One Piece x McDonald’s Japan collaboration burgers: Does the treasure taste as good as it looks?

McDonald’s fans are never bored in Japan, where the chain is continually releasing and re-releasing fantastic limited-time menu items designed to please local palates.

One of those menu items that makes an appearance for a limited time every year is the Chicken Tatsuta. Unlike other chicken burgers, the meat in a Chicken Tatsuta is cooked in the traditional tatsuta-age (tatsuta-fry) style, which means that instead of being deep-fried in a coating of breadcrumbs or batter it’s deep-fried in a coating of potato starch.

This gives the burger more of a Japanese-style flavor, and to help promote it in the past, the chain has enlisted some heavyweights from the manga and anime worlds, with Touch making an appearance for the 2021 release, and Ultraman lending his face to promote the 2022 burgers.

This year, "One Piece" is on board for the Chicken Tatsuta campaign, with the Straw Hats gang appearing in a specially made television commercial airing nationwide.

The story for this year’s collaboration sees the Chicken Tatsuta appearing as the elusive "One Piece" treasure long sought after by Luffy, the star of the series, and his gang of pirates.

For fans of "One Piece" and the Chicken Tatsuta, this is a dream collaboration, especially as the burgers come packaged in special "One Piece" boxes.

Every year, the Chicken Tatsuta is joined by a new version of the burger, and this year, we get to enjoy the “Yuzu Kaoru Oroshi Chicken Tatsuta“, which translates to “Yuzu Scented Grated Japanese Radish Chicken Tatsuta“.

▼ Original Chicken Tatsuta on the left, new Yuzu-Scented Grated Japanese Radish Chicken Tatsuta on the right

A lot of McDonald’s customers refer to the Chicken Tatsuta as their favorite burger, so how would this year’s burgers stack up? We were keen to find out, starting with the original.

▼ The Chicken Tatsuta retails for 420 yen

This was as delicious as ever, with the crispy cabbage and chicken letting out a satisfying crunch with every bite, as the ginger soy sauce that makes the burger so distinct grabbed hold of our taste buds and twirled them around in a familiar dance of glee.

One of the best things about this burger is the light and fluffy texture of the buns, which contrasts beautifully with the crunchy ingredients, and that was definitely a highlight here.

▼ So what about the new Tatsuta, which is on the menu for 460 yen?

This was an interesting twist on the classic burger, with three kinds of Japanese citrus fruits — yuzu, sudachi and kabosu — adding a refreshing lift to the deep fried chicken.

▼ The grated radish (right) was more like chunks of radish, but they worked well to add some heat to the mix.

After polishing off both burgers, we realised just how great the original Chicken Tatsuta was, as the new citrusy radish version just didn’t have the right combination of ingredients to take the attention off the star attraction.

▼ It wasn’t the end of the adventure, though, as we ordered the limited-time Bacon Potato Pie (170 yen) to finish.

The Bacon Potato Pie was crunchy, salty and absolutely delicious — the perfect way to end our seafaring treasure hunt, despite it not being part of the One Piece campaign.

Now we just have to try the Rice Burger versions of the Chicken Tatsuta, which are only available from 5 p.m. each day. So stay tuned for the next instalment in this great taste adventure!

Photos © SoraNews24

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