HOME / CONSUMER BUSINESS /
10 of the Weirdest Burger King Japan Burgers
Alli
Neal
MORE ARTICLES
November 24,
2013
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
LINKEDIN
GOOGLEPLUS
STUMBLEUPON
REDDIT
When “have it your way” is your
company tagline, you have to be ready for a little corporate
creativity. In America, that means extra pickles and bacon sundaes.
In Japan, we’re looking at fried garlic, Spam sliders (specifically
for women), bamboo charcoal, and squid ink.
In 2001, Burger King (NYSE:BKW) completely fell out of Japan’s competitive
fast food industry. After re-entering the market, the company has
spent the past five-and-a-half years proving it can keep up — and
in Japan, that means getting a little weird.
Here are 10 of the weirdest
burgers on Japan’s Burger King menus.
Source: Burger King
1. Koru Burger
As just one of Burger King Japan’s
fifth-anniversary burger offerings, the Koru Burger — koru meaning
“black” in Japanese — hit the menu on September 28, 2012, at 790
yen ($8.05) for a meal. The black buns were made with bamboo
charcoal, and the black ketchup was colored with squid ink and
flavored with garlic.
Why black? Because Burger King
Japan shares an anniversary with Coke Zero, and everyone knows the
best couples always color-coordinate at anniversary parties.
Source: Burger King
2. Koru Ninja Burger
For those who like their Koru
Burgers dressed up for Halloween with a side of sass, this burger
is meant to resemble a ninja sticking its tongue out at
consumers.
The offering stars black buns made
with bamboo charcoal, black-brown garlic soy Chaliapin sauce, and a
“tongue” of what BK is calling king’s bacon, which resembles Irish
rashers more than crispy, American-style bacon. Though decidedly
less ninja-like, the patty is also topped with onions, lettuce,
mayo, and hash browns. For those who like fun facts, Chaliapin
sauce is named after Russian opera singer Feodor Chaliapin, making
this a ninja with some class.
Complete with its own anime
character logo, Burger King’s most recent release hit menus in
Japan on October 25; it’s selling for 680 yen ($6.93). As for
the nagging question we’ve all been asking — why a ninja would
stick his tongue out at you — Burger King has offered no
answer.
Source: Burger King
3. Garlic Meat Beast
On the menu during the 2013 summer
months is a sandwich Burger King called the Garlic Meat Monster in
Japanese and the Garlic Meat Beast in English. This Quarter Pounder
patty was topped with a garlic-seasoned pork patty, chicken breast
filet, red miso and green onion sauce, teriyaki sauce, the typical
lettuce/onion/tomato/mayo fixings, and plenty of fried garlic
slices. Sure to thwart vegetarians, bikini season, and vampires,
the Meat Beast sold for 650 Yen ($6.62) — clearly a small price to
pay for such a triple threat.
Source: Burger King
4. RiNGO Burger
Having absolutely nothing to do
with Ringo Starr, this burger takes its name from the Japanese word
for apple. It’s a beef patty topped with a cinnamon-spice grilled
apple slice and honey mustard, as well as lettuce, tomato, and
mayo. It’s healthier than the Meat Beast, though it does sport a
strange flavor combination — with spiced apples and honey mustard,
the pork patty may have been the way to go on this one. This
“Fresh, Juicy, and Spicy!” sandwich sold through February for 490
yen ($4.99).
Source: Burger King
5. Bolognese Burger
Sometimes, a fancy spaghetti
dinner can be just a bit too expensive. That’s where the Bolognese
Burger stepped in. Complete with a pork patty, cheese, a hash
brown, and a Bolognese sauce with ground beef, tomatoes, onions,
and red wine between hamburger buns, this limited-edition menu item
featured all the carbs of a big plate of spaghetti in your hand and
clocked in at 290 yen ($2.95). White tablecloth, candles, and a
date were not included.
Source: Burger King
6. Five-Patty Whopper
Another fifth-anniversary stunt,
this burger contained — you guessed it — five patties. With only
two buns, this was either a serious mouth full of meat or, for
those of us who can’t unhinge our jaws, two unequal, open-face
burgers. Really getting into the fifth anniversary spirit, Burger
King slashed the price-that-never-was in half before the burger hit
the menu, bringing it down to 550 yen ($5.60).
Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/4036639964/
7. Windows 7 Whopper
The Windows 7 Whopper makes BK’s
Five-Patty Whopper look like a short stack. As a promotion for the
release of the Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) operating system in 2009, this
5-inch tall burger was available for only seven days. (Clever.) The
burger was sold for 777 yen ($7.90), though only to the first 30
customers. (Less clever?) Everyone else had to put down 1,450 yen
($14.75) for the privilege that was this pillar of uninterrupted
meat.
Source: Burger King
8. Pizza-Size Burger
While we’re on the topic of
ridiculously sized burgers you can find in Japanese Burger Kings,
this menu item appeared just in time for the holidays in both 2010
and 2011. In 2010, it really was a pizza burger: four whopper
patties topped with mozzarella, marinara, and pepperoni, stacked
into a 9.5-inch sesame bun and then pre-sliced into six wedges.
This particular calorie bomb (the whole thing clocked in at 2,520
calories and 144 grams of fat) was available in Japan and the BK
Whopper Bar in Midtown Manhattan. In Japan, this sold for 1,680 yen
($17.79), but sold in New York for only $13.
The following year, Japan brought
the pizza-size burger back with flavor upgrades in the Fresh
Avocado and the Cheesy Nacho. The first was a normal, albeit
gigantic, Whopper topped with slices of fresh avocado. The second
was topped with Whopper fixings, cheese, tortilla chips, and
jalapeños. Better yet, for a limited time, you could order a Party
Set, complete with your choice of Pizza-Size Whopper, four medium
soft drinks, and a side of fries, onion rings, and BK chicken
wings. The BK party-for-four set was yours for 2,680 Yen ($27.32).
We’re guessing that the calorie count on the Cheesy Nacho style
pizza-burger and party pack tops the charts. ‘Twas the season for
artery clogging, though, right?
Source: Burger King
9. BK Pumpkin and BK Pumpkin Bomb
Decidedly more gourmet than its
mega-bacon burger campaign, in which you could add bacon in
15-strip increments for 100 Yen ($1.02), October 2012 brought
Burger King Japan customers the BK Pumpkin Whopper: a Whopper
patty, lettuce, bacon, a couple of fried kabocha pumpkin slices,
and a nut sauce made of peanuts, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, and
sesame seeds. For ultra-gourmets who couldn’t get enough, Burger
King also offered the BK Pumpkin Bomb, with a total of 10 slices of
fried kabocha pumpkin. Included in a BK meal, this actually
tasty-sounding special was yours for 490 Yen ($4.99) for those who
could restrain their pumpkin love and 590 Yen ($6) for those who
couldn’t.
Source: Burger King
10. BK Bites
There was some controversy about
calling this offering BK Shots, so these little burgers officially
debuted as BK Bites. Sporting the tagline “What Women Want, Women
Get,” BK’s gender-driven summer 2011 campaign claims that the
sliders — compared to normal-size Whoppers and Meat Beasts — are
“lighter” and “suitable for women.” These BK shots come in
supposedly lady-friendly duo packs, since everyone knows that women
either A) want it all or B) can’t make up their minds. Rather than
having to pick just one, women could soothe their BK craving with
appropriately sized Spam and BLT or beef and chicken slider packs.
Thank God BK Japan is looking out for us girls — they know how much
we love our petite Spam sliders.
Read more: http://www.cheatsheet.com/business/consumer-business/10-of-the-weirdest-burger-king-japan-burgers.html/?a=viewall#ixzz3dcJiZMHa