McDonald's Japan much-anticipated Spicy Chicken McNuggets went on sale on June 20th. The news was greeted with excitement by spicy food lovers (such as most of our grape Japan staff). On the one hand, it meant spicy and inexpensive nuggets were soon within easy reach. On the other hand, since strong spices are not typical of Japanese cuisine, many things advertised as "spicy" in Japan are disappointingly mild to true spice enthusiasts, so our excitement was tempered with a strong measure of caution.

The only way to find out if these new nuggets were spicy as advertised was to try them ourselves. Fortunately, there is a McDonald's just a hop and a step away from our office here at grape Japan, so we dished out 200 JPY and ordered some Spicy Chicken McNuggets of our own.

As the familiar smell of chicken nuggets wafted out of the bag, we checked the contents. 1 box of 5 Spicy Chicken McNuggets, and two sauces. This is the part which piqued our curiosity. The first sauce is Karasa Mashimashi Spicy Sauce, which translates as spicy sauce with extra spice added. The second sauce is Yasashisa Mashimashi Sour Cream Onion Sauce, which translates as sour cream and onion sauce with extra gentleness added. While we could do without the "extra gentleness," sour cream and onion sounded like a good pairing for a spicy nugget, so we were keen on trying them both.

The nugget itself had a nice garlic kick to it, but the spice level was mild at best. However, things got more interesting when we dipped it into the spicy sauce. That's when the "extra spice added" finally took things up another notch. The sauce is actually much spicier than the nugget. Creamy and spicy, we liked the sauce so much we almost wished we had more nuggets to dip. Making the nugget mildly spicy and the sauce truly spicy is a smart move by McDonald's since they can accommodate both spice amateurs and real spice lovers.

As we imagined, the sour cream and onion sauce paired perfectly with the mildly spicy nugget. It's probably appreciated by customers who are not used to eating spicy foods and would like something to tone down the spice of the nuggets, but we just enjoyed it for its tangy taste.

So, to answer the question, when dipped in their spicy sauce, Spicy Chicken McNuggets DO indeed qualify as spicy (in our opinion). If you've been looking for something hot in your fast food options in Japan, Spicy Chicken McNuggets may deserve your attention.

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Spicy Chicken McNuggets are now on sale for 200 JPY at participating McDonald's in Japan. Please visit their official page for details.