The article mentions that the cafe owner worked at MOS Burger before McDonalds. Burger is an interesting chain found all over Japan. (I've also gone to MOS Burger in Taiwan.) They serve much nicer food than McDonalds. The story I've heard is that it was a McDonalds clone until the son took over from the father. (See the History of MOS Burger. In 1997, the founder died. Later that year, "Sales of Fresh Burger" begin, right after, "The mineral-rich vegetables and reliable beef are introduced to all MOS Burger outlets in Japan.") He didn't like fast food, so he decided to upgrade the chain and serve gourmet semi-fast food. The food really is good, though a bit heavy on the mayonnaise for my tastes. This cafe in Tokyo sounds like they serve similar food, perhaps a bit higher grade still.
You can also get really, really bad burgers in Japan. Often, at festivals, amidst the kiddie masks and corn dogs (called American Dogs here) you can find a stall selling plain burger patties, often cooked hours before and kept vaguely warm. They look revolting.
These gourmet burgers sound like a typical Japanese adaptation of foreign food. In fact, I often think that one of the great themes of Japanese history is the adaptation, and often perfection, of things foreign. Food, gardens, electronics, the Japanese adapt what they import and make it both typically Japanese (like these burgers, ketchup-free) and often much higher quality than the imported original.
On the other hand, I wonder about the comment that the guy in Tokyo cooks the burgers in canola oil. Japanese beef is famously fatty. Why would he need to add any oil to the grill when he cooks the ground meat patties?
This reminds me of a conversation I had with an English friend when he followed me into the kitchen of my flat in York, to see how I was going to cook the cheeseburgers I had promised for dinner. "I want to see how many eggs you put in," he said.
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