Japan can legitimately claim to be home to some of the best food on the planet. But it usually has little appetite for supersizing it.
That changed on Friday with Burger King’s gargantuan but curiously named Baby Body Burger, tipping the scales at nearly 680g (1.5lb). As part of a collaboration with the Japan Sumo Association, whose July wrestling tournament has just started, the burger checks in at 1,876 calories. Sumo wrestlers would only need about four of these to get their average daily caloric needs; a mere mortal would need just one to one-and-a-half. And, at ¥2,590 (£13.05), it’s nearly twice the price of a one-patty Whopper with cheese.
Skipping breakfast, I went to my local Burger King at about 10.30am to get a jump on the lunch rush to ensure I’d secure one of the limited-edition heavyweights. I was half expecting to see a long queue. But nope, no wait. A few minutes after ordering at the self-service kiosk, my meal arrived.
The burger stack is thick and impressive: five charbroiled beef patties, four cheddar cheese slices, bacon, lettuce, tomato and pickles on a sesame seed bun topped with mayonnaise, mustard and an umami-infused, tomato paste-based Aurora sauce. “This could dislocate my jaw,” joked a woman splitting one with her family.
Dripping with cheese and condiments, the burger makes for a savoury taste mix and looks enticing. But first, more napkins, as this can get messy. (I wore a dark-pink shirt to avoid dripped-condiment shame.) The first round of bites requires sinking the teeth in it at a 45-degree angle, not vertically. Even then, my nose kept acquiring a slathering of sauces until I got past the burger’s edges.
The staff will cut the sumo burger in half, if requested. The denseness and thickness of the five industrial patties, unfortunately, overwhelm the cheddar and sauces beyond the edges. The meat appears to have absorbed my cheese, too. And I had to check to see if there was any bacon. There was. Going towards the centre, it becomes drier. (My recommendation to Burger King would be to offer a side tub of the tangy thousand island-like sauce as a dip.)
Sitting through the lunch service, I only saw one other person eating the sumo burger. But online reaction was overwhelmingly positive, with only some gripes about the high price and even one adding a Whopper side order. Oh, and I did eat it all, although over 30 minutes, along with a few fries and a Coke Zero to maintain my nutritional balance. I can now proudly display my Baby Body Burger sticker with the caption “I did it” that comes with every order.