Yuzu and shichimi add distinctive delicious Japanese flavors to the fried chicken house from Kentucky.

Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan isn’t shy about leaning just as heavily into the second geographic part of its name as it does the first. So while sure, they’re happy to hook you up with a bucket of the Colonel’s original-recipe fried chicken, they also regularly offer items that feature Japanese culinary creativity, and that’s what’s on the way with a new sandwich that’s joining the KFC Japan menu: the Yuzu Shichimi Wafu Chicken Katsu Burger.

We’ve got a lot to chew on linguistically there, so let’s start at the beginning. Yuzu (pictured above) is a kind of Japanese citrus fruit that’s somewhere between a lemon and a lime, but with a sharper finish to its flavor profile that better balances its sweet and tart notes. Shichimi (seen below) is a mixed chili pepper seasoning which often contains powdered orange peel, giving it a flavorful spiciness with a faintly citrusy impression.

Meanwhile, wafu is a classical way of saying “Japanese-style,” alluding to the teriyaki sauce that spread all across the chicken cutlet (“katsu”). That cutlet gets placed between whole-wheat buns, topped with shredded cabbage (the customary accompaniment for cutlets in Japan), and finished with a generous dollop of yuzu-juice and shichimi-infused mayonnaise sauce.

The Yuzu Shichimi Wafu Chicken Katsu Burger can be had by itself for 490 yen (US$3.40), as part of a set with a medium drink and small order of fries for 900 yen, or, if you can’t imagine going into KFC and not getting some straight-up fried chicken, as a combo with the drink, fries, and a piece of Original Recipe for 1,200 yen (both of the combos can be had for 160 yen less as lunch sets, offered between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.). Appearing alongside the Yuzu Shichimi Wafu Chicken Katsu Burger on the menu is a regular Wafu Chicken Katsu Burger with conventional mayonnaise, for which a la carte and combo prices are all 50 yen less.

Both sandwiches are on sale as of June 4 at KFC branches across Japan and will be available for a limited time.

Source: KFC Japan via Entabe
Top image: KFC Japan
Insert images: Wikipedia/Dallae, Wikipedia/E136, KFC Japan
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