Seasonal Items at Starbucks and McDonald's

There is something really comforting about eating food from brands that you know from back home. It's great trying out foods in foreign places, but sometimes you need a touch of familiarity! I'm very fortunate that my city has both a McDonald's and a Starbucks. While these brands are familiar to me, they both offer very specific items that are very specific to Japan during certain seasons! It's kind of in the same way that McDonald's does the McRib or Starbucks does the Pumpkin Spice Latte in America, but what Japan offers is completely different than what you can get in the States!

First up is the Sakura Teritama burger from McDonald's! I'm been very lucky that I got here as sakura (or cherry blossom) season has started. They are supposed to start blooming here in Niigata in about a week, so there's no better time to try the Sakura Teritama burger at Mcdonald's! 

First of all the bun is pink! That's right pink! I'm not making that up. Not only is the bun pink, but the mayonaise is also sakura flavored! It's a very light sweet flavor on top of the deliciousness that is Japanese mayo. Seriously, if you are ever in Japan, try their mayo! I didn't really like mayo until I got here, but it is seriously the bomb. It's also waaaay more unhealthy than the stuff you get in the States so watch out for that! 

Now that we have the sakura flavor out of the way I should explain what teritama is. Teritama is a mashing of the words 'teriyaki,' like the sauce, and 'tamago,' which means egg in Japanese! As you can see there is a large egg on that burger, and it's actually not that bad. It made the burger very filling! The burger itself is not actually beef, but something like a pork sausage. It is also smothered in teriyaki sauce! Make no mistake this is a messy burger that will require many, many napkins! On a side note. McDonald's has a regular teriyaki burger (without the egg) and it is definitely worth trying out as well! 

McDonald's also had a couple of sakura flavored beverages to gulp down in between bites of your sakura teritama burger: 

Those drinks are the Sakura Fizz Float and the Sakura Fizz. I tried the sakura fizz. It was kind of like a flavored Sprite! It tasted both like regular cherries and like cherry blossoms, if that makes sense. Cherry blossoms taste very light and sweet, and I think cherry is a very overpowering flavor. The drink was really good though, and refreshing! I liked it a lot and at the very least it is very pretty to look at. It has a light to dark pink gradient. 

This year I was a little too late to experience sakura blossom season at Starbucks, (I was insanely disappointed) but the drink they are promoting now is pretty good! 

Enter the Creamy Vanilla Latte with Lemony Swirl! Okay I love the name first of all because the lemony part reminds me of the name of one of my favorite authors growing up (Lemony Snicket). Saying the name in Japanese for a none native speaker is a bit of a tongue twister, but luckily Starbucks, like many other restaurants in Japan has a menu with pictures you can just point at. This drink is very yummy for the spring, but it does taste lemony as is promised in the name, so if you don't like lemons you may want to skip. It is a very refreshing and sweet drink, and I've had it a couple of times! I'm not sure if this drink is being promo'd in other countries but I know it isn't in the States. At least not yet! It definitely should be! It really is just perfect for spring!

So that's a wrap for this March-April segment of specialty foods! I will continue doing this segment though because 1. food! 2. do I need another reason? 

Until next time!

Bunny (^-^)