Especially when you live in Japan, a hot meal of beef or chicken katsu, either with curry or just in a rice bowl, is usually not hard to find. But sometimes, you just can't be bothered to find a restaurant or go through the trouble of buying some premade katsu and taking it home. The other day, we were hankering for some tasty katsu when we saw an appetizing burger in the bread corner of our local 7-Eleven.

This is the Beef Menchi-Katsu Burger ビーフメンチカツバーガー bīfu menchi-katsu bāgā. Menchi-Katsu is a cutlet made with minced meat, usually beef. If you read the English description, you'll also learn that it comes with sauce.

When you hold the package in your hand, it has a substantial weight to it. It looks quite hearty, too.

Although our favorite is chicken katsu, biting into a minced beef cutlet along with some of that tangy katsu sauce was a prospect we couldn't resist, so we shelled out 205 yen (tax included) and took one home!

Here's our review!

Surprisingly hearty for a convenience store burger

When we opened the package, we were happily surprised to see how hefty it was, with the minced beef katsu spilling out of the sesame seed buns.

It's rare to see such a substantial burger in the bread section of a Japanese convenience store. Moreover, since we love that tangy katsu sauce, we were also happy to find the breading of the katsu well doused with it.

When we split it in half, we found the minced beef and cabbage that are the typical ingredients of a Japanese menchi-katsu. It seems that the only solid ingredient in the burger is the menchi-katsu itself.

However, in addition to the katsu sauce soaked into parts of the breading, we also found a layer of mustard mayonnaise spread on the buns.

So, how did it taste?

From our first bite, we were impressed by the meatiness of the katsu. The buns aren't negligible but the impact of the menchi-katsu is so strong that you feel like you're biting into a juicy minced beef patty. The flavor was great!

We were quite impressed with the quality of this burger which we weren't expecting to find at a convenience store. It was hearty enough to make a light meal, along with a bottle of tea or beverage of your choice.

If you're living in Japan, look for it when you stop by your local 7-Eleven.