Eats gone bad

After getting Sachan on the train this morning, Pam and I walked about 20 blocks to the local Mister Donut.  Mister Donut was one of the first American food chains to successfully make the jump to Japan.  They realized early that while their products would need only slight variation, their marketing would need to adjust to the tastes and habits of its clientèle.  This may seem obvious, but I believe this is why certain American food franchises have made it (i.e. McDonald’s) while others haven’t (i.e. Burger King – although they have now been bought by the same guy who successfully brought Krispy Kreme to Japan (God Bless the man!), so they seem to be in more capable hands this time).

Going to a Mister Donut in Japan in the morning is somewhat of a crap shoot.  Donuts are a afternoon treat item; NOT a breakfast item.  So the selection is always limited in the morning, and aren’t necessarily what you might expect.  Oh you can get a breakfast set, but customers are just as likely to pop in for a bowl of  runny cream of rice drool and an ice coffee as they are for a French cruller.  I am going to assume that your local Mister Donut does not, as ours does, offer a glazed morning donut that looks like a baby’s teething ring made with soy bean flour so that it tastes like tofu, or a  donut made with rice flour which can be topped with kinako-a sweetened soy bean flour, a cheese and shrimp topped phyllo dough pastry, or a nori topped donut – got to love that crunch you get with a little nori – thinly shredded seaweed – on your donut.

We passed on all of those yummy options and went for a French cruller and a cinnamon sugar topped cake donut to go with our coffee and hot tea.  We then parked ourselves under a poster that looked something like this.  

I love food promotions.  This one, in case you can’t make it out, is a tie in to the gigantic annual fashion show in Tokyo.  As a dual promotion, the Tokyo Girl fashion show is promoting the Tokyo Girl donut set at Mister Donut.  You can buy a cup of cake donut holes.  You get to pick a packet of flavoring (strawberry, café au lait or curry) which you will then sprinkle into your cup of donuts.  Put the lid on and shake, shake, shake.  Oh my, nothing says tasty and trendy like a fashion show and curry flavored donuts.

Speaking of curry, while out and about this weekend we saw this:

Yep you are reading that correctly.  McDonald’s Japan, the leader in understanding its local markets, is now offering the Classic McHotdog.  Did I mention you can only get this as a breakfast item?  That is right, walk in to any Tokyo McDonald’s at 10:31 am and try ordering a McHogdog and the answer will be, “Gomenasai, asa gohan desu.”  (Sorry, its only for breakfast.)

You probably think this is odd.  In fact, it doesn’t surprise me at all.  Well, I take that back, I am surprised that the McHotDog doesn’t come with chili on it.  Let me guess, you are now surprised and confused.  Allow me to explain.

First of all, when I say hot dog, you should NOT think Oscar Myer.  So called hot dogs in Japan are more akin to the range of German sausages than the US random-animal- parts-filled varieties at your local store.  My local butcher sells excellent frankfurters and bratwurst.  And they occasionally have those nasty Australian hot dogs with the thick red casings.  I should also point out that curry is a very popular morning meal.  Even Mister Donut has a meat curry filled donut – available for breakfast of course.  The very popular twenty-four hour curry restaurant chains are always packed at breakfast time.  In fact, on any given morning, the Yoshinaya 24 (the curry restaurant) is busier than the McDonald’s a few doors down.  I should also point out that I am talking about Japanese curry not Indian or Thai curry.  Japanese curry is light brown in color and tends to have a hint of sweetness and is frequently served with cheese, pearl onions and pickled ginger over rice.  Want to know how popular curry is as a breakfast food?  Recently a curry place opened on the other end of the station from the Yoshinaya 24 and McDonald’s.  We thought they would do well given the foot traffic on that end of the station and lack of other restaurants.  But they didn’t open till 11:00 am.  They lasted less than three months.  They were missing their primary curry crowd!  There is a thin line between curry and chili, and it is thus quite common to see hot dogs with chili or curry on breakfast menus.  You may think McDonald’s only offering a hot dog at breakfast is odd, but the Hard Rock Cafes in Japan do the same, offering a chili dog set, but only before 10am.  At least Hard Rock has the decency to sell you a beer with your curry topped hot dog breakfast set.  Nothing says “Good Morning!” quite like a beer and a curry topped hot dog.

On second thought, maybe the curry sprinkled donuts aren’t such a bad option afterall.