Click this to see a bigger one that you can read better.
This sign is from Becker's, a fast food place that is either owned or has an exclusive deal with Japan Railway (JR). In some stations, you can find these places though only in some of the bigger ones that aren't already surrounded by other fast food options. As fast food goes, they're at least a small cut above the rest. Like Subway, they bake their own bread (buns) on the premises and claim to make everything fresh. I used to work near Itabashi station and they had a Becker's, but my local station does not.
This poster is for breakfast options at a Becker's at a neighboring station and it caught my eye for several reasons. First of all, the presentation on the sign is very elegant for fast food. Since I didn't actually eat there, I can't say for sure, but I believe that the food is served on actual plates. The sets are:
"Morning Plate 1" - scrambled egg, toast with butter, and a scrap of bacon with coffee
"Morning Plate 2" - this is called the "balance plate" which includes everything in the first set (egg, bacon, toast, coffee) plus yogurt and juice
"Morning Plate 3" - a hot dog, yes, a hot dog and a few scraps of lettuce and tomato with coffee
"Morning Plate 4" - coffee, toast with cheese or mayo with various goo (can't tell which and the poster doesn't say), coffee, and a thimble of cabbage
"Morning Plate 5" - English muffin halves with scrambled egg and ketchup and seaweed, cheese and bacon, and coffee
The configuration of these sets illustrates something about Japanese food culture which one can either find charming or irritating, and that's that the equivalent of gustatory lip service when it comes to the sides. The amount of vegetables is so minuscule as to be pretty much pointless. They function more as garnish than as meal components.
I once went out of my way to get breakfast at Lotteria because the toast pictured in the promo material looked so big and fluffy, and I like that kind of thing. It turned out to be far, far smaller; as I recall, it fit on the palm part of my hand with room to spare. :/
ReplyDeleteSo...small...
ReplyDeleteOhhh, I wish we have these kind of shops in Beppu!
ReplyDeleteNora: I'm generally pretty happy with small portions, but that's pretty pathetic for a slice of toast! Since the bread is usually so gargantuan in Japan, they'd have to make a special effort to make it so small!
ReplyDeletegossip bangkok: They are pretty good for a fast food shop! Sorry that you don't have access to them!
I really like your expression of the sides-the equivalent of gustatory lipservice-Exactly!! not only breakfast sets, also lunch sets. So whenever I feel like to eat nutritionally balanced meals and please my palate, I prefer to choose reasonably priced Tabehodai. But I guess you don't like Tabehodai so much.
ReplyDeleteHi, Jisoo, and thank you for your comment!
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, I'm not a fan of "tabehodai" (all you can eat). I can never get my money's worth out of such things as I can't eat much. Even lunch sets are too big for me!