A thorough comparison experiment, except we had no control group whatsoever.

MOS Burger, MOS an acronym for “mountain, ocean, sun,” is a popular burger chain in Japan, serving up a variety of fare. In addition to standard hamburgers, some of their most popular products are rice-bun burgers, which replace the bread with two discs of lightly grilled rice for you to wrap your hand around.

One of our Japanese-language reporters, Kg, though, fancifully wondered if there were other ways to eat a MOS rice burger. That was when a wicked idea crossed their mind: MOS rice burgers and ochazuke.

Ochazuke, considered a comfort food as well as a great finale to any meal, consists of two basic ingredients: green tea and rice. While you can pair your ochazuke with pickled plum or salmon for a heartier dish, Kg firmed his resolve to see whether or not the combo of a MOS rice burger and green tea would do the trick.

Kg first went out to buy the rice rice burgers, and picked out five in total. There was the limited edition shrimp tempura pollock roe burger and the even larger “Deep-Fried Greed” pollock roe burger. Of course, Kg also made sure to pick up classic rice burgers from the regular menu: the shrimp tempura burger, the seafood deep-fried veggies burger, and the yakiniku burger. You can see a photo of the burgers below, respectively starting from the top left corner.

▼ Pro tip: the shrimp tempura burger (upper right hand corner) is a secret menu item.

After buying the burgers, Kg began to prep for the experiment. He placed each burger in its own bowl while steeping tea.

Keeping track of which bowl had which burger, Kg then began to pour the tea. For each bowl, he poured just enough tea to cover half the burger. While the golden ratio of green tea to rice is debatable for ochazuke, similar to how many argue about how much milk one should pour in a bowl of cereal, Kg figured up to half a burger was a fair balance.

After adding tea to every bowl, Kg then proceeded to mash up the burgers and mix them thoroughly with the tea. The outcome was not exactly eye-pleasing, but Kg had to admit the scent of green tea, rice, and tempura wasn’t necessarily terrible either.

Gripping his spoon and bolstering his willpower, Kg took his first bite… and surprisingly, the taste wasn’t disastrous. It was more refreshing than he expected, as the light bitterness of the green tea balanced out with the savory tones of the burgers, and before Kg knew it, he was quickening the pace of his taste test. The tastiest burger in his opinion was…

…the shrimp tempura burger!

The chewiness of the tempura in contrast with the harder rice grains provided a nice texture, and Kg felt that the green tea allowed the salty-sweet flavors of the shrimp to seep out more. Admittedly, the same could be said for the other deep-fried burger dishes, but what helped the shrimp tempura burger prevail in the end was its stronger flavor.

Naturally, if there was to be a best-tasting burger-ochazuke combo, there must also be a worst-tasting burger-ochazuke combo. The burger which unfortunately won that title was…

…the yakiniku burger!

Frankly, the yakiniku burger doesn’t look THAT bad to the eye but once Kg tried the first bite, he was sent reeling by the dissonance in flavor. Not only was the meat’s taste overpowering, but the sweetness of the yakiniku sauce combined with the bitterness of the green tea did nothing but confuse his palate. To be slightly fair, that wasn’t to say all the other burgers combined perfectly with the green tea, but he had to give it to the yakiniku burger for its taste-bud-destroying power.

▼ Note: Keep the yakiniku rice burger as part of the control group for next time.

In the end, when it comes to eating anything in general, Kg concluded that the best way is to simply eat things in the manner you most enjoy or find the most delicious. Perfect, wholesome advice especially for these chaotic, strange times where everyone deserves a break and their favorite foods.

Photos © SoraNews24
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