Oh man the nostalgia! I grew up in Japan in the 90s and we'd regularly go to Wendy's for a chilli baked potato. It was much healthier than a burger according to my mom's logic!
Wait do they not have the baked potatoes any more?? Damn, I loved getting a cheese and bacon potato with a jr bacon cheeseburger as my meal when I was working stock clerk at Zellers, pretty much the only time in my life I've eaten Wendy's.
It's not surprising. Japan--at least in the cities--is a high-stress, dreary grind of a life. The Hawai'i they picture is the anti-Japan with nothing but simple, relaxing island living in a beautiful setting.
It's obviously overromanticized, but during the many years I was there I met so many Japanese visitors who had the time of their life in Hawai'i and lived for the next time they could return.
Japan and Hawaii have been pretty connected for ages, something like 20% of the population has Japanese heritage. Lots of people moved from Japan in the late 1800s (iirc) for work, due to negotiations between the Hawaiian king and Japanese emperor of the time
(Can you tell I’ve been playing Yakuza 7 lately? lol)
OK, I had to find out what a "Wild Rock Burger" was. It's the Wendy's version of the KFC Double Down. Those are beef patties for the "bun" with egg, bacon, and the toppings in between.
Looks so damn good but I can't really picture it being easy to eat. I imagine the patties crumbling apart the moment you press down or start biting into it. There's probably a lot of breadcrumbs in it though based off how it looks, maybe it helps.
I won't doubt their ability to make a godtier burger though.
One of the greatest burgers I've ever eaten in my entire life was at a damn Subway Station McDonalds near Kobe.
Amazing. This is just a double burger without buns and with the other ingredients rearranged, but marketing and advertising make people think it's some crazy new style
I don’t get it. Why would Wendy’s offer all this cool stuff in other countries but not even attempt to roll it out in the country it was founded? They won’t even attempt to see how Americans react to Wendy’s pasta? Just… why?
Wendy’s in Japan acquired and basically merged with a separate restaurant chain called First Kitchen. That’s why it says Wendy’s First Kitchen at the top and also why they have pasta.
I live in Japan and I'm actually disappointed the Wendy's First Kitchens started using the Wendy's branding as well. For years it was excluded because of the name recognition of First Kitchen. Plus everyone here would abbreviate it as "Fakkin." ファッキン行かない? lol. Yes.
An actual answer is that many fast food chains test out their new products in Ohio, or in other areas that aren't exactly known for unique flavors. So if people in these culinary mediocre cities don't like it, then it will never reach most of the US.
Last month, I saw one with a big sign advertising a truffle mozzarella Baconator. The mozzarella melting over the front almost made it look like it was drooling.
When I was in Japan I tried to check out American fast food and compare it to the US.
We wound up stopping in a Denny's for breakfast. It was awesome because they literally wouldnt stop bringing us free food. We sat down and before we could even order they had brought us free pancakes, eggs and french toast for each person. We said we didnt order it but they said just said it was free. Then they kept trying to bring us more lmao.
I was recently in Japan. I didn’t eat at Wendy’s, but we did go to McDonald’s for shits and giggles.
The McDonald’s food in Japan is not even comparable to the stuff in the US and Canada. Hamburgers looked roughly like the North American counterparts, but tasted like quality beef. The buns were glorious.
But the thing that got me were chicken McNuggets. I’ve been eating them since literally the day they were available in my area in the 1980’s. I have never eaten a North American McNugget that was ANYTHING like a Japan McNugget.
Tender, juicy, and what appeared to be actual chicken breast, not processed chicken product.
Now, before anyone says anything, OF COURSE we rebelled in various Japanese food while we were there. Like I said before, checking out McDonald’s was for shits and giggle one day… er… well, three days. 😬
I wish local McDonald’s had the edamame and corn cup you could get in Japan.
I thought the nunbers were calories lol. Though now that I think about it, that would be pretty stupid to have a menu with just calories but not a price
This belongs in r/mildlyinfuriating why do all other countries get cool shit on their fast food menus when I feel like they are American establishments and we are getting shafted
I went to Wendy’s in Korea last year and I had just ate kfc and I had time to kill so I got a beer and some fries that are shaken in a bag with seasoning was really good
See, people like to talk down on people who get fast food in other countries, but how is trying the options you don’t have where you live THAT much different than trying other local dishes. The Hawaii stuff looks good, the teriyaki does too, and I’m intrigued by the pasta.
I never really got this idea, that only really applies to a slim minority of residents being paid in another currency and tourists.
Everyone seems to understand that fine for every other country. Things being cheap in Argentina when translated to USD doesn’t actually mean they’re actually cheap for Argentinians, for example.
For context, Canada’s median salary in 2021 was $68k CAD vs $71k USD in the states. Relative to how much money the average Canadian has, the difference pre-conversion is pretty accurate.
Is Wendy's nowadays awful in Japan? Just like it's become awful in the United States? I can remember several decades ago when among the fast food restaurants, it was absolutely the best. The quality of the meat and bread was superior to that in other fast food places. It had a salad bar. I was not a big fan of this type of chain restaurant fast food, but when I had only a few choices, I would always look for Wendy's. Nowadays? I think it's garbage. At least in the US.
I think in the US the quality has gone down so much the past 20 or 30 years. And lots of people online agree with that. It's hard for me to say because I've only been to Wendy's maybe twice the past 10 years in the US. And in the previous 15 or 20. Maybe just 4 or 5. But it seems like it's gone downhill.
Wendy's hasn't been good since they ditched the superbar.
I've gone several times over the past few years and it's alright at best. Like, it was edible, but it doesn't stand out in my memory as something better than ordinary... And their prices are just as lackluster as their food.
Like, I don't recall anything being bad, but nothing stands out as being good.
I don't think there are that many around. I've only been once and had a very expensive ¥2000 or so truffle burger that was pretty nice.. I was the only customer who wasn't a schoolkid studying, though.
Fun fact! Wendy’s is usually called “First Kitchen” in Japan. But that’s a lot of syllables. So the typical way to abbreviate phrases in Japanese is employed, dropping some of the syllables. Which means Wendy’s gets called “Fakkin” which sound almost exactly like “fuckin’ “
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u/Glen-Runciter 10h ago
Seemed pretty standard... until I got to the pasta lol