Wendy’s releases…American moon-viewing burgers in Japan?

We taste a rather unusual pair of tsukimi burgers. 

On 7 September, Wendy’s released a new duo of burgers in honour of tsukimi moon-viewing, an annual event that falls on the night of the full moon in September. While it’s become customary for moon-viewing burgers to contain egg — “tsukimi” is the word used for dishes containing egg in Japan, due to its resemblance to the moon — Wendy’s is putting a new twist on the tradition by pairing the egg with cheese, bacon and a hashed potato, and calling it the Tsukimi C.B.P.

▼ Chicken, Bacon, Potato.

On the poster, beneath the bold font in moonlight hues, is an even more surprising statement: “American Moon-viewing has Returned!” We’re guessing the mention of “American” is either because of the ingredients used or the fact that Wendy’s is an American-born chain, but either way it seemed like an odd statement so we knew we had to try them, picking up the Tsukimi C.B.P. Burger for 970 yen (US$6.56) and the Tsukimi C.B.P. Chicken Fillet Burger for 870 yen, and leaving behind the Jr. Tsukimi CBP Burger, priced at 700 yen.

▼ As far as we’re aware, there’s no “tsukimi” culture in the U.S. so we were keen to find out what lay inside these wrappers.

With no markings on the outside to distinguish them from each other, we didn’t know which one was which, so we just grabbed the one on the left first to see what it was about.

Our reporter Egawa Tasuku was playing burger inspector on this occasion, donning his rubber gloves for a very professional inspection of each ingredient. Starting with the buns, they looked to be shiny and smooth, like a lot of tsukimi burgers, which made him wonder if this style of buttery soft bun was a good match for eggs.

From the side, this looked to be a thick burger, with the fried chicken and melted cheese attempting to escape from inside it.

The first ingredient on top of everything was the fried egg, and it was quite firm to the touch, suggesting it hadn’t been cooked sunny-side up, like the eggs in a lot of other tsukimi burgers.

▼ Beneath the egg was a slice of bacon that was absolutely smothered in cheese.

▼ Peeling away the bacon revealed not one but two hash browns, which was a surprise.

▼ Beneath it all lay a chunk of fried chicken.

All those ingredients meant we were looking at the Chicken Fillet version of the Tsukimi C.B.P., and when we opened up the other burger, we could see it contained all the same ingredients, except instead of fried chicken, it contained a square-shaped patty of beef.

So how did they taste? Well, the first thing that made its presence known was the egg, which was surprisingly light and airy despite its firmness. However, the meat was equally strong in flavour, with the juices melting over every bite, melding perfectly with the umami of the cheese.

As for the American moon-viewing aspect, well, it is a burger, which is quintessentially American, but going by that logic, wouldn’t all tsukimi burgers then be American? That was too deep a thought for Tasuku, who was now in a carb-induced reverie after eating both burgers. However they chose to market them, they were great-tasting burgers, proving Wendy’s is a chain that shouldn’t be overlooked, despite being overshadowed by big players like McDonald’s and KFC.

Photos © SoraNews24
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