Jun 7, 2019
Lawson's Overrated Karaage-kun
Lawson's karaage-kun is often considered as the best karaage from all convenience stores, but after trying it for the first time, I do not see the hype.
The packaging is very cute and thoughtful. There is a little sleeve to put the toothpick. The size is bite-size too. They also come out with new seasonal flavours too.
However, I find the chicken to be just decent. They are more like Mcnuggets than karaage, but they are also less crunchy and without the always-awesome sauce from McDonalds. Since they are not necessarily with only 5 pieces for 216 yen, I think I will be having something else next time.
1 Comment
cbgbstokyo
on Jun 16
They used to be AWESOME. When I first came here in the 1990s, they were my go-to, late-night end-of-barhopping evening snack, especially the "red" spicy version which had a real kick to it. The coating really was proper karaage coating, too, or at least as close as you could get from a conbini. I don't go barhopping as much as I once did, and regardless I went for a long time (umm, a . . . decade?) without picking up a packet of Karaage-kun. I picked one up a few months ago and . . . sadness followed. They changed the recipe on the coating to something more like McNuggets as you point out, and the "red" had lost its kick. (I was so disappointed in the coating that I didn't even notice the texture of the meat.) Incidentally, though it doesn't come in karaage-sized pieces, FamiMa Premium Chiki is a lot closer to what Karaage-kun used to be. ;-)