Wendy’s, Mos Burger, Lotteria, KFC and McDonald’s give us a taste of the moon this autumn!

Ever since moon-viewing season arrived at fast food chains around Japan this month, our waistlines have been steadily expanding, reaching moon-size proportions.

Previously, we filled up on ALL the tsukimi moon-viewing burgers from McDonald’s and KFC, and now we’re back with even more offerings, this time from competing chains Wendy’s, Lotteria, and Mos Burger.

So, its time to undo the top button on our trousers yet again to make room for all the burgers, but first let’s recap with a quick review of what McDonald’s and KFC have on offer this year.

▼ The highlight at McDonald’s, for us, is the Sukiyaki Tsukimi Burger (440 yen [US$3.06])

▼ A fried egg to resemble the moon, with a sweet and flavoursome sukiyaki sauce.

▼ Over at KFC, there are four Tsukimi Burgers on the menu, pairing fried egg with chicken fillets or Japanese-style chicken cutlets.

For us, the winner is the Melty Tsukimi Japanese-style Chicken Cutlet Sandwich (460 yen), which wowed us with its tasty Japanese-style katsu chicken fillet and runny fried egg centre.

A surprise addition to the world of moon-viewing burgers this year came from local coffeehouse chain Komeda.

▼ Called the “Full Moon Burger”, and priced between 720 to 790 yen depending on location, this was the biggest of the bunch.

However, out of Komeda, KFC and McDonald’s, the ultimate winner for us was the McDonald’s Sukiyaki Tsukimi Burger. We’re not done with the taste test, though, so let’s check out the new contenders, starting with the Torori Hanjuku Tsukimi collection from Lotteria.

▼ There are six moon-viewing burgers on the menu at Lotteria.

Out of the six burgers, three are new this year, so those are the ones we decided to try.

▼ Teriyaki Chicken (470 yen), Teriyaki Chicken Rice (490 yen), and Teriyaki Rice (490 yen).”

“Torori” translates to “Melty” while “hanjuku” describes an egg that’s only half-cooked, resulting in a soft and gooey yolk. The sweet and salty teriyaki sauce was fantastic in all of these, but our favourite was the Teriyaki Chicken.

Lotteria’s Teriyaki Rice Burger was a bit of a disappointment as it seemed to fall short of the quality were used to from other chains. As these burgers contained chicken, the closest thing we could compare them to were the KFC Tsukimi Burgers, but we have to say they weren’t as good as the ones from KFC.

Next up to the tasting plate we have the two moon-viewing burgers from Wendy’s: the Tsukimi BBP Burger (790 yen) and the Tsukimi BBP Chicken Burger (690 yen).

These burgers stand out from the competition with firm yolks in the eggs, along with two pieces of crispy bacon and two hashed potatoes.

▼ This was a hefty burger, with the moon hardly visible beneath the beef patty, cheese and hashed potatoes.

Unlike the other burgers, which had a very Japanese-style taste to them, these burgers displayed bold American flavours, with a smoky BBQ sauce permeating all the ingredients. This was the wildest moon-viewing burger of them all, straying from convention but delivering delicious flavours, and on par with McDonald’s and KFC in terms of quality. 

▼ Now all we can see when we look at the Wendy’s logo, aside from the word “mom” hidden in her collar, is a full moon around her head.

And now to the final burger in today’s lineup– the Tsukimi Focaccia from Mos Burger (520 yen).

This one is extra special, as the promo for it was produced in collaboration with Sailor Moon. Will the anime magic make this one taste any different?  Well, for starters, it looks different to all the others, as it uses focaccia bread instead of burger or rice buns.

▼ This one has a deliciously runny egg inside.

The star of the show here, though, is the sausage, which gives it an entirely different taste to all the other burgers we’ve tried this year. It was plump and delicious, and was perfectly matched with the sweet sauce, making it one of our favourites this season.

So, with our stomachs now swollen after trying moon-viewing burgers from a total of six different companies in Japan, we’ve gotta say, they’re all really good. You won’t be disappointed with any of these offerings, but if you do want to aim for the moon, you’ll be best off trying the ones from McDonald’s, KFC, Wendy’s and Mos Burger.

And if you’ve got room in your belly for more moon-viewing items, McDonald’s has you covered with sweets and sides as well!

Photos ©SoraNews24
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