A beefy Top that’s said to be “full of meat for the year to come”.

In Japan, the year-end and New Year holidays are all about kohaku, which translates to “red and white“. This colour combination is believed to be auspicious, making it the perfect colour palette for welcoming good luck in the new year.

Though these lucky colours help to bring a celebratory flair to Japan’s most important holiday season, one place we weren’t expecting to see them was at Burger King, where the chain is now inviting its customers to consume kohaku in its latest burger, dubbed “’23/’24 TOP“.

Image: Press release

As the above image shows, “TOP” is an acronym for “The One Pounder“, a series of oversized burgers that the chain has been releasing intermittently in recent years. Interestingly, this is the first time the chain has resorted to naming its latest One Pounder “TOP”, having given them more creative name choices previously.

▼ The four One Pounders released in 2023.

Image: Press release

While the chain has given no clear reason as to why they’ve chosen to go with the name “TOP” for what they’re advertising as a kohaku burger, we can only guess it has something to do with it being the first One Pounder released at the top of the year. Either way, we were curious to try it, so our reporter Egawa Tasuku headed down to Burger King to find out what the Top tasted like.

According to the official website, the Top is limited to the year-end and New Year holidays, and is “full of meat for the year to come“. When he stripped it from its packaging, the Top looked very meaty indeed, with the four beef patties poking through the red sauce and white cheese.

Pulling his disposable gloves on for a proper inspection, Tasuku lifted the top off the Top, where he found two slices of tomatoes on a mound of white cheese, sitting on a thick beef patty.

▼ Below this layer was a beef patty…

▼…followed by another cheese-ketchup-beef layer.

▼ Then, the fourth and final beef patty formed the last layer on top of the bottom bun.

The meat was spread from top to bottom in generous amounts, and when he went in for a mouthful, he was surprised to find it was a lot more complex than it looked.

Despite containing a lot of the same ingredients in each layer, the flavour didn’t feel monotonous, thanks to the special five- cheese sauce and ​​Gouda cheese slices, as well as the tomato sauce, which had a sharpness to it that acted as a nice accent. Needless to say, the serving size was huge, but the quality was so good that Tasuku didn’t tire of eating it, right up until the very last bite.

At 2,090 yen (US$14.71), this isn’t a cheap burger, but it was so delicious that Tasuku would rate it as one of the top One Pounders he’s ever tried. Which made him wonder if that was the real reason behind the naming of the Top. Whatever the reason, it’s a burger that’s definitely worth trying, but you’ll want to be quick as it’s only available for a limited time while stocks last!

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