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| McDonald's Japan Chicken McNuggets & Ginger Soy Sauce & Tartar Sauce |
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| McDonald's Japan しょうが醤油ソース & タルタルソース 2017 |
Consumed on 20 February 2017
Location - McDonald's Kokusai Dori, Naha, Okinawa, Japan
Price - 2 sauces & 5 Piece McNugget = 200JPY ($1.78USD) with coupon. 20JPY ala carte.
Calories - Ginger Sauce ~28kcal. Tartar Sauce ~100kcal
I almost didn't write a review on these two sauces that I tried in Japan, since I realised after the fact that I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked. But since I've been pretty busy with real work and haven't had time to write up as many full-length reviews over the last couple months, I thought I could write this one up quickly for you guys. Let me know if McNugget sauces are your thing, as McDonald's Japan just released a Wasabi and Teriyaki sauce I might be able to get my hands on, and I still have a not-that-expired Fruit Curry & Cheese Dip from 2016 sitting in my fridge I'm debating whether or not to still eat...
I had both of these sauces on the same trip to Okinawa that I was able to review both the honey-topped Daigaku Imo Fries and the Chicken Taruta. I used the McDonald's Japan Android app to get a coupon for 5 McNuggets for only 200JPY. Technically, with a 5-piece it should have only allowed me to get one tub of sauce, but I asked for one of each and surprisingly they obliged. Bending the rules isn't common in Japan at all, so I was pretty lucky there I thought.
I cracked open the tartar sauce first, and since I had just eaten the Chicken Taruta, I immediately was disappointed since it was the same yellow aioli-style base as the tartar sauce used on the sandwich. It wasn't identical however, since it was far more creamy and wasn't nearly as thick since didn't have any egg whites mixed in, and the pieces of pickle were significantly smaller. The lack of egg whites also meant that the sauce was bit overly yellow, and not really all that appetising to look at. It also strangely smelt like pickles more than anything else, and I'm not a fan of pickles at all. Despite the colour and odour, it actually relatively pretty well with the nugget, but in the end it was a weaker, and all around not as nice of a sauce compared to the one on the sandwich. I guess, if I wouldn't have just eaten the better sauce I probably wouldn't have felt it was better on it's own. It certainly wasn't bad, it just felt a bit cheap.
When I opened up the Ginger Soy Sauce tub, it looked like it had a layer of grease sitting on the top, as it seemed like there was a lighter layer sitting atop a darker sauce below. When I stuck the nugget in, I was incorrect as it was actually the whole sauce had this strange "sticky" texture to it. After far too much Googlefu, I found that was because this sauce had a base of shredded daikon radish rather than just not oil, which gave it that strange consistency. Other than the strange appearance, the other noticeable variable with this sauce was the very, very strong scent coming from it. Thankfully the ginger taste was as strong as the smell. This sauce was extremely ginger-heavy and the soy sauce in the name was pretty much non-existent. A similar cooking sauce was used for the original Chicken Tatsuta, so that's probably what they were going for. You also can't really see them in my photos, but the sauce was also dotted with white sesame seeds for that last bit of missing seasoning. Since I was eating this with both The Wife and my mother, I wasn't the only fan of this sauce, and it ended up being completely polished off - always a good sign.
Tartar Sauce Rating - 2/5
Ginger Soy Sauce Rating - 5/5