Black burgers

I don't care, I'm totally gonna try one.

Bamboo charcoal is used frequently in some Japanese sweets. It's natural, flavorless, and turns the product very black indeed. No reason to believe BK is sneaking in artificial colorings.

@smithinjapan

Just so you don't have to worry about getting poisoned.... Premium food grade bamboo charcoal is used in Japanese pastries, so it is not much of a stretch to make black hamburger buns. Bamboo charcoal is high on the health nuts list as a beneficial ingredient. The people who have a reaction to food colorings are not having an allergic reaction, they have an intolerance to the item, just the same as some people have a lactose intolerance. F&D #5 yellow is the most common food dye that people have an intolerance to. Food dyes are not toxic and are made from vegetable compounds. Now for the squid ink..... well that is just nasty. I won't be trying the garlic squid juice either, I would assuredly have a reaction to that.

ah! like black spaghetti. So I guess your teeth will be black too after eating this.

Several years ago BK did have black buns. Aside from the color, it tasted the same. This I gotta try so I can say I did it, however weird it might seem to others.

Normally a pseudo infomerchal/article such as this would not rate two posts, but I'm still trying to come to grips with the charcoal and squid ink....

Note fast-food restaurants in Japan have to be highly competitive not only against each other, but B-Class gourmet restaurants that sell bowls of ramen, soba and udon and Japanese/Indian curry restaurants. That competition can get very severe around any major train station or in any major business districts.

As such, all the hamburger chains are constantly trying out-do each other with more and more outlandish sandwiches--McDonald's Japan sells a lot of specialty hamburgers you'll never see in the USA. What Burger King did with these sandwiches is to try to differentiate themselves from other hamburger chains in highly competitive Japan.

Charcoal is good for your guts. Activated carbon is listed by the WHO as a essential medicine. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activated_carbon

Squid ink has so many umami flavor on it.

This is a must try!

boraxSep. 17, 2014 - 11:35AM JST No reason to believe BK is sneaking in artificial colorings.

Of course not! All these healthy "foods" in Macdonald's, KFC, Burger King etc are organic ))) lol And the Moon consists of cheese.

Burger King Japan is weird... black cheese... of course her shirt is black too...

How do you know if its burnt?

Looks like they were left out in the hot sun too long, yuk.

looks nasty.

I have always found BK to be a bit more palatable than Mickey Ds....................... until now! This looks like the Mother of all bad fast food ideas.

I'm in!

Cannot imagine anything less appetizing looking.

Just wait a year or two, they'll come up with something.

I'd try one.

I'm going to try the one with vegetables. If only lettuce and tomato in it would be black.

I'll be in line on Friday for one of these burgers.

Recommended drink accompaniment is Guinness or one of the Japanese black beers.

No, thank you.

OMG, that cheese looks like a sheet of metal. :-(

How do ya know it wasn't picked up off the floor?

Pay to eat a burger colored with charcol?

The black bun looks OK. The cheese, not so much.

Do you know why humans can see in so many colors? It was evolutions way of distinguishing good food from bad food. Well, I guess with food like this we will be seeing only in monochrome in a few thousand years again.

@smith

Some company needs a few pieces of advice on food appeal, evidently. Not only does this look horrible, but obviously they've used food dye in the process of making it, so you're going to be ingesting that as well -- and some people have serious allergies to certain food colorings. The stuff is toxic. I have a hard time believing they get that black metallic look from burning bamboo. The squid ink ON the burger? I can see it. Won't taste it, that's for sure, but I can see it. Anyway, I can't see this being a big hit.

I agree with Smith. Completely spot on!

The tar burger, no thanks.

I wonder what they used to make the buns black and "black cheese." "Squid ink?" I'd give it a try, however, I think the concept is unappealing to customers. I know Japan wants to come up with unique ideas, but before you go back into the kitchen and just create stuff. Get ideas, look at what's popular and healthier on the market and go from there instead of the shock value which CAN sometimes turn people off.

So that is fast food with no artificial coloring or preservatives?

Some company needs a few pieces of advice on food appeal, evidently. Not only does this look horrible, but obviously they've used food dye in the process of making it, so you're going to be ingesting that as well -- and some people have serious allergies to certain food colorings. The stuff is toxic. I have a hard time believing they get that black metallic look from burning bamboo. The squid ink ON the burger? I can see it. Won't taste it, that's for sure, but I can see it. Anyway, I can't see this being a big hit.

Why would anyone eat food that will be laced with even more chemicals - to dye it black, is beyond common sense!

Cannot imagine anything less appetizing looking.

I am afraid they still taste like junk.

I am on the border between nasty and " I wanna try " .. does she come with the triple order ?

yea, it aint proper black unless its all black, they should grow black tomatoes

Black is the perfect colour for the burgers of this shadowy fast food restaurant.

Oiishii sou

beef patties made with black-pepper

What does this even mean??

are topped with the garlic sauce using squid ink.

Engrish!

Why didn't they go all out and make black tomato and lettuce? 中途半端...

Yeah, and I'm sure it will look just like that when you get it. More like a dehydrated mess!