McDonald’s in Australia and Japan

I believe that McDonald’s is the biggest fast food chain in Japan.  You can find McDonald’s everywhere, even in train stations and some sport gyms.  Apparently they have different menus in each country and there are few menus that I can’t have in Perth.

In Japan, their menu is magnificent!  Along with their standard menus, they have campaigns for new or seasonal items quite often and there are always something new/special.

Let’s talk about my favorite:)  I love their Chicken Tazta Burger!  The burger is only available in Japan (I assume so, as Tazta means a kind of karaage) The Chicken Tazta Burger is one of the standard menus and you can buy it anytime.  (There might be a possibility that they don’t sell Tazta anymore after I left Japan… :p)

They sell Teriyaki Burger as well.  Teriyaki is typical Japanese cuisine and other fast food chains like Mos Burger also sells Teriyaki Burger of their own recipe.

In Perth, we have few Mcdonald’s products which you can’t find in Japan.  They are trying to have “healthy image” on their products (I guess all McDonald’s over the world are same) and they sell Lean Beef Burger, Avocado and Tomato Mac Burger and Chicken Tandoori on Multigrain etc here.  They used to sell McOz which contains beetroots as well.  I love their concept, but the price at McDonald’s in Australia is unbelievably EXPENSIVE (>x<)

For example, I remember cheese burgers and hamburgers were less than 80 yen (about $1.20 now) in Japan.  Happy Meal was about 500 yen, I guess.  Also, you can easily download coupons from the website and get Regular French Fries, Mac Shake and more for just 100 yen each.  That was normal price in Japan.

However, here in Perth you have to pay about A$3.00 to get just a hamburger.  We rarely get a coupon or special price… actually, it’s never happened since I came here!  So we always pay at normal price :p  Since I know the price in Japan, I feel that McDonald’s products here are expensive…. although it maybe just because of the currency matter.

McDonald’s has McFlurry over the world and I’m a big consumer of it, but the variety is also different in Japan and Aus.  In Japan you can get McFlurry Caramel Macchiato (McFlurry Caramel Macchiato), McFlurry KitKat and McFlurry Oreo Cookies.  In Aus you can get McFlurry M&M’s Minis and McFlurry Oreo.  I don’t know about other countries… but I guess they have different flavors??

It’s actually interesting that you can try out the country’s specialty even at fast food chain.  I hear that there is Rendang (Indonesian Coconut Beef Curry Dish) Burger in Indonesia.  I’d love to try it out

McDonald’s in Australia and Japan

I believe that McDonald’s is the biggest fast food chain in Japan.  You can find McDonald’s everywhere, even in train stations and some sport gyms.  Apparently they have different menus in each country and there are few menus that I can’t have in Perth.

In Japan, their menu is magnificent!  Along with their standard menus, they have campaigns for new or seasonal items quite often and there are always something new/special.

Let’s talk about my favorite:)  I love their Chicken Tazta Burger!  The burger is only available in Japan (I assume so, as Tazta means a kind of karaage) The Chicken Tazta Burger is one of the standard menus and you can buy it anytime.  (There might be a possibility that they don’t sell Tazta anymore after I left Japan… :p)

They sell Teriyaki Burger as well.  Teriyaki is typical Japanese cuisine and other fast food chains like Mos Burger also sells Teriyaki Burger of their own recipe.

In Perth, we have few Mcdonald’s products which you can’t find in Japan.  They are trying to have “healthy image” on their products (I guess all McDonald’s over the world are same) and they sell Lean Beef Burger, Avocado and Tomato Mac Burger and Chicken Tandoori on Multigrain etc here.  They used to sell McOz which contains beetroots as well.  I love their concept, but the price at McDonald’s in Australia is unbelievably EXPENSIVE (>x<)

For example, I remember cheese burgers and hamburgers were less than 80 yen (about $1.20 now) in Japan.  Happy Meal was about 500 yen, I guess.  Also, you can easily download coupons from the website and get Regular French Fries, Mac Shake and more for just 100 yen each.  That was normal price in Japan.

However, here in Perth you have to pay about A$3.00 to get just a hamburger.  We rarely get a coupon or special price… actually, it’s never happened since I came here!  So we always pay at normal price :p  Since I know the price in Japan, I feel that McDonald’s products here are expensive…. although it maybe just because of the currency matter.

McDonald’s has McFlurry over the world and I’m a big consumer of it, but the variety is also different in Japan and Aus.  In Japan you can get McFlurry Caramel Macchiato (McFlurry Caramel Macchiato), McFlurry KitKat and McFlurry Oreo Cookies.  In Aus you can get McFlurry M&M’s Minis and McFlurry Oreo.  I don’t know about other countries… but I guess they have different flavors??

It’s actually interesting that you can try out the country’s specialty even at fast food chain.  I hear that there is Rendang (Indonesian Coconut Beef Curry Dish) Burger in Indonesia.  I’d love to try it out (^0^)/

Chicken Rice

When I first heard this dish Chicken Rice (Hainanese Chicken Rice) in Perth I thought it was something like  Japanese chicken rice.  In Japan, chicken rice refers stir-fried (or sometimes cooked in rice cooker) rice seasoned with tomato sauce (tomato ketchup).  We normally add pieces of chicken and veges, but could be chopped ham or sausages.  We still call them Chicken Rice:p

Actually, in Perth (and maybe other countries too) Chicken Rice is a dish with steamed chicken and rice.  Rice is normally cooked in chicken stock so the rice itself has chicken flavor.  Usually the dish comes with special chili sauce and simple chicken soup.

In Perth, Tak chee restaurant is pretty famous for their chicken rice.  I think many people have experiences eating chicken rice there.  I, on the other hand, usually go to Myaree Luncheon Forum in Myaree.  This place is nothing like a restaurant, looks like just a luncheon, but their chicken rice (Hainanese=steamed and Roasted) is quite popular to Malaysian, Chinese and Indonesian people here.  Every time I go to this place I encounter with people I know (friends, owner of other Chinese restaurants etc)

The chicken meat is very soft and tasty:)  You have to be a garlic lover to eat it as their chili sauce and rice are bit garlicy.

I also loves their Roasted Chicken Rice and Crispy Noodle too:)  In Japan we have crispy noodle as well (called kata yakisoba) and you can even order it in family restaurants and izakaya.  One of my favorite:)

Roasted Chicken Rice

Roasted Marinated Buffalo Wings

I buy chicken wings quite often:)  It’s because they are cheap, and also they are good for your skin.  Chicken wings contain lots of collagen which helps your skin stay younger.  I usually marinate them with herbs or spices (cajun, mixed herbs, curry powder…) and roast in the oven with potatoes and some veges.  It’s the easiest meal for midweek dinner:)

If you want to try them in Asian-like flavor, here is a variation.  You can enjoy these wings with rice

<Buffalo Wings>

• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbs sugar
• 1 tsp tobanjan
• 1 tsp grated ginger

* Set the oven to 200 ~ 220.

1. Place all the ingredients in a bowl.  Marinade buffalo wings in the sauce and leave it for 10~30 mins.
2. Roast in the oven till cooked through.  So easy!

By the way, maybe it’s only me but I do eat chicken bone :p  I don’t know why, but I love them.  My partner always tells me to stop eating them but I can’t stop it :p  Is it only me??  In Japan we eat Nankotsu (cartilage) and I love them too!

Hot day…

Wow is it already summer?? :p  It was more than 30 degree today.  So hot…  I heard on the radio that there was a bush fire in Hamilton Hill.  No wonder, I can feel the air is very dry…

Because of the heat I didn’t feel like eating anything for lunch today, so I just had apple and peach tea.  When I came home from work I was pretty hungry and had steak with some steamed veges.  By the way, during summer I can just eat watermelon for dinner everyday.  I like watery food and love watermelon:)  Japanese watermelon is round shape and sweeter than Perth’s.  Watermelon here is so huge and cheap!

During summer another thing I can’t stop eating is ice cream :p  I love haagen-dazs ice cream, especially green tea flavor!  Not too sweet, and the little bitter taste is perfect to ease the summer heat.

I also love this ice-cream “Viennetta” (>v<)/  In Japan it’s quite expensive compared with other normal ice-cream, but I still kept buying it.  The reason for that is not only the creamy taste, but also my memory.  My cousin sister always bought this ice-cream for me when I was little and for me the ice-cream reminds me the memory of her.  Apparently it’s also her favorite ice-cream.  Still now, I keep buying this:)