Japan’s Sailor Moon moon-viewing sandwich returns to Mos Burger, but does it taste the same?

Japanese burger chain reinterprets the moon in its own unique way. 

Last September, Japanese burger chain Mos Burger celebrated tsukimi moon-viewing season with a special sausage sandwich, and a very lunar-related character to promote it — Sailor Moon.

This year, the sausage sandwich has returned for moon-viewing season, but this time, Sailor Moon is no longer the poster girl for it. So is there any difference in the sandwiches, without the celestial star putting her face to it?

▼ To find out, our reporter Kouhey stopped by Mos Burger for a taste test.

▼ The limited-time sandwich/burger is actually a focaccia, and the slogan for it is “Mocchi, Pari, Toro” (“Chewy, Crisp, Gooey”).

The slogan alone was enough to whet the appetite, but when Kouhey went to order it, he saw there were two versions to choose from: the Tsukimi Focaccia and the Barbecue Focaccia.

▼ So he ordered both of them.

After waiting around 10 minutes, staff brought his order to the table, as they often do at Mos Burger, and both focaccias looked absolutely delicious.

Inspecting the Tsukimi Focaccia first, Kouhey saw it looked identical to the one Sailor Moon leant her face to last year. That focaccia ended up being so popular it sold out in the first two weeks, so Kouhey felt fortunate to try it this year.

The ingredients were identical — cabbage, lettuce, sauce, an egg cooked sunny-side up, and a crescent-shaped sausage. Those last two elements are what makes this a moon-viewing burger, due to their resemblance to the moon, although here, in amongst all that barbecue sauce, they appeared to be peering out from behind dark clouds.

While many fast food chains in Japan add egg to their tsukimi menu items, Mos Burger stands out for its horseshoe-shaped sausage, which you won’t find in any other burger, and it certainly makes a great first impression.

Picking it up for a first bite, this made for a very unusual visual, and though Kouhey tried to get both ends of the sausage in at once, he was only able to fit one end in his mouth.

The first bite delivered on the burger’s promise, with chewy, crispy, gooey textures, and while the taste of the hickory barbecue sauce was strong, the mellowness of the runny egg created a perfect counterbalance. As he ate his way through the burger, he was impressed by the horseshoe design of the sausage, as it meant he was able to get a good serving of meat in every mouthful.

The combination of meat, egg and sauce was absolutely delicious, even without Sailor Moon bringing her magic aura to it. Surprisingly, this year’s focaccias are said to be powered-up versions, with the egg being fortified with vitamin E and calcium for even more nutrition, but there was no noticeable difference in flavour, as it tasted just as good as last year’s sandwich.

▼ Now it was time to try the Barbecue Focaccia, which was also on the menu last year.

The ingredients were almost the same as the Tsukimi Focaccia, only this one didn’t contain egg, and the star of the show was clearly the barbecue sauce.

▼ After dutifully gazing at the moon, it was time to lean in for a bite.

This burger was just as delicious as the first, even without the gooey egg. The lashings of sauce took up gooeyness duties with aplomb, and it was nice to have an option without egg for those who aren’t particularly enamoured by it.

It was a bold move for Mos Burger to compete in the war of the moon-viewing burgers in Japan with a focaccia instead of a burger, but when you’re onto a good thing, you should stick to it.

While Sailor Moon fans might feel sad at the character’s absence in this year’s focaccia campaign, Kouhey likes to think she’s watching down on customers and nodding in approval from the other side of the moon.

Without her presence, though, the focaccias might not sell out like they did last year, which is good news for those who missed out on them. They’re pretty unique, compared to the offerings from other chains, so if you’d like to taste them, be sure to get in early to avoid missing out!

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