McValue with Free Newspaper

Posted April 9th, 2012 in Perth WA, Ume's Interests | No Comments »

Have a Breakfast McValue Meal® and you can get a free copy of The Sunday Times!

This offer starts from the 11th of April for a limited time only, and is only available until 10:30AM.  McValue Meal®  includes Hash Brown and Small Espresso Pronto as well.

I saw this ad on The Sunday Times I was reading at McDonald’s yesterday.  It was late afternoon and I felt like something cold – perhaps frozen coke or thick shake –  but I got $2 Chicken McBites and a chocolate sundae in the end.  I still got to read The Sunday Times for free coz someone had left it on the table.

Was I the only person who didn’t know that McDonald had started showing the calories of the each food item on the menu panel?  It’s just like Japan – everywhere you go you get to see the calorie of each food on the menu.  I heard that other fast food chains (KFC, Hungry Jack etc) are also going to show calories of each item on the menu board.  You know, it’s good thing that you get to know how much calories you are getting by eating the food, but at the same time you just have to compare this item is lower calorie than others and sometimes chose the item that you weren’t planning to order.  That’s what happens to me every time I dine at family restaurants and cafes in Japan.  I feel like eating cheesy chicken and vegetable pasta, but I end up ordering a healthy wa-fu mushroom pasta instead.  It’s just because I see the calories on the menu.

Anyway, get back to the free The Sunday Times thing.  You can also get a free copy from Spud Shed when you spend $5 or more at one transaction.  I’m not sure if all Spud Shed do this, but Jandakot one does! Sometimes you need to ask for it at the casher though.  Oh, and McDonald’s free newspaper offer is only available in WA too!


Chicken Tazta Burger

Posted December 23rd, 2011 in Food | No Comments »

As I mentioned on the earlier posts (here & here), I had an opportunity to eat McDonald’s chicken tazta burger while I’m in Japan!!!

Chicken tazta burger is one of my favourite 🙂  I love the combination of tazta-age, cabbage and the sweet sauce.  They took it off their menu few years ago, but this burger is back on menu for a limited time.

This time, there’re two types of chicken tazta burgers – normal one, and wafu oroshi (with grated daikon radish & ponzu sauce).  I had to eat both of them!

The new flavour, tazta oroshi had tansy kick of yuzu.  I loved it.  The daikon oroshi (grated daikon) and ponzu went very well with tazta-age.  The only one thing I noticed was that the bottom bun was bit soggy and soft because of the ponzu.  Maybe they put too much ponzu sauce?  It was bit difficult to eat, but I enjoyed the flavour.  Japanese mayonnaise is so good on burgers 🙂


Teriyaki at McDonald’s

Posted December 18th, 2011 in Food, Japan | No Comments »

We went to McDonald’s the other day to have lunch.  Right now they are doing this campaign “buy value meal LL size and get a coke glass”.  Coke glass looks just like can of coke.

We were both hungry, and bought 2 teriyaki burger sets LL size.

Coke glass…

Ummm, yap, LL size is very big….  I couldn’t finish the potato and drink.

There’s power point for Nintendo DS.  (McD de DS)

Hmmmm  I haven’t had teriyaki burger for awhile!!  The combination of sweet teriyaki sauce and Japanese mayonaise is the vest match.

The new “Chicken Tazta Burger” starts selling from tomorrow! (related post)  I must try it…


McDonald’s Big Mac 200yen

Posted December 9th, 2011 in Eat out in Japan | No Comments »

We went to Jusco store (a shopping centre) yesterday, and had a bite at McDonald’s.  Right now, they are selling a Big Mac for ¥200, so D ordered one.

I didn’t feel like eating burger then, so I ordered small vanilla shake. Just ¥120.

The staff was so friendly and polite 🙂  I love thick shake….  I sometimes get a craving for it.  Always vanilla flavour.

They had high chairs for babies.  Hiro had snack (milk) there too.  Looks comfy 🙂

There is one sink to wash hands, and one for little people too.

A bottle of hand soap with McDonald logo.

The tray came with some discount coupon and a flier saying that they are selling Chicken Tazta Burger again soon.  Chicken Tazta Burger!!!  My favourite….  I just love the combination of chicken tazta and shredded cabbage 🙂  And this time, they have two kinds – one is an usual Chicken Tazta Burger, and another is Chicken Tazta Wafu Oroshi (with grated daikon radish and some soysauce-based sauce).  I must try it!!  I also want to eat their limited-time-only burger, Tomato Gra-Koro Burger (a gratin-croquette burger with special tomato sauce), so I will need to come back to McDonald’s at least twice within this month!


A Shopping Day

Posted December 2nd, 2011 in Japan | No Comments »

I’m worried…..  We’ve been shopping almost everyday, and spent money everyday.  It’s been just over a week since we came here but we’ve already spent 1/3 of cash we brought!  What did we buy??!  We should slow down…

But it’s difficult to not buy when we see something we wanted or something nice with a reasonable price.  And, when it starts snowing we can’t really go out for shopping, so I guess it’s ok…  Just try to slow down a bit, and watch what we spend for.

A tea break at Starbucks.

We ordered chicken pie and sugar donut to accompany our drinks 🙂

After another round of shopping, we accidentally came across with my dad inside a shopping mall.  He said he just bought a pair of jeans from UNIQLO.  He was suposed to be at work…  :p

We had another tea break with him at First Kitchen.

D had teriyaki burger and melon soda float.  I had milk tea float with tapioca.

Milk tea float tapioca wasn’t sweet.  The syrop was served separate so I could adjust the sweetness to my liking.  I ended up not using the syrop though.  Just trying to cut-down calories…


First Kitchen

Posted November 23rd, 2011 in Eat out in Japan, Japan | No Comments »

First Kitchen, known as City Convenience Restaurant, is fast food chain serving variety of foods including burgers, soup, and pasta.  It’s not a place I go often, but D and I had lunch inside food court in a shopping mall.  The price for burgers is bit more expensive than McDonald’s and other chains, but we both liked the food.

D ordered teriyaki burger meal, and I ordered kid’s chicken nuggets meal.  Teriyaki burger meal came with fries and drink, like other chains, but you could chose the flavour of the fries – called “flavour potato”.  It’s like shaker fries of McDonald’s.  The flavours are unique: corn potage, flame-grilled mentaiko (marinated roe of pollock), soy BBQ, sizzling butter and soy sauce, butter, consomme, and French fries.  D chose soy BBQ.  It was good 🙂

There is sauce bar at the counter where you can get any sauces as much as you want.  The sauces are BBQ sauce, mentaiko mayonnaise, cheese sauce, and garlic mayonnaise.

I love Japanese fast food because their drink menu has more varieties.  I always chose tea (usually oolong tea).  You can also get hot/iced lemon/milk tea and cocoa with meals with no additional cost.

It may be just because it was weekday and there’re not so many people around, but they made all the food on order including fries and nugget.  Crispy and super hot.  With kid’s meal I got to chose a toy from a basket, and I got Stitches stationery kit.

We were thinking of getting some sweets there as well, but didn’t.  Their tapioca coconut milk float and shiratama cream zenzai (chewy dango with stewed sweet azuki bean and soft serve) looked yummy!


McDonald’s Birthday Celebration

Posted October 18th, 2011 in Food | 1 Comment »

Along with Play I SPy, McFlurry, McFeast, Shaker Fries and $1 cheese burger, McDonald’s is celebrating its 40th birthday in Australia with this brekkie muffin – Birthday Muffin.

This muffin consistes of cheese, sausage patty, a rasher of bacon, egg, hash brown potatoes (Macca calls it potato rosti) and tasty sauce.  I love having breakfast at McDonald’s.  It recalls my memory of schooldays in Japan as I used to go to McDonald’s to get breakfast muffin and coffee before going to school.  They didn’t have this muffin in Japan though, of course, as it’s a special menu to celebrate McDonald’s birthday in Australia, so my usual order was bacon and egg muffin.  And, this birthday muffin…. yeah, it tastes delicious!

I know it’s not really a healthy choice, but I enjoyed it.  It made me full with these extras – hash brown and sausage patty.

I think this item is only for a limited time only.  I may grab it at least one more time before they stop selling this 😉

a


McDONALDS PLAY I SPY

Posted September 26th, 2011 in Eat out in Perth | No Comments »

My quick lunch at McDonald’s last week.

McDonald’s is doing this Play I Spy campaign, which could win you some prizes.  When you buy selected items from McDonald’s, the items come with Play I Spy stickers and 1 in 5 wins instantly!

I got McNuggets value meal and D got BigMac value meal, so we had 4 stickers in total to peel off….

Did I win something??   YES!!!!!!!  …. just a cup of coffee 😀  But it’s better than nothing!  D didn’t win anything..

There’s also 2nd chance where you can enter to win unclaimed prizes.

Hmmmm, anyway, I did enjoy McNuggets. 🙂  I used to eat McNugget a lot back in Japan, and this is one of the foods I craved for while I was pregnant!  I normally get mustard and ketchup to accompany, but this time I only got mustard.  Yummm…

a


Sushi at Royal, East Perth

Posted August 1st, 2011 in Eat Out in Perth - Japanese Food - | No Comments »

There is a small Japanese take-away food shop on Royal street in East Perth.  I happened to go there the other day just past 12PM, and I was very surprised….  Not only to see that so many people keep coming in and making a long queue to grab take-away sushi and typical Japanese meals, but also the speed of their service.

I stayed there for about 15 minutes – until Hiro started crying loud and realising eating at home would be better for us and also other diners.  While the 15 minutes, the line of people didn’t break.

Most of the customers must be office workers around this area, wanting to grab fast and easy food to take-out during their limited lunch time.  These people must be this shop’s target as well – considering the opening hours of 11:00 to 16:30, Monday to Friday.

There are lots of drinks to chose from the fridge.

There is a counter full of packed sushi to go.  You can also order meals such as teriyaki, katsu, donburi, curry, udon and soba noodle, agedashi, burgers, etc.  The owner must be Indonesian or Malaysian because there is “beef rendang” on the menu :p

I was curious to try their teriyaki burger ($7.50), but decided to order Fish Katsu-Don ($10.50).D ordered Teriyaki Chicken ($10.50).

I was assuming that it would take at least 5 minutes to make our foods, but it showed up within 2 minutes.  Very very fast.  That’s why there’re not many people waiting for their food besides the number of people queueing. They get their ordered meal in a flash.  This must be one of the reason why this shop is so busy.

The katsu was not like Japanese katsu – it was more like Western-style (like those for parmigiana).  The meat of teriyaki chicken was chopped, and it was chicken breast (no skin).  I guess these “katsu” and “teriyaki chicken” are prepared for burgers and sushi rolls too. That’s why they are in funny shape.

The quality of the food is very average, but I am, again, very impressed by their fast service.  The staff are very friendly and kind too.  When I asked them if I could take-home our half-eaten food  (because of Hiro) they quickly brought me plastic lids and a carry bag with a smile.  I was surprised to see the speed of the staff’s movement as well.

Monday to Friday during lunch time only, serving variety of food, very fast service.  I like their concept.  Very good business.

(08) 9225 7911


Mc VALUE Lunch Deals

Posted July 24th, 2011 in Food | No Comments »

Writing about fast food made me want to eat some burger!

Since McDonald’s is doing the Mc Value Lunch Deals, I run to the nearest McDonald’s to get the deal.  As I thought, there’re so many people …. at the drive-thru and inside the store.

There’re 6 menu to chose from.  I got myself Grand Angus Deal 🙂

I hadn’t had burger for awhile…. It made me so full!

Gochiso-sama-deshita 🙂

a


Fast Food and Slow Food

Posted July 23rd, 2011 in Ume's Interests | No Comments »

“Fast food or slow food?”  When I ask this question, most people give me definite answer. Some people just love getting fast foods while others  enjoy the quality of slow foods.

Me, I’m actually bit of both. Because of being blood type AB and star sign Pisces (post – by the way, thanks to people who left comments on this post and are the same blood type and star sign as me or similar), I have many likes and dislikes, and they don’t always stay the same. One day I get craving for a cheese burger and French fries, and run to one of the fast food chain and enjoy the junk food. Next day, I feel like appreciating the nature and eco-friendly food, and enjoy the whole process of cooking and dining.

When you imagine fast food, the first thing that pops into your head is probably burgers or fried chickens.  In Japan, there are also other types of fast food, such as gyu-don (beef donburi), onigiri (rice balls), and udon noodles.

One of the images of fast foods is being unhealthy, but yes, I admit it. I love burgers too.  McDonald’s, Mos Burger, Lotteria, Burger King…  These burger chains in Japan sells wafu menu (Japanese-style menu) along with standard burgers and side menu, and they are irresistible …  Teriyaki burger, katsu burger, rice burger…  they all taste so good.

And, the good side of fast food is that they are usually cheap, and often offer discount coupons.  Go to Mcdonalds, Lotteria and Mister Donut websites.  You can easily download the coupons and use them straight away.

But, after awhile I start to miss those foods that are made with care and from fresh ingredients.  Often they are Japanese food (wa-shoku).

Cooking brown rice and enjoying it with simple side dishes and miso soup.  Making dashi stock and cooking dashi-maki tamago with it. Whole process of cooking is enjoyable, and I can appreciate the food.

I don’t know which one I like better.  I can’t chose!  But, both fast food and slow food give me vitality, happiness, and the power that I can start a day with smile!

a


Mos Burger – Fruity Miso Chicken

Posted May 28th, 2011 in Japan | 6 Comments »

Mos Burger’s new Spicy Fruity Miso Chicken Burger seems to be a  big hit since its released day May 26  🙂

With the concepts of “burger with flavour of Japan”, “burger which catches Japanese people’s hearts”, and “burger: nothing like others”, this new chicken burger is only available for limited time only!

It consists of flame-grilled teriyaki chicken, fruity spicy miso sauce, onion slices, tomato, lettuce, and spicy mayonnaise.

The chicken thigh is marinated with wafu (Japanese flavour) based stock, then flame grilled.  The signature miso sauce is made with 3 kinds of miso : Sakura miso, Kome (rice) miso, and Haccho miso.  It also contains grape juice, raisin, blueberry, roasted soy sauce, red ginger, chilli powder, sweet sake, etc etc….  total 45 ingredients!  The balance of sweetness, spiciness, and sourness is just right – according to the people who tried this burger.

Sounds and looks so delicious!!  Ummmm I wish I was there 🙁


New McDonald’s Brekkie

Posted March 24th, 2011 in Food | 2 Comments »

Since watching tv ad of McDonald’s 2 new breakfast bagel, I’d been wanting to try them out.  They are only available until 10:30AM, and usually we are busy looking after Hiro around the time, so I didn’t really have chance to go out and grab one.

NYC Benedict Bagel is with bacon, egg, cheese and Hollandaise sauce, and Boston Deli Bagel is with bacon, egg, tomato, cheese and seasoned avocado.  I tried Boston Deli, and D tried NYC Benedict.

The bagel is pretty soft and fluffy.  It was $5.15 each and I thought it was bit expensive…  Even a Mega Muffin in Japan costs only 290 yen.  But, I did enjoy it.:)  Very full.



MOSDO!

Posted November 3rd, 2010 in Eat out in Japan | No Comments »

 

Again, about Mister Donut… Mos Burger. Mos + Misdo = Mosdo!

Their first collaborated item was sold in 2008 : Mos Burger sold “hot chicken burger” and Mister Donut sold “hot chicken pie”.  In 2009, as their second collaborated items, “donut burger” donut patty and wasabi sauce, and “petit burger” the smallest burger in the world (possibly) were sold. 

And, this year, they actually opened up a shop which sells both burgers and donuts!  

 

http://mosdo.jp/product

You can actually purchase/dine-in Mos burgers and Mister Donut donuts in one shop.  

Their set menu looks awesome!  Mosdo Set comes with one choice of Mos burger (or soup or salad) and 1 choice of donut and one choice of drink. (¥580)  Tea Time Set comes with a choice of donut parfait and a drink (¥390).  I’m curious to try their “okonomiyaki-style salad”.  Does it taste like okonomiyaki?

Ahhhh, I miss Mos Teriyaki Burger!!! (>口<)/

a


Free Service – Go to Mister Donut!

Posted November 2nd, 2010 in Eat out in Japan | No Comments »

Mister Donut is giving away 1 free NEW donut for the first 300 customers between 01 and 03/November at the shops across Japan!

The new flavor donut is made with rice flour (chewy texture mochi-mochi) coated with kinako, sweet soybean flour.  This donut will be sold from 04/Nov at shops after the campaign.

 

Yoshinoya, the largest chain of beef bowl restaurants in Japan, is also giving away 1 free egg for the customer who orders the new menu kimuchi kuppa. (until 08/Nov)  So cheap… 280 yen!  

onaka suita~… (I’m hungry~)



Love Food for Any Mood

Posted February 18th, 2010 in Eat out in Perth | No Comments »

 

As a promo for McDonald’s five new Value Lunch Deals, they started this “Mood of the Nation” site.  On this website you can see how the whole country is feeling right now and why.  By the way today’s Western Australia people are feeling…  “Peckish”  

It’s just a cheeky simulation thing, but $5.95 lunch set menu is a pretty good deal.  You can chose from 5 lunch deals : Filet-O-Fish, Big Mac, Seared sweet Chili Wrap, Seared Tandoori Wrap, and Quarter Pounder. 

They’re available Monday to Friday between 12 and 2PM at participating restaurants, but only for a limited time.  🙂


Japan’s KFC Winter Menu

Posted January 12th, 2010 in Japan | No Comments »

Yummy KFC winter menu is on …. only in Japan (>x<)

Wafu (Japanese style) katsu burger.  Katsu means Japanese deep-fried dish coated with bread crumb.  Katsu also means “win” in Japanese.  In Japan it’s the time of the season when students study hard to enroll in universities, colleges, high schools and private schools, so KFC is selling this burger with the meaning of both “deep-fried katsu” and “win the enrollment test”.

Wafu (Japanese style) spicy chicken burger.  Deep-fried chicken breast fillet with oroshi sauce (grated daikon radish in soy-based original sauce) .

Hot pie set.  White creamy stew is inside!

Baked pudding.  Homemade custard cream and vanilla sponge cake.


Angus Beef in Hungry Jack’s & McDonald’s

Posted November 17th, 2009 in Eat out in Perth | 2 Comments »

Whilst McDonald’s started its Angus Burger awhile ago, Hungry Jack’s launched Angry Angus Burger today with two varieties –  Angry Angus Single and Double.

Hungry Jack’s sure is for meat lovers!  I mean, my image for Hungry Jack’s has been “meat” “men” “muscle” etc… and this burger again reminds me of the fact.  

Angry Angus Burger contains angus beef patty, bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and Angry Onions – it’s like onion rings.  Angry Angus Double Burger comes with 2 layers of Angus beef patties.

I can’t say which one is good – McDonald’s or Hungry Jack’s, but it seems that men are more excited about Hungry Jack’s Angus.  Is it because of the fried onions?  or brand image?


Burger King in Japan

Posted October 23rd, 2009 in Japan, Ume's Interests | No Comments »

Burger King Japan cerebrates the release of new Microsoft OS “Windows 7” with a limited burger – called “Windows 7 Whopper”.  As you can see on the photo above, 7 layers of 113g beef patty are stacked between a 13cm bun.  

This Windows 7 Whopper is available until 28th October at Burger King in Japan, and the first 30 customers on each day can get it for 777 yen.  (Windows “7“)  The normal price is 1450 yen.

I’m not sure if I’m brave enough to try this burger…  but it sure sounds tempting!


Angus Burger

Posted October 11th, 2009 in Food | No Comments »

The other day I tried McDonald’s new Angus burgers.  Using sour dough bread and 100% Aussie beef tempted me.

I actually didn’t know that McDonald’s has been sourcing beef from Australian farmers for over 30 years.  For those Angus burgers, they use verified angus beef by certified Australian Angus Beef Pty Ltd.  Angus beef means that has been bred purely for the production of highest quality beef indicated by the smooth, close-grained texture, carnation red color and finely marbled fat within the lean muscle.  Those gives the meat very juicy tender texture.        

At McDonald’s, I tried both Grand Angus burger and Mighty Aungus burger.  Grand Angus comes with thick patty of Angus beef, cheese, baby salad leaves, tomato, red onion, mayonnaise and mustard.  On the other hand, Mighty Angus comes with thick patty of Angus beef, cheese, bacon, red onion and zesty relish.  

Both are encased in soft sour dough bun, and the thick juicy meat patty are very tasty.  They are pretty big burgers but I managed to finish one by myself!  I like Grand Angus because there’re more salad inside.  My hubby likes Mighty Angus because it’s saucy and meaty.

Aussie beef is a big brand in Japan too, and I’m lucky that I can eat those Australian beef burgers here 🙂  Seems that McDonald’s in Japan doesn’t have Angus burger in their menu, whilst America does..


Mister Donut

Posted June 22nd, 2009 in Eat out in Japan | 2 Comments »

Mister Donut is my favorite donut shop in Japan.  I just love their whole concept : their characters, color theme, variety of food…

They don’t only serve donuts, but also rich shakes, puddings, ramen noodle, yam cha food, pies, muffins etc.  You get point every time you purchase some items, and you can exchange the points to receive character goods.  The round lion (Pon De Lion) is Mister Donut’s main character, and he (she?) is so cute!  I’ve collected its mug, plate, bath towel and aprons so far.

One reason I like Mister Donut is their price.  Very reasonable.  And, you can easily download coupons through their website.  They often do campaign too – ¥100 for the regular donuts.  Cheap and delicious.

 

    

Their new menu is so exciting!  “Donut Burger” and “Pote-Do” are on my things-to-eat list for Japan trip.  Donut Burger is sweet – consisting donut, chocolate pate and sweet sauces.  

  

It’s summer in Japan now, and they are doing summer noodle fare.  Everything is ¥399.


Mr Samurai

Posted January 31st, 2009 in Eat Out in Perth - Japanese Food - | 10 Comments »

This Japanese fast food restaurant is located in the centre of Perth city, and popular among people of all ages.  They have been one of the cheapest place to eat around Perth, and it’s always crowded with students and office workers during lunch time.  Their signature dish is Fried Chicken: deep-fried chicken pieces with bone, served with steamed rice.  Considering the price, there is no question about the fact that people keep coming back to this place.  (Before: $4.00~$5.00, Now: $6.00.  still cheap 🙂 )

They have special chili sauce and chili powder on each table, and my fiance is crazy about this sauce.  We don’t have this type of chili sauce in Japan and it’s obviously not a Japanese thing, but it goes well with this fried chicken 🙂

I also recommend Katsu Curry, Oyako Donburi, and Special Combo.  They have Special Combo A, B and C, and A seems to be the popular one.  I believe that the price range around $6 ~ &7.

There is another reason why this place is always full of people.  They have a notice board near the entreace, and this notice board is used for classified advertising.  (mostly for Japanese people)  Most of the information are in Japanese, and Japanese people in Perth go to this place to get some information for share house, job, community activity and more.  If you are looking for Japanese sharemate, it’s probably a good idea to put the ad in Mr Samurai.

They are closed in the Weedends and that’s been a big disappointment, but Good News!  Mr Samurai will open on Saturdays from 31/Jan/09 🙂

As I mentioned above, this restaurant is kind of fast food, takeaway type of place.  The best place to get quick lunch.

83 Barrack St. Perth


McDonald’s in Australia and Japan

Posted October 23rd, 2008 in Food, Ume's Interests | 2 Comments »

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

Posted October 23rd, 2008 in Eat out in Japan | 9 Comments »

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^)/



Charcoal Chicken

Posted October 4th, 2008 in Eat out in Perth | No Comments »
Portuguese Style Chicken

There are numbers of take away chicken shops in Perth.  This shop Charcoal Chicken is not as famous as others, but it’s one of my favorite fast food shop.  I love their menu!  Their main is chicken, of course, and you can choose 2 flavours: Charcoal or Portuguese style.  I always get Portuguese style as I love spicy food:)  They also have Lamb Ribs, Souvlaki, Salad Bar and some desert.

I love the variety of salad!  I guess there are about 10 kinds of salad, and some food like Cream Chicken Pasta and Biriyani Rice are on the display case as well so you can just order and grab them straight away.

And another reason why I love this shop is their chips!!  They always deep fry chips on order, so it’s very fresh, tasty and crispy!!(>v<)  Maybe the biggest reason for me coming to this shop is their chips.  I hate soggy cold chips like you sometimes get from elsewhere.  I’ve never got such bad chips from this shop!

If you like spicy food and bored with Chicken Treat or Red Rooster, why not try this tonight??


Full Moon

Posted August 20th, 2008 in Food | 3 Comments »

I see a full moon in the sky lately.   In Japan, we traditionally enjoy “Otsukimi”(moon viewing) on the night of the full moon in autumn.  We make offerings to the moon of autumn fruits and vegetables, odango(rice dumplings) and susuki(Japanese pampas grass).

However I have never experienced this traditional ceremony.  I just know about this from my grand parents’ story and old books.  I don’t know when people in Japan stopped enjoying Otsukimi…  

What comes to my mind when I see a full moon is, actually, MacDonald’s burger:p  In this Otsukimi season, MacDonald’s in Japan used to sell Otsukimi burger.  The burger contains egg, and the yolk looks like a full moon.  That’s the reason why it’s called Otsukimi burger.

I liked the burger, I don’t know if MacDonald’s still sells them though.  Next time when I go back to Japan in autumn, and if I can get Otsukimi burger then, I would like to enjoy moon viewing with the burger in my hands! 🙂


K.F.C

Posted July 15th, 2008 in Eat out in Jakarta | No Comments »

My partner looooves those chooks, but I am not a big fun of KFC…  Correction, I am not a big fun of Fast Food:p 

My destination in Japan when I have no much money to spend, however, was either a family restaurant (Dennies, Big Boy, Coco’s..) or Mcdonalds.  There are other fast food chain I go to sometimes, such as Mos Burger and Lotteria, but most of the time I go to Mcdonalds.  The reason is that they are cheap, and I just like their concept.  I don’t go to KFC even in Japan…  I feel they are quite expensive:p  And I prefer just eating delicious Karaage somewhere else rather than going to KFC.  

*****

I was surprised when I saw Indonesian people eating KFC chicken with steamed rice the first time…  It was shocking, actually.  KFC is, for me, one of the fast food (=junk food) and I never thought anyone would eat fast food with steamed rice.  Well, I’m used to it now and I sometimes eat those chicken with rice too :p   With lots and lots of Indonesia chili sauce, of course.

Is it only Indonesian people who eat KFC with steamed rice??

There are one more thing about KFC and Indonesia…  When I visited Jakarta, my partner and I went to KFC.  I was amazed by their menu; they had steamed rice, soup, and Bento Box on their menu board!!

Bento Box… it was just KFC chicken with some yakiniku sauce, packed into a bento container with steamed rice:p

Yakiniku usually means grilled beef (sliced meat), but they just used KFC chicken!!

It was so funny 🙂

KFC Soup

KFC Soup

Ume in Jakarta KFC

Ume in Jakarta KFC

I tried the soup; it was ok … but few pieces of KFC chicken floating in the soup… ummm little weird to me:P  Fried chicken in a soup!

Anyway, it was a good experience:p