Recent years have seen a revival in all things retro, and in Japan that means kissaten culture has been back in the spotlight. Kissaten — Japanese-style coffee shops that sprang up in Japan around the turn of the 20th century — are characterized by their dark wood interiors and Western-style menus serving drinks, light meals, and sweet snacks, and they remain popular with people today.
The distinct old-school vibe of a kissaten has such a unique appeal that even Starbucks has put their own twist on it, and last year, McDonald’s joined suit by releasing its own range, dubbed “Kissa Mac." It proved to be so popular that the chain is bringing it back to the menu for a limited period, this time with a new dessert and packaging to help transport you back in time to the heyday of the kissaten.

The first item making a return is the Coffee Jelly Parfait (priced from 440 yen), which is served up in a cup with a new retro floral design that pops against the creamy dessert. The parfait contains a bittersweet coffee sauce, sweet condensed milk sauce, and smooth coffee jelly, with soft-serve ice cream and crispy corn flakes providing textural accents to the mix.

The Cream Soda (priced from 340 yen) is also making a return, bursting with the carbonation of Fanta melon and the mellowness of soft serve ice cream. Usually on the menu as “McFloat Melon”, this ice cream float will be sold under the name “Cream Soda” during the Kissa Mac campaign period.

The brand new item in the lineup is the Maple Butter Pancake Pie (200 yen), a sweet treat inspired by coffee shop pancakes. This pie contains three kinds of fillings: fluffy cake batter, gooey maple sauce, and salted butter sauce made with Lorraine rock salt and fermented butter. The cake batter expands as it’s fried, and the combination of mildly sweet maple sauce and sticky salted butter sauce creates “a new sensation that makes you feel like you’re eating a pancake even though it’s a pie.”
▼ Each pie contains 1.5% maple syrup for extra flavor.

As is often the case with new releases at McDonald’s, this series is accompanied by a commercial, and this one has all the aura of a moody kissaten. Boy band member Sota Nakajima returns for this commercial, after starring in the ad for last year’s Kissa Mac, where he was seen waiting for someone at a kissaten. This year’s ad plays out like a sequel to last year’s, with fellow boy band member Yusei Yagi sliding into the booth, revealing himself to be the “someone” Nakajima was waiting for.
The Kissa Mac lineup will be on menus around Japan from April 24 until late May.
Source, images: McDonald's Japan
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- McDonald’s Japan goes old-school with new Showa-era Kissa Mac sweets lineup【Photos】
-- Starbucks’ retro Japanese kissaten menu debuts deliciously mature coffee gelatin cake【Taste test】
-- We visit new retro Starbucks in Japan for a taste of classic kissaten breakfast menu items
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7 Comments
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Norm
Agree. I’m not much for anything sweet, but that looks like it would nicely raise my blood sugar level and get my motor started in the morn’.
It’s not particularly healthful, of course, but I’ll leave the worrying to the Nervous Nancys.
Gene Hennigh
There is no bad pancake. These I'd like to try all of, even if it does kill me.
Susan Elizabeth-Marsh Tanabe
Melon soda! Natsukashii~~~
kurisupisu
Today, out in a rural backwater of western Japan, the only eateries around were this fast food giant, needless to say, I passed…
Mr Kipling
Nice but not exceedingly nice.
kurisupisu
The amount of plastic that comes with the ‘food’ doesn’t endear me to enter…