry bread, or “Kare Pan” as it’s known in Japanese, is usually served on its own, as a rounded morsel of battered, fried bread with a curry filling in the centre. This new product, however, changes everything we thought we knew about curry bread by using them as buns, and sandwiching a fried meat cutlet between them.
▼ A triple-fry burger, with a menchi katsu jutting out from the centre.
Despite the fry-heavy elements, this “burger” was actually less greasy than we thought it would be. Both the curry bread and the menchi katsu did have strong, distinctive flavors, though, so there were moments when we found ourselves thinking, “Wait, what exactly am I eating right now?” To be honest, the combination is so intense that it can leave your taste buds feeling a little overwhelmed as the two main ingredients compete for your attention, and it’s seriously filling so you might want to eat it in two sittings.
▼ The curry bread and cutlet were a full-on pairing, so it lived up to its name.
While Week One of the campaign went overboard with drinks that were extremely salty and extremely sweet, our choices for Week Two challenged our bellies and our preconceptions of what convenience store food can be.
We learned that too much menchi katsu can be well matched for a burger, while the too-much pairing of curry bread and menchi katsu can be too much for the taste buds. In the end, though, we were left with full bellies and a new appreciation for Lawson, who dared to take convenience store food to new realms with such bold, attention-grabbing creations.
Photos ©SoraNews24
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