Could this new lineup possibly be better than Famichiki?

Convenience stores in Japan offer an abundance of food in great variety, and each chain is famous for particular products. While MiniStop serves up great soft-serve ice cream, Family Mart is widely known for its fried chicken (or “Famichiki”). It’s so delicious and gave the chain such a name that it was made into its own mascot.

So when we heard that Family Mart was rolling out a line of chicken products called Pokechicki (short for “pocket chicken”), we had to get our hands on it. Luckily, we were able to taste test it before its official nationwide launch on May 14 by visiting one of five Family Marts that were offering it for pre-sale, and we want to give you our honest review.

▼ This is the colorful banner being used to advertise Pokechicki, but that’s about as far as they went in terms of advertising.

Pokechiki comes in three varieties: plain, hot, and cheese. They come in cardboard pocket-like packages that are conveniently portable, and it also includes a wooden pick to spear those chickeny morsels into your mouth. All flavors will only run you 200 yen (US$1.82).

▼ The lineup and packaging is giving us strong Lawson Karaage-kun chicken vibes, just saying…

All of our SoraNews24 editing staff decided to give it a try. Our honest opinion? There’s nothing particularly novel about Pokechicki, and we’d be more interested in the continued development of Famichiki than a product that’s basically copying another convenience store chain’s product. Better yet, we think it would be cool if Family Mart tried to make something else totally original.

▼ I mean, we liked it, but we didn’t love it.

If you’re in Japan and want to do a taste test, try picking up some Pokechicki and some Lawson Karaage-kun chicken and do a little taste comparison experiment. Or grab a tasty frappe while you’re at it!

Images: ©SoraNews24

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