Japanese Fast Food Chain Introduces “Ramen Burger”
by Mika on Friday, May 24, 2013
by Mika on Friday, May 24, 2013
With green-tea Kit Kats, azuki-bean croissants and teriyaki burgers, interesting re-makes of western classics are not something new to Japanese cooking, but now there is a burger-version of noodle soup.
Lotteria, a popular Japanese fast-food chain, has recently announced that it will do just that though and plans on soon releasing a “Ramen Burger” to drive up sales.
Japanese consumers are absolute suckers for product differentiation (food companies regularly releases limited edition “seasonal flavored” fares and even sometimes offer “region-specific” products like “Oyster Sapporo Beer” in Hokkaido or “Sakura KitKat” in Kyoto), but even in Japan, can this latest venture into creative cooking actually work?
From Livedoor News:
Lotteria x Menya Muszashi “Ramen Burger” Goes On Sale From May 20, Foreigners Baffled, “Is It A Yakisoba Sandwich?”
Lotteria has recently gotten a lot of people talking by announcing that it will start selling an item called “Ramen Burger” which is somehow a cross between a burger and “ramen” in stores across the country for a limited time starting from May 20.
We have no idea what it will taste like, but it is basically a sandwich made out of a bun with seasoned hardened ramen and chasu pork [usually eaten on top of ramen]. The ramen itself is the real deal, developed and produced under the direction of “Menya Musashi’s flagship store in Shinjuku” owned by the Menya Musashi group, which operates 12 restaurants across the country. They also developed a soup to go with it. Since it’s a “substitute” for ramen, you could say it tastes like ramen without the chopsticks.
Why are carbs + more carbs type meals, like Sukiya’s Yakisoba Gyudon suddenly so popular in Japan at the moment?
Both ramen and hamburgers are popular as the food of the masses, but many people are wondering if they will still be popular when combined. In Japan, opinion on the internet is divided between two groups, those who “want to try” this miracle combination, and those who would rather pass: but what about abroad?
It goes without saying that in America, “hamburger” means a hamburger in a bun. [N.B. In Japan, "hamburgers" are often sold without a bun as a kind of steak]. Ramen draws its roots from Chinese-style noodles, but it has developed into something completely Japanese.
And then, in 2013, the magic of combining ramen and hamburgers created by Lotteria and Menya Musashi, which has many people rolling their eyes saying:
“A ramen patty…?”
“I like ramen and I like hamburgers, but why do you need to combine them?”
“How is this actually different from Yakisoba sandwiches?”
There are surely many people interested in tasting crispy ramen on soft bread, but they will all come to light after the 20th. We’re sure the net will be filled with “food criticism”
