McDonald’s Japan stuffs up our order for a New York burger

A reminder that when you’re in New York, anything can happen.

Just last week, McDonald’s Japan announced it would be satisfying our craving for travel by taking our taste buds on a holiday to the Big Apple, with two new menu items dubbed the “Itta Ki Ni Naru N.Y. Burgers“, which translates to “I Feel Like I Went to N.Y. Burgers“.

We decided to take a trip to McDonald’s for this very New York experience, picking up one of each and taking them back to the office for a taste test. However, this would turn out to be a taste test like no other, because one of these burgers is not what it seems.

Our journey starts with the Thick Beef Burger Pepper & Cheese, which is on the menu for (460 yen, US$4). Unwrapping the bright yellow wrapper, we were greeted by an unusual square-shaped bun that’s said to be reminiscent of the bread buns you can find in New York.

▼ From the side, the beef patty looked thick and the cheese cheesy.

Peering beneath the bun, the top layer of cheese on top revealed itself to be a cheddar cheese sauce…

▼ …and underneath it all lay a slice of bacon, a leaf of lettuce, and melted cheddar cheese.

Oh, and soaking its way through the bottom bun was a glistening mixture of onions and a peppery steak sauce.

All that was an impressive combination for a McDonald’s burger, and as soon as we took our first bite, the first ingredient that came to the fore was black pepper, which punched its way through the rich cheddar cheese and melded itself with the meaty bacon and beef.

The overall flavour was fantastic — it was deliciously sweet, smoky and meaty, but the ingredient that really made us feel like we were in New York was the cheddar cheese sauce. It gave the burger an all-American flavour, like something you’d eat at an old-school diner, which made it different to everything else on the menu at McDonald’s.

Satisfied with the Thick Beef Burger Pepper & Cheese, it was time to move on to the next burger — the Grilled Chicken Burger Salt & Lemon (440 yen).

This one also came with an American comic book-esque illustration on its wrapping, only this time it was bright pink. Again, this burger had those unusual square-shaped buns, but the contents promised to be different.

The burger is said to contain a “perfect balance” of chicken and vegetables, with a thick piece of chicken thigh meat sandwiched between lettuce, onion, cheddar cheese, bacon, and a salted lemon sauce.

▼ However, peering at the side of this one revealed a patty that didn’t look like chicken.

▼ Lifting the top bun, we discovered… a beef patty?!?

We couldn’t quite believe it, but instead of being given a piece of chicken in our Grilled Chicken Burger Salt & Lemon, we’d actually been given a patty of beef. We’d never encountered a mistake like this in all our years of ordering and eating at the fast food chain, so this was quite a strange moment.

Was this a prank? A special order for another customer? Or did the staff at this branch simply not know the difference between beef and chicken? Regardless of the reason behind it, we decided to look on the bright side and view this as a rare opportunity to try an off-menu item unavailable to the general public.

▼ At least the ingredients beneath the patty were in line with those of the Grilled Chicken Burger.

Taking a bite out of the Grilled Beef Burger that was meant to be a Grilled Chicken Burger, we found that it was… absolutely delicious!

The roasted garlic sauce was definitely the star of the show here, with the lemon and salt providing a wonderfully refreshing aftertaste. The sauce, along with the bacon and white cheddar, were great companions for the beef, but we couldn’t help but wonder how the combination of flavours would taste with grilled chicken.

▼ So we went out and ordered another burger.

As you can see, the chicken in this proper version of the Grilled Chicken Burger Salt & Lemon looked very different to the beef, but the seasonings and all the other ingredients looked the same.

However, after trying both the chicken and beef versions, it was hard for us to tell which one was actually better. Of course, they were both great, and lemon and garlic are popular partners for chicken, but there was something about the beef version that really made the sauce zing and the meat sing.

While we couldn’t choose a favourite between those two burgers, at the end of the day, we couldn’t choose a favourite out of all three either. They were all delicious, unique, and really well-balanced in terms of flavour and ingredients.

With thick meat, special sauces, and unconventional square buns, these burgers do a great job of fooling your taste buds into thinking they’ve gone to New York for lunch…. and maybe dinner as well. The flavour excursion to the Big Apple is only available for a limited time though, from 9 February until the middle of March, so you’ll want to get in quick to try them.

And who knows — you might just encounter an unexpected patty in your burger too, because when you’re in New York, anything can happen!

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