It’s been a looooong time since you could get a thigh-meat sandwich at KFC Japan, and now you can get six.
A lot of time has passed between now and 1983. To illustrate just how much, 1983 was the year Nintendo’s Famicom (which would become known as the NES overseas) went on sale. In the years since, Nintendo has had time to release a whole slew of other video game consoles, culminating with the launch of the Switch 2 last year.
If you had been one of those early adopters who went out and bought a Famicom in 1983, on your way home from the store you could have swung by KFC Japan and picked up a fried chicken sandwich made with thigh meat. You wouldn’t have been able to repeat that meal choice for the launch of Nintendo’s Super Famicom (a.k.a. Super NES) in 1990, though. Ditto for the release of the Nintendo 64 in 1996…and for every console after that too. Why? Because 1983 was the last time KFC Japan had thigh-meat sandwiches, after which they switched to breast meat.
On October 14, though, KFC Japan released its first thigh-meat sandwiches in 43 years, with the debut of the brand-new Original Chicken Burger series.
There’s a total of six sandwiches in the two-tiered lineup. In addition to the standard Original Chicken Burger, there’s also a Cheese, Teriyaki, and spicy Red-hot version. Those in a more luxurious mood can opt for the Premier Burger, which adds a slice of thick-cut bacon, or the Premier Cheese Burger, providing both bacon and cheese.
This return of thigh-meat chicken sandwiches is such a big deal for the chain that KFC Japan has temporarily rebranded its branch in Tokyo’s Ebisu neighborhood as KFB (“Kentucky Fried Burgers”).
With the new items going on sale on October 14, we dispatched our Japanese-language reporter P.K. Sanjun for some taste-testing. P.K,’s stomach was not quite up to the challenge of eating six fried chicken sandwiches in one sitting, but neither would his pride allow him to settle for just one, so he ordered two to try, the Original Chicken Burger (490 yen [US$3.19]) and the Premier Burger (750 yen).
P.K. started with the Original Chicken Burger, and he was instantly impressed.
The meat was juicy and flavorful, and the characteristic touch of springiness to the texture made him very glad that thigh meat was finally back. There wasn’t a hint of tough dryness to be found as he happily chewed.
The breading for the chicken is very similar to what you get with KFC’s Original Recipe chicken, so P.K. had no complaints there either. The sandwich’s sauce has a bit of tanginess to it, but it serves as an accent, and the star of the show is the delicious chicken. This is a very well put-together fried chicken burger, and more importantly, a very delicious one too.
Moving on to the Premier Burger, the visuals tell you right away that this is a more decadent meal.
The chicken and bun are the same as in the less-expensive Original Chicken Burger, but in addition to the bacon, the Premier Burger also boasts its own unique garlic pepper mayonnaise spread.
Once again, it’s a very enjoyable combination of flavors…but P.K. feels like there’s a little too much going on here. The garlic pepper mayo is pretty insistent about making its presence felt, and the bacon is even more so. As a matter of fact, the bacon dominates the end of the flavor profile, more or less erasing the pleasurable lingering taste of the chicken that P.K. enjoyed with the Original Chicken Burger.
That’s not to say that the Premier Burger is a bad sandwich, and P.K. might have fallen more in love with it if there were no Original Chicken Burger to compare it to. Even though they’re both tasty sandwiches, though, for P.K.’s money, the more straightforward Original Chicken Burger is the way to go, especially since it lets him save 260 yen that he can put towards another Original Chicken Burger the next time he gets hungry.
Top image: SoraNews24
Insert images: SoraNews24, KFC Japan
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