Mos Burger

Foods seem to come up reasonably often in conversations here. And for some reason, it always comes around to the question of "what are American foods?" I don't know the answer, as America seems to be filled with foods from other countries, but not really have any of our own.

The Japanese people seem to think that hamburgers and fries are our national food. Given that McDs has popularized the burger so well, perhaps it is. But hamburger isn't actually American (we wouldn't have named it HAM-burger if it was), but instead a German name (I think based on the city of Hamburg). And French Fries have another country right in the name... (ok, the French part doesn't refer to the country, but the way they are cut, so maybe french fries are American).

Japan has their own home grown chain called Mos Burger. I had been to one once many years ago, so figured I'd give it another try. In the States, I don't eat hamburgers all that often, but when I do, it is usually at In-n-Out Burger. I wanted to see how they would compare.

I ordered the mosu che-zu-ba-ga-se-to (what we would call a Cheese Burger combo meal). Or maybe I should say, tried to order. The girl at the counter spit something out in rapid fire Japanese that I couldn't for the life of me understand. Maybe my head cold is slowing my head down, but she sure seemed to be talking super-fast. I guess when you work that job and say the exact same thing over and over again 100 times an hour, you start saying it real fast...

After a couple of tries, I realized she was asking if I was eating here or not. After that, I said "mosu che-zu-ba-ga-se-to", figuring all she would need to ask after that was what drink I wanted. Next, some more rapid fire Japanese that had nothing to do with drinks. What? With the help of pictures, I eventually understood was which type of set (she showed pictures of fries and some chili looking thing - I went fries). Then finally my drink option, which I figured out pretty quick. Then a last question which I never figured out what she asked, but cost me an extra 30 yen ($0.25), so I guess they added something. Maybe she saw the movie SuperSize Me and was asking if I wanted larger portions...

The presentation was pretty good. The food is brought out to you by a server. The drink comes in a real glass (no paper cups here) and sits on a plastic coaster. Food comes in a tray (similar to In-n-Out).

The burger was interesting. It had many different things on it, which was unexpected for something that is supposed to be a basic burger. The layers of the burger are (top to bottom): bun, tomato, meat sauce, onions, mayo, cheese, hamburger patty, mustard, and bun. Meat sauce? That is different. Kind of like a non-spicy chili sauce.

On the whole, it was Ok, but I am not ready to give up In-n-Out just yet. Much better than McDonalds, of course.

They do have some Japanese original, um, for lack of a better name, burgers, such as their rice burgers (patties of rice instead of bread buns) with pork (gyuudon that you can carry?), a seafood salad, or chopped veggies between these rice buns. I think I had the chopped veggie one in the past, but wasn't impressed.

日本語：
日本人と話すときよく私に「アメリカの料理は何だ？」と聞いた。何だか分からない。日本人は「ハンバーガーとフレンチ・フライだ？」と言った。　英語でハンはハム(豚のもも肉)だ、でもハンバーガーはハムじゃない。　ハンバーガーの名前はハンバーガーはドイツのハンブルクから来た。でもマクドナルドは世界中に一番有名なハンバーガーのレストランなので、ハンバーガーはアメリカから来たと思っている。

英語の「フレンチ・フライ」はフランスじゃない。「French」はポテトの切り方です。多分フレンチ・フライはアメリカの食べ物だろう。

今日Mos Burgerへ食べに行った。前に食べたことがある、でも一回だけ。そのときモスライスバーガーを食べた。今回はハンバーガーを食べてみたかった。

レストランで注文することはとても難しかった。Mos Burger員の話すことはとても速かったので私は分からなかった。ついに注文した、でも一つの質問はぜんぜん分からなかった。その質問は３０円掛かった。何を買ったかまだ分からない。

Mos Burgerは美味しいだろう。勿論マクドナルドよりいい、でもアメリカのIn-n-Outのほうがいいよ。