An elegant and hefty cheeseburger bento awaits at the 'Japanese Costco' Lopia
There's a supermarket in Japan nicknamed the 'Japanese Costco' because much like its namesake, it sells very large quantities of food at bulk-discount prices. Its real name is Lopia, and our writer Ikuna Kamezawa often enjoys going there even though many of the things for sale are way too big for her to ever eat on her own.
But this time, a certain cheeseburger bento caught her eye. It was large, but not too large, and only cost 1,078 yen (US$7.40), so she decided to take the meaty plunge.
It was so big that she could barely fit it into her shopping bag and things only got worse as it started to rain while she walked home. She had to carry it very carefully too, for reasons we'll see in a moment.
After getting home, she unveiled her Manpuku Burger Double Cheese and confirmed its size at about 25 centimeters (10 inches) in length.
Popping the lid off we can see that the very fancy arrangement was why Ikuna had to carry it so carefully, and the sheer volume of it all was the reason it was priced a little more than a Big Mac combo.
She felt kind of bad disturbing the elegant layout of her bento, but she had to take stock of what was inside before eating it. There was a double cheeseburger with two patties and two slices of cheese, some seasoned fries, and two breaded chicken filets.
That photo might not do the size justice so she took some shots alongside a pack of matches for scale. Sure, a matchbox might not be the most universally understood comparison, but she was just so excited to eat this thing.
▼ Fries
▼ Chicken Filets
▼ Double Cheese Burger
Ikuna turned her attention back to the cheeseburger and tried to reassemble it in a normal way. That's when she noticed something was off with the proportions of the bun and patties. She thought this must be some chic designer cheeseburger arrangement she'd never seen before.
That might give the illusion Lopia is being chintzy with the meat, but rest assured they were good-sized beef patties. For a more understandable comparison, Ikuna placed a Yamazaki Bakery convenience store cheeseburger next to it.
This store-bought burger selling for about 99 yen is slightly smaller than a McDonald's cheeseburger and the Lopia burger blows it out of the water.
▼ Lopia's burger
▼ Yamazaki's burger
There were definitely some structural integrity issues with it though, so our writer opted to eat the whole thing with a knife and fork. A fancy burger like this deserves fancy eating utensils anyway. The hamburger patty wasn't juicy at all, but it was very dense and meaty. This texture might turn some burger aficionados off, but she felt kids would really go for it.
There was also a sweet ketchup on it, but really the flavor of the beef stood out so much that she barely even remembers eating the cheese and bun.
While it might not be for everyone, the taste of this burger bento was right up Ikuna's alley. Her only complaint — if you could call it that — was that it was too much for her to eat in one sitting. But for the price she paid, that's the kind of problem you'd want to have.
In conclusion, she definitely recommends the Manpuku Burger Double Cheese for big eaters. Lopia can be a little random with their offerings, especially in the bento section, but Fridays are known as 'Fry Days' there which is when they usually go all out in that department so your best chance is to find it then. Happy hunting!
Photos © SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]
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