We try the tart and the Twister that’s on everyone’s lips right now.
In Japan, September is the month for moon-viewing, or “tsukimi“, where people stop to gaze at the full moon and reflect on the beauty of nature and the cycle of life.
It’s not just people who stop to celebrate the moon, as fast food chains around the country join the festivities with some limited-time menu items. And because “tsukimi” refers to dishes that contain a fried egg, given its resemblance to a full moon, that’s exactly what we get to enjoy this season, with chains like KFC releasing a limited-edition Tsukimi collection.
The Tsukimi Burgers, pictured above, are making a welcome return to the menu this year, but what’s got everyone’s attention right now are the two new items, marked above with the kanji “新”, which means “new”.
▼ These two items are the Egg Tart (290 yen [US$1.98]) and the Tsukimi Twister (460 yen).
We purchased one of each for a taste test, and decided to unwrap the Twister first, to see what it was about.
Like the burgers, the Twister contains a fried egg as the star ingredient, cooked sunny side up to give it a “torori” (“melty”) texture. The moment we bit into it, there was a textural explosion, with crunchy lettuce, juicy fried chicken, and melt-in-the-mouth egg all coming together for a delicious mouthful.
All the ingredients complemented each other in perfect harmony — the soft-boiled egg was cooked perfectly, and the rich, cheese-flavoured sauce was a tasty addition, providing a tangy aftertaste that refreshed the palate after every bite. According to KFC, a lot of time and effort went into creating the perfect sauce, with the final mixture containing parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese and bacon for extra umami.
The Egg Tart is available at a number of KFCs in Asia, but this is the first time in nine years for it to make an appearance in Japan. We’d never had the chance to try it before, but now that we have we’re hooked.
The dough was nice and crisp, while the custard filling was soft and jiggly, with a smooth texture and delicate flavour that allowed the taste of the eggs to shine through. It was so delicious it was as if we were eating an expensive pudding from a bakery, and the flavour wasn’t too sweet, making it so easy to eat we could’ve devoured half a dozen of them.
KFC’s Tsukimi series is super popular every year, but these two new items just levelled up the moon-viewing game even further. The flavours were spot-on, and left us wishing we could eat the moon at KFC every month of the year.
Alas, the range is only available while stocks last at KFC branches around Japan, so you’ll want to get in quick before they sell out…and then visit all the other chains for their tsukimi offerings before they disappear beyond the horizon for another year.
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