Not content with letting Japanese Burger Kings have the "black" hamburger market all to themselves, Japanese McDonald's are now cashing in on the idea with a new Halloween-themed burger.
Kotaku reports that the burger comes in a black and orange Halloween box, and just like its Burger King predecessor, features two black hamburger buns. It's called the "Ikasumi" burger, which roughly translates to squid-ink burger. Unlike the Burger King "Kuro" burger, McDonald's "Ikasumi" burger doesn't feature the black cheese and black ketchup. That's good news, because it looked really gross.
Instead, it includes two hamburger patties, cheese, fried onions and a spicy yellow cheese sauce. Much better in my opinion, if you can get over the fact that it looks like you are eating a bun made of ash.
You can check out some pictures of the zany food item below. According to Kotaku, people online in Japan seem to think it's alright.
新宿限定のイカスミバーガー食べてみました。 パンとBBQ風ソースがセピア(イカ墨)色。 あとはお肉2枚チーズ1枚とピリ辛の黄色いチーズソースとフライドオニオンが入ってました。 しょっぱいので、汗かいた後がおすすめです。#マクドナルド pic.twitter.com/gLTJjHZXhP
— miti (@mtknk) September 20, 2014
新宿警察署の裏のマックでイカスミバーガーなんてのが売ってたから買ってみた。一部店舗の先行販売らしい？ pic.twitter.com/daiMkSalWZ — だよ (@dayo_ra) September 26, 2014
本日からファーストフード解禁した(//∇//) まずはマクドナルドのイカスミバーガー！ pic.twitter.com/kNA0Q1DmMb — 夏日凜子 (@natsuhi818) September 22, 2014
This isn't the first time McDonald's around the world have tried out a black burger. In fact, Chinese McDonald's actually "invented" the food item back in 2012 before rival Burger King caught on. It's Burger King that made headlines earlier this month with the return of the "kuro" burger.
So far it looks like the squid-ink burger is only around for a limited time and in a select few locations. According to Gold Rush (as translated by Kotaku), the burger can only be purchased at one of three McDonald's locations in Tokyo's Shinjuku until Sept. 28. For the next few days, it looks like there will be a black burger showdown in Japan.
Japan no longer holds a monopoly on strange hamburgers, though. Just the other day, in preparation for the return of AMC's The Walking Dead show, two London chefs created a hamburger that supposedly tastes like human flesh, because you know, zombies. And there is always burger mastermind Pornburger, with his crazy burger recipes, including his recent Pumpkin Spice burger. Sure, these burgers might not be commercially available, but they are much more "out there" than any of the burgers Japanese fast food chains have come up with so far. They probably taste better too.
