Skipping the regular Family Mart buns for these substitutes transforms Famichiki into something even more magical.

Convenience is obviously a big part of why we find ourselves inside of Japan’s convenience stores as often as we do. But while they’re stocked with plenty of things that are perfectly tasty and completely ready to be eaten, sometimes foodies discover a way to put just a little more effort into a convenience store meal to make it even more delicious.

One of the latest trends in the Japanese convenience store fan community involves one Family Mart’s best sellers, the chain’s Famichiki boneless fried chicken. It’s so tasty that Family Mart even sells specialized buns for customers who want to turn their Famichiki into a fried chicken sandwich.

But rumor has it there’s a way to make an even better Family Mart fried chicken sandwich, which is to skip the for-Famichiki bun…

…and instead head over to the sandwich shelf to grab one of Family Mart’s egg sandwiches.

Like most Japanese convenience store sandwiches, Family Mart’s egg sandwich comes cut into two triangle-shaped pieces. Open one of those up, put your Famichiki inside…

…and now you’ve got what fans call an “oyako sandwich,” a sandwich version of oyakodon, the Japanese dish of chicken and egg served on a bowl of rice.

Trying it for ourselves for the first time, we can confirm that it does indeed taste very good. After all, it’s a combination of two things with complementary flavors that already tasted great on their own, so doubling up on the deliciousness your taste buds experience makes them that much better. We did have a surprise here too, though, in that the softness of the sandwich bread and the egg made the slight crispiness of the Famichiki stand out more, giving it a more upscale feel than when the chicken it eaten by itself straight from its paper wrapper.

So yeah, this is a case where the buzz is justified, as this Family Mart food hack is very satisfying…but could we make it even more decadent? Yes we could, and we did.

Returning to Family Mart, we got another piece of Famichiki, but this time we left both the specialized buns and egg sandwiches on the shelf, and instead selected a pack of Family Mart’s ready-to-eat French toast to make our second sandwich with.

Since Family Mart’s French toast is pre-sliced into two pieces, you don’t even need a knife to do this. There was, however, one finishing touch we wanted to add: maple syrup.

Maple syrup and French toast, of course, are an established recipe for deliciousness, and it turns out the condiment is great on fried chicken too. Our French toast maple Famichiki sandwich was sweet, salty, soft, and gooey. Some would say that’s not a very elegant-sounding meal, but we were going for flavor, not status here, and the flavor is incredibly enjoyable.

At 155 yen (US$1), Family Mart’s French toast is about twice the price of the specialized Famichiki bun, which is 88 yen. Still, that’s only a 67-yen difference, and with the Famichiki itself costing 230 yen, the do-it-yourself French toast upgrade is a pretty easy extra expense to absorb, especially when the results taste this good. The only issue is that Family Mart doesn’t provide packs of maple syrup, so you’ll need to procure a bottle separately, but on the plus side, having a whole container on hand means you’ll have plenty of syrup to make many, many more French toast maple fried chicken sandwiches when the craving for another inevitably hits.

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