Pork Tatsuta - Narita, Japan - June 2013

McDonald's Japan - Pork Tatsuta Box (The bottom of the image is cut, because my wife deleted the images, and I had to do a recovery in order to save them)

 

Purchased on 8 June 2013, in Narita International Airport, Terminal 1

Consumed on 9 June 2013, in Singapore, in my apartment.

Price - Unknown (My sister lost the receipt)

Calories - Unknown

Here's another 'flown-in' review.  As long time readers know, I will happily review a burger which has been flown in from another country for me to eat, I'll even accept things from readers by post if they'd survive the trip.  This burger was flown in by my younger sister who connected in Japan on the way to our wedding back in June.  I'm sure I only got the burger because I ordered her something she wanted online in return for her getting the burger for me.  I've asked my mother on multiple occasions to find the McDonald's in Narita Airport (as well as Hong Kong), but she always finds an excuse to not to buy me something. My friend also flew in a 1955 burger from Korea for me to review a few days after I tried this.  Knowing my sister would probably end up ordering me nuggets or something else completely useless, I sent her a photo which she could just show to the person taking the order.  I was happy to find out when she arrived, she got exactly what I asked for, the Pork Tatsuta burger!

Pre-microwaved.

Post-microwaved.

The Pork Tatsuta burger only ran for a couple weeks in Japan, and I believe it's the first time it's been released.  It's a sausage variant of the Chicken Tatsuta which I've tried both previous versions, one of my very first reviews on this blog was for the original, and I also had the "Wafu Oroshi" variant a months later. Go back and read those reviews first, as I will explain more about the sauces, and the tatsuta cooking methods. Looking back on all the Japanese reviews I've done, it really makes me miss the days when I was in Japan nearly every month, as there have been a tonne of great looking promo burgers in Japan over the last 6 months, and I haven't been there in almost a year...

The Pork Tatsuta used the same sweet sauce as the Wafu Oroshi variant of the Chicken, and luckily for me, that was my preferred version.  Now, since I microwaved the burger, the bun was no longer as soft as the original's that I had, and I also felt the sauce was more subtle this time than when I had it on the chicken.  Not sure if that was because it wasn't fresh, or because the saltiness from the sausage patty overpowered it.  The Tatsuta cooking method on the sausage was decent, meaning it wasn't as dry as the original, but it wasn't nearly as soft and juicy as the chicken on the Wafu variant. I guess it really is hit and miss for the Tatsuta meat. It wasn't drowning in mayo nor the sauce, which made it slightly better to microwave, and though I could have liked the sausage to be thicker, I felt it was still a respectable sandwich.

16 hours old, and still juicy!

The wife only let me try a couple bites

Back when I did my first 'flown-in' review, I was able to eat all 3 burgers my colleague brought me from Australia in peace, as my wife was back in Korea at the time.  This was the first one she was around for, and she thought I was going to die for sure after eating a 16 hour old burger (it flew for 8, and then I kept it in the fridge for another 8 before eating it), so I was only 'allowed' to try a couple bites before throwing the rest away.  Since I survived, I've been allowed to eat more of the burger in following attempts. Stay tuned for those.

Rating - 4/5