Burger Crawl Nihon style

Ahoy there readers.

Teaching: So we're both teachers and that's quite funny really. It's funny because although I'm obviously fluent in English, my technical prowess is a tad... foresaken. So it's been kind of fun relearning the technical aspects of the Queen's English. There are so many rules that I use and take for granted - but never really acknowledge. Likewise there are a myriad of rules I break regularly (and quite often on purpose). I guess the cool thing about teaching English is you're the boss. The Japanese in general want to learn the natural way to say things which gives you license to teach them all kinds of phrases and expressions. Just the other day I made a small ode to my friend Steve Bennett during a lesson. After explaining the expression "half-assed" to my student, I encouraged him to "use your whole ass when learning English". One for the books. 

Americano: Whilst on the subject of words and what not. It's interesting. The Japanese - in general - find the British accent a lot harder to understand than the American. But they have no problems understanding my thick NuZullind aksent. I guess with all the American movies and tv shows the general population are more familiar with the dialect of the yanks. I have even met J-people with accents so strong I thought they were from the states.

Burger crawl: So a few of my good chums instigated a "Burger Crawl" in Wellington. A Burger Crawl involves consecutive visits to a series (five) of burger joints with systematic rating of the burgers. From what they report it's a lot of fun - if not a little heavy on the wallet and the tum tum. So I have been doing a kind of part-time Burger Crawl here in Tokyo. I loved BurgerFuel in Welly and I guess this is my longing for a replacement. So far we've been to: Blacow, J S Burgers Cafe,  Freshness burger, combini burgers and The Great Burger (yeah yeah I know - they all totally make sense name wise). Here are the results thus far:

Blacow is pretty decent. Hannah and I went there last night. It is hands down the best burger I've tried here - however it is the most expensive. It is made from 100% wagyu beef. The chips were pretty decent too. 2 burgers, 2 fries, a ceasar salad and a Moscow Mule cost us ~5000 yen, which is a smidgen expensive. But good for a treat. Oh and there was a token pickle on the plate too. Burger: 4.2   Chips: 3.8   Price: 3.4

J S Burgers Cafe: Despite it's confusing name this is actually my favourite place. The burgers although not quite as perfect as Blacow's are a great size and well priced. A burger and fries is about 1100 yen. The fries are delicious - I love em - Hannah hates em. They've got some kind of delicious beer battery seasoning on them. The style and lay out of the place is Americana - strangely enough you can buy Tim Tams there. It's about 5 minutes from our "mansion". Burger: 4.0  Chips: 4.2   Price: 4.1 

The Great Burger: Yeah wasn't so happy with this one. The burger was a little too perky for my liking... Okay okay I'm a greedy westerner - it was just too small! Plus the serving of chips was minging 8 or 9* chips! Forget about it. Burger: 3.8   Chips: 2.9   Price: 3.8

Freshness Burger: A big chain. Very big. Quite cheap burgers and this is reflected by the size. Not bad if you want a petit little snack - but not ideal for a full dinner option. And if you thought I was disappointed with the 8 or 9 chips from Great Burger you should've seen my face drop when I saw the 7 or 8* chips served up here. Burger: 3.2   Chips: 2.8   Price: 4.3

Combini burgers: This one time I was a little hungry, so I nabbed myself a burger from the convenience store. I would advise you don't try these. It was awful - but then again what did I expect for 105 yen? Next time I'll try the corn and mayonnaise on a hotdog bun....  Burger: Gack   Chips: n/a  Price: 5

(Note: I still need to try Mos Burger. But at a glance I'd say it'll sit somewhere between Freshness burger and J S Burgers cafe)

* In 1991 my dad and I visited Tokyo on the way to the U.K. We went to Tokyo Disney Land. Whilst in WesternLand  we got chicken and chips. I got six chips - dad got seven. N.B. When visiting Japan lower you chip expectations!

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