Lotteria Burger at Harajuku

After trying MOS burger, of course for comparison sake, I needed to try Lotteria, the omnipresent burger chain all over Tokyo. I had memories of a MOS burger in Harajuku but this has since closed down so on our visit we tried Lotteria. There are actually two branches within Takeshita Dori in Harajuku-if anyone would like burgers, it's the teenagers of Tokyo. We were lured by their burger with it's option of 1 or 2 patties with melted cheese. Of course I choose two patties Y490 as well as a prawn burger Y280 and a rib sandwich Y320, and some Y100 chicken bites.

It's warm so the Mango frappe, although not as fancy as a frappe you'd get back home, is well received. It's more like milk with some flavour to it and mango flavoured shaved ice on top.

I bite into the double burger (which looks nothing like the mouthwatering picture) and the beef is very juicy, in fact the juice (or grease but it is more like juice) almost drips out. The bun itself is smaller than we are used to but the double patties provide a good protein to starch ratio.

The burger that I like the best of the Ebi burger (prawn burger). I didn't expect there to be whole of half prawns in the patty (I expected "seafood" minced up) but that's exactly what we get. The patty is piping hot as it's freshly cooked and the sauce goes nicely with it and at Y280 it's a steal.

The last item is a Pork Rib sandwich, smothered with BBQ sauce. I can't really tell if the pork rib itself is pork rib with the bones removed although it looks like it, it's a bit too soft and manufacture meat in texture to be real pork rib but you never know with Japan as they often use better quality ingredients. I prefer my pork ribs to have a bit of chewiness to them and this is too soft for me, much like manufactured meat (and I was already full) so I leave this to my husband.

The fries are fresh-ish, although they're not that different to fries that you get anywhere else.

The chicken bites are a little dry but they're actually made of real chicken breast (not that horrible stuff that nuggets are made from) so whilst this is pleasing, they need a dipping sauce.

We leave Lotteria, full to the brim of Japan's take on American cuisine and dive into the crowds ambling up and down Takeshita Dori in their platform shoes.

Lotteria Burger

Takeshita Dori Harajuku, Tokyo. There are two branches at Takeshita Dori, one at the top and one at the bottom.

Exit JR Harajuku station or Subway Meiji Jingumae station and turn left, continue down street until you reach opening of Takeshita Dori.

Plus branches all over Japan.

http://lotteria.jp/index.html