Eats gone bad…back for seconds
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- Yuzu and Ponzu
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- Brian’s Virtual Bar
- Eats gone bad…back for seconds
- Eats gone bad
Once a week I head down to the south-west corner of Tokyo to work with some kids. IF I can get Pam and Sachan out the door quickly enough and IF I can catch the express out of Shibuya (one of the busiest train stations in Tokyo) I have time for a quick breakfast at McDonald’s and IF I have hit my stride, there is time to swing by this Italian coffee shop that makes a perfectly acceptable cafe latte.
I really don’t care for breakfast at McDonald’s, but if I have a choice between a sausage and egg McMuffin or a chocolate croissant, I opt for the McMuffin…yes, I acknowledge this may in fact be a character flaw, but I am really not a chocolate person.
So this little dash and eat routine I had worked quite well until about two months ago. The McDonald’s I speak of is in the station, and so the line ebbs and grows with each incoming train. Although the line would frequently reach back a good thirty feet to the door, it typically moved quickly as the majority of folks in line where getting a coffee to go. I feel the need to point out that this has always confused me. Why would you pay a hundred yen (about a dollar) for a small (crappy) cup of McDonald’s coffee. For a few more yen you can walk an extra 20 yards and go to the Italian place and get a great cup of coffee; or for a hundred yen you can get a decent shot of coffee (the same size as the McDonald’s small) from anyone of the seemingly hundred vending machines and kiosks in the station for the same price. I not sure what this says about the canned coffee drinks in Japan or the Japanese who would stand in line for inferior coffee.
My schedule came to a crashing halt about two months ago. This coincided with the first Eats Gone Bad post. You may recall from that post the new introduction of the McClassic – for breakfast only- hot dog. Over the last two months the line has grown and slowed, with no less than one in every third customer walking away from the counter with a hot dog. I know, because I stand there shaking my head in disbelief and counting hoping that I am imagining this.
Apparently, IF I am to buy into the latest marketing, there was, from the start, an inherent problem with the McClassic – just for breakfast hot dog. It would seem that the McClassic just isn’t enough to satisfy the Japanese morning appetite for hot dogs.
Not to worry. The McDonald’s marketing geniuses quickly realized the error or their ways. Now, when standing in line, you have time to decide in you want one or two McClassic HotDogs with you morning set, or you can go with the “200% more tasty” McHotDog Mega Sausage! YUMMMMMBELCHmmmmmy!
What’s that? You want something more “traditional” for breakfast? And by traditional, I mean something that you think is “normal” for breakfast. How about an egg? For this though you will have to track down a KFC. Come on, there is no reason to be surprised to find that KFC will serve you an egg for breakfast. I mean after all, where do you think all that chicken comes from? I should probably point out that eggs in Japan are a little different than eggs you may be used to. I have to admit, I was more than a little surprised the last time I was in the States to discover that eggs there have yellow yolks…really bright, quite unappetizing, nearly florescent yellow yolks. I cracked one open into a frying pan and nearly threw it out before I remembered that those Americans like small yolked florescent yellow eggs. I have grown quite use to the large yolked bright orange yolks of Japanese eggs. And this is before we really get into the whole how runny do you want your egg question.
The Japanese love eggs. But they tend to be runny, if they are cooked at all. They have kimizu which is an egg yolk and vinegar dipping sauce used with vegetables and seafood. There is also Sukiyaki, a traditional way of eating meat in Japan wherein paper-thin sliced beef is slightly grilled and then run through a beaten raw egg dip before slipping it into your mouth. Likewise I challenge you to come to Japan and find scrambled eggs for breakfast or in an omelette cooked to any consistency other than just above the level of runny.
I felt you needed this preface before facing this picture of the new breakfast offering at KFC:
A lightly poached runny egg, covered in cheese and setting atop a layer of sweet Japanese-style mayonaise and Canadian bacon on an English muffin. MMMMMMgagmmmmm!
No wonder the line for hot dogs is so long at McDonald’s!
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NONE OF IT SOUNDS GOOD except maybe the “good” coffee. And I thought the food in Peru was strange. By the way, at the KFC and the McDonald’s, can you get the more American kind of fare that they serve in the states?
In Lima,the Chillis and Tony Roma’s had basically the same menu as in the states. In fact, Chillis had an apple dessert to die for that isn’t on American menus. I was disappointed to find that out when we got home.
Love, Cindy