Hey guys, it's Mike Chen after I did the 7-Eleven video in Taiwan A lot of you guys messaged me and told me that there's actually a lot of great food at the 7-Eleven here in Japan and I got to give it a try. So this morning for brunch, we're going to eat at a 7-Eleven. So this is the nearest one around my hotel 7 & I Holdings. I'm so hungry for 7-Eleven food. I'm actually really excited because I'm starving and Just, just from my Taiwan 7-Eleven experience. I'm expecting good things. So this aisle cleaning supply, stationaries, office supplies. I don't know what this is, but this looks good The ramen aisle, I gotta try some ramen cuz there's a lot Called - um, [chao da sheng] it's like a big plate I have no idea what this is UFO That looks good. You gotta get some 7-Eleven dried squid. Oh my god I know I'm skipping ahead a little bit to dessert but look at this freakin puff. Oh what in the world is? Sure. And they got a section of like just a bunch of soups. It's like clam soup seaweed soup Vegetable soup and go for some of this tofu soup. The massive green tea cookie haha, sure and this where you can get salads and the bacon that goes on top of your salads or Or the chicken that goes on top of your salads. Egg Tofu Alright, here is the already made stuff. Ooh, look how much meat is in this? And I heard good things about these egg sandwiches. Oh, I loved onigiris, let's get a salmon one This also sounds really good, spicy roll with cream cheese. Hmm also gonna get it one of these. Look at all these bento boxes here Oh my gosh Oh wow This looks a lot better than the train bento I got last time I was in Japan Wow, this looks pretty awesome. I'm not really sure what this is. Looks like some fried chicken or pork. I'm back in the ramen aisle. I'll check this out. This is the Tsuta that this is the Michelin star ramen place I went to a couple days ago. I got to try this and we can't forget the drinks I've been loving this tea, since I got to Japan and this one looks good. Melon water. Melon ice cream. Whatever And they also have a bunch of already prepared dishes like from fried chicken, fried pork, a corndog. Some buns, looks like quite a lot of buns, looks like some pork, This thing looks like it has some cheese in there You know what, just one of each Ooh fish cake So yeah, this will be brunch [Chuckle] So here we are. Um It's a quite a meal. Let's dig in shall we? Oh so this is a curry bun right here, look at that That is really curry, that has a really good curry flavor. Buns really surprise me at 7-Eleven It's cheesy, that is a pretty fantastic curry bun. With the buns, I gotta have some soup So let me try the miso soup out. So this one has look at this A bunch of dry ingredients scallions, tofu seaweed, and this one Has the miso, I'm actually glad it's not like a powder. And of course the 7-Eleven has hot water This cup has a line that I guess you fill it up to There you go, give that a little stir, tofu is softening, so is my seaweed Just as I thought, if you serve this to me at a restaurant I wouldn't question you. The vegetables actually crunchy, so is the seaweed. The tofu, extremely gentle and soft. It tastes like a legit tofu Actually, super tender tofu that someone just added to this miso soup Now we can get on with our buns. Wow. Look at this. Oh man, it's some kind of mystery meat. It's all like, okay, there's definitely some cheese in here And I don't know that white stuff is. Mmm, it's potatoes! Wow This bun is amazing. Oh my god. This is so incredibly awesome. This bun, seriously guys. It's got these potatoes, it's got cheese.
That's insanely delicious. Let's keep going, got about four of these buns left. That is really pumpkin looking one. Oh What is that? Oh! Some cheese in there, too There's something red Mmm It's a pizza bun, marinara sauce inside and cheese. Gotta tell you the truth Ain't half-bad. I mean I wish there's some pepperoni in here or something but It's interesting Really not bad. Finally the last bun, ah this is, I think this is a dessert bun. Look at this, I'm pretty sure yep That's red bean paste. Oh look at that Mm-hmm red bean paste. I wish I saved this for the end, but a lot of filling, not overly sweet I dig it That will go awesome with some green tea Oh it does. All right. I got to get some noodles in me. So mmm Let's try the Michelin star ramen. Wow Look how fancy this thing is, oh my god I never seen this before in my life. This ramen has a piece of dried pork belly on the inside. That is insane. I'm just gonna add. Okay. So this is, I think this is a soy sauce based sauce that I'm adding here This is a real piece of pork belly Oh my gosh By the way A little hack for you, using disposable chopsticks to keep your ramen lid secure. These noodles look borderline pretty darn ridiculous. Look at this. I'll tell you guys what, this is easily the highest quality ramen noodle I've ever had in my life. You can tell from the broth itself Wow, the broth is so insanely flavorful. Here's the pork. Let's see how this is, I'm not expecting much here. Wow It was melty. I can't believe I'm saying that about a pork that came out of a plastic bag. The bamboo Mmm, you hear that? This is legit, guys. Ooh. Chase that with a little melon water This is pretty darn good. So I got this big tofu thing, look at it. It looks like a pouch There's stuff in this tofu wallet, check it out Look at this, there's something. I'm not really sure what this is... hang on Mmm, it's mochi, big piece of mochi in this tofu wallet Wow dip this in this broth here. Delicious but oh so heavy now. Finally this like Sea monster noodle looking thingy I forgot what we called this in Chinese but these noodles we eat this a lot at hotpot. It has zero calories, which is insane. I love eating this, literally no calories, you can eat as much as you want. It's like freaking witchcraft and it actually tastes good. Here we go, soak a little bit of my ramen broth Seriously, everything just tastes better in my ramen broth. Alright, I heard really good things about the egg sandwich It's called a tamago sandwich. At first glance, this is a pretty Nice-looking sandwich. I mean the eggs-- pretty beautiful color and Bread seems really bouncy and nice That's a great egg sandwich. Wow I mean this thing is creamy, it's eggy and just wonderfully flavored Gotta give some props to the bread as well. This thing is so light Wow, let's get to our bento boxes So the bento box has come with instructions. This one 500 watt for two minutes, or 1500 watt for 40 seconds And this one is 500 watt 3 minutes, 1500 watt 1 minute. So here are the microwaves Okay, this is done Wow That actually looks ridiculously good. Fatty beef, all juicy. This too - yeah Looking good against the fake grass. Underneath, you have the nice rice... I'm thinking... You have caramelized onions Guys, this is awesome Hmm. That beef is ridiculously flavorful. The sauce is a little sweet, very savory, slightly fatty. Look how well that's playing with the rice right now. I mean, this is 7-Eleven food. Can you believe it? I mean the meat actually tastes like really good quality! This, for like four bucks. This is a pretty good lunch. That meat is so good. Alright, half the stuff is mysterious to me. Let's.. let's figure out what this yellow thing is? Yes, I think it's eggs, like sweet eggs. Yeah, that's eggs, sweet eggs, not my favorite. On the other side is some kind of pork That's also a little sweet. I'm kind of sensing that the theme of this dish right now. Let's just go back to this Never go wrong with this. You know, a little hot oil, mm Starbucks sparkling water with green coffee extract I'm not really sure what I just drank. I don't, I don't drink coffee much. But what the heck is a green coffee extract? Alright, dessert time [bg: kids cheering] It's a strawberry cream sandwich Just like with the egg sandwich, beautiful bread, really nice and gentle You need this. Wow, I mean... This is truly ridiculous. So looks like inside, not only whipped cream, fresh strawberries, and some sort of yellow custard Mmm. Only Japanese people will make something that's obviously a dessert into a sandwich And make it insanely awesome. Oh! Whipped cream custard is milky, and sweet. The bread acts like a perfect, perfect vessel for all that creaminess Trust me, you need one of these sandwiches And just when you think like it's a little too creamy, a little too sweet. Oh The strawberry bursts in your mouth and makes everything okay. That's a 7-Eleven matcha cookie. Well, it looks like white chocolate chunks That's a pretty darn good cookie A lot of good matcha flavor in this cookie You know what might make this better. Hang on. Oh man, five seconds and this thing is already hot Wow, oh yeah, that's the way to enjoy this matcha cookie. Microwave it. Oh my god That just got extra yummified This little taco looking matcha thingy So the outside it's kind of like a like a really fluffy bun and on the inside, matcha ice cream. Oh and red bean sauce, really? Can't imagine this being that good This is pretty good So it's not ice cream. The inside, it's actually like a matcha cream, and the red bean paste It's kind of covering all of it If you're a matcha fan Or a red bean fan or of both, you'll love this and this for me, great way to wrap up my meal And that thing goes pretty good with my green tea So my favorite thing today definitely the Michelin star instant noodles, hundred percent absolutely delicious I love my fatty beef over rice Actually, I think most of the bento box looked really good, but I could only try out a couple. Love the first two buns I tried and oh my god that strawberry sandwich. I just, that thing stole my heart and guys This is not the end because there's there's a convenience store that's in Japan that supposed to be better than 7-Eleven called Lawson That is supposed to be even better. Let's go check them out Hi, so I was supposed to continue with the exploration of the convenience stores in Japan but I took a few days in between and now I am at... Sorry that's And now I'm at Lawson. Now supposedly what I what I've researched was that Lawson is really known for a few things. One, their freshly fried chicken. And two, their selection of dessert items. So let's go check it out. Drink section. There's the ramen section First of all, this udon is supposed to be really, really good and I need to get this Yogurt water.. Sure. Alright, this is something that's pretty exclusive to Lawson Well natural Lawson, which is they're like really healthy slash organic brand. These are the collections of smoothie and yogurts They also got like a selection of baked goods. Oh Look at that Ooh, I learned in Japan any time you see a melon, you get it Oh, what in the name is... Oh look... Wow You know what? Sure. This is a mochi roll. This comes highly, highly recommended. Apparently, Anthony Bourdain loves the egg salad here in Lawson So let's get that... Actually, they got two different types of egg salads. I'm gonna get both. Also, I heard you gotta get some pudding. That's good. This is not exclusive to Lawson, but it's insanely cool. So the first day I was in Japan I bought these what seemed like I thought they were dessert items But, these have a different use let me show you in just a sec. Then you get an ice cup. There you go. Then you grab a sparkling water. Like I mentioned, they fry chicken fresh here in Lawson So they got regular, cheese, and this is supposed to be Anthony Bourdain's wife's favorite, Red. I bought a lot of stuff I get to do 40 little drawings. Did I win? No, okay. Nope, no, ah! Oh my gosh, my... nope! No, aw man, no way! Aw.... oh? What did I, what did I win? Oh, I don't know what that is. Oh, so I won this lychee thing. Alright, check out my haul. Now I learned a mistake from my 7-Eleven experience is that I ate the sweet items last and they sort of melted, so I'm going to eat sweet items first in this one and before any of that Guys, remember this little icy thing I got? Take my ice cup and then take the grape thing and just drop it in there You can add as much as you want I'm just gonna add it all. Sparkling water So you can let this soak in here and and that's gonna flavor the water and also you can eat this Because this on its own like I said delicious, You know, my water is getting all infused with this grape icy thingy Tastes like grape soda. And like I said, you can scoop these things out That is almost like magic This is like borderline Harry Potter-esque because now these little grape things they're like borderline collapsed So this is just like a crumbly cube of frozen grape juice almost and eating that... Mmm In your mouth, it just like breaks apart completely. You get a wonderful almost concentrated shot of grape flavor. I think on a hot summer day this would be like the ultimate thing to do. According to many local and Korean bloggers... I don't know why I read them Yeah, I read them. This is the number one sweet dessert item to get out of Lawson. That just looks so pretty Oh heavenly cloud. Oh yeah I can see why Mmm First of all this cream, that is just heavenly. I mean it is so ridiculously light and milky and you guys are seeing how Look at that, this thing needs like 20 fragile stickers Like I feel like I'm harming just by squeezing a little bit. If you want to taste What is basically equivalent to sweet, milky, creamy air This is it. Wow And they do not skimp on the cream. Everything about this is love at first bite. When you first bite it, you almost can't believe how delicate it is? I can't believe something so delicate can be wrapped around something even more delicate. Let me just jump into the puddings here Mmm Oh, what did I just eat? I'm not sure But I want to do it again, like, right now. Okay, this is called the Ohayo Royal Jersey brand I don't know but take a look guys that's what it looks like because you'll meet this when you come to Japan. This is... Might possibly be the creamiest, milkiest gentlest most delicious pudding I have ever had in my life and it came from a Japanese convenience store. Go find this pudding You're welcome. Got the two types of chicken. By the way. This is just adorable the cheese chicken and the red chicken, so they're little chicken nuggets All right. It's... it's a little hard This is definitely not freshly fried, which is a shame Wow because that is very flavorful chicken But I think if that was freshly fried It would actually be crispy on the outside Which is not right now and it'd be cheesier. I mean I can taste the cheese, love the chicken but it's missing that little crunch factor [that] you want to have with fried chicken. The next one is the red chicken Now I like this so much more than that cheese chicken clearly because I love spicy and this is very spicy. And then this one, again just like a 7-Eleven version. The crust is cut off. The bread is incredibly gentle and beautiful looking. Oh I love this. I've been eating salads, egg salad sandwiches a lot since coming to Japan. it's becoming my new addiction and usually It's either with creamy egg salad or it's all with you know or it's all with soft-boiled eggs I've never seen one where it's like a combo of both, and I'm telling ya This is the best way to eat an egg salad sandwich. By the way, most of my little pellets have melted this soda is just bomb right now. Oh You know what at this point? I need something soupy in me UDON. Oh if it looks completely strange in the middle of filming I switched locations to the outside of my hotel one because they didn't have hot water So I had to run to the 7-Eleven [to get] hot water [for] my udon which serendipitously allowed me to run into this baby So I had that Tsuta instant noodles, and I loved it and I was kind of browsing through the 7-Eleven instant noodle section I find a Nakiryu instant dan-dan noodles This was my favorite ramen in Tokyo and cannot wait to try the instant noodle version of this So I think this, these are ready. This is definitely I can tell after it is hydrated This is a fried tofu. Look at this, this is a massive fried tofu. It's like a fried tofu flotation device. Let's give this a try. Shall we? Mmm oh yeah, I love fried tofu especially when it's in good broth because this thing soaks up broth like a sponge Mmm and this broth is worth soaking up Oh Alright I like the broth, it's light and because it's not a strong broth The noodles are a little too thick for, for the broth to penetrate so you're not getting as much flavors when you're eating these noodles, so I'm kinda gonna eat the noodles and slurp the broth at the same time I mean, it's good, but not my favorite instant noodle so far in Japan. Now, I know we're on the Lawson part of the video, but come on. Let's revisit back to 7-Eleven. I mean 7-Eleven has definitely won the instant noodle war, if there was one between convenience stores. Heck yeah this, oh, man this just oh Look at this. This is a crazy thing about Instant noodles in Asia and again this kind of looks like what I ate at the restaurant itself I mean the broth is nice and thick the noodles beautifully thin, looks amazing. If this tastes as good as what I had in a restaurant I don't even know I... I want to bring instant noodles home but I can't because there's meat. I'm kind of almost hoping it doesn't taste as good so I don't feel bad for not bringing these home Well dangit, that's amazing. They're so good, oh This is like a feat of scientific marvel right here You should be able to get instant noodles to taste I mean not as good as what you will get in stores, but pretty darn close. Mmm That's spicy, that's thick and flavorful Oh forget about it. I mean that is such a rich broth So far beyond other instant noodles this one and the Tsuta one are like the don of all instant noodles It's like Lord of the Rings, one noodle to rule them all. Or in this case, two. but if I had to choose, this one. God, this is so... sinfully delicious is this cooked from the broth of Mount Doom or something? I mean, so sinfully good. And this is where the other half of my egg sandwich will really come in handy. Oh This is gonna be great, watch. Egg sandwich, meet the broth of your dreams. Yeah, you enjoying yourself? I know you are I know you're loving this, soak that up baby. This is gonna be really egg-citing [lol] Oh You guys need to do this, I implore you Get an egg sandwich I think the Lawson egg sandwich might be better because it has the mixed egg in there get the egg sandwich Get a bowl of this and just play food matchmaker. Please, this may sound so crazy. But this right here, this union, this partnership It'll simply blow your mind. You know why that's so good? Because eggs, especially soft-boiled ones When you introduce them to ramen, it's like they're going home. I didn't know I could be this fulfilled sitting by my hotel outside Eating instant noodles and an egg sandwich I got from 7-Eleven and Lawson. Well heck yeah, I'll sit here all day If this is all I ate, this will still be a really good trip Weather it's fantastic by the way. Man I'm borderline getting emotional right now. It was like a Forrest Gump moment right here. Okay. People are looking me weird. All right Let's, let's maybe wrap this up [Mike scatting happily] Whaaat Alright, this is the crazy bun I found while at Lawson. Oh Ugh What is..? This is a hotdog noodle This is yakisoba. And yakisoba is well, soba that's stir-fried and I think you're supposed to microwave this I don't have a microwave So let's taste this Kind of borderline scaring me right now You know what... This is pretty decent Hmm. Soba has got a ton flavor. Oh, I know how to make this better Melt a piece of cheese on it. There you go Lawson, free idea Melt the cheese on there! Oh, I think cheesy soba. You guys might not think that's good.
I think I could work. Finally my last two items I got at Lawson, a Peach Smoothie and a peach yogurt Let's try the peach smoothie. I love how they provide you with straws for all these things And you just stab it through this right here Mmmm Oh! All the fresh peaches in the world, oh I can just lounge back with this. Mmm. Literally every sip you take, it's full of fresh peaches. I mean, I'm sure it's not fresh but it tastes fresh. It's not too thick Mmm, it's just perfect. Alright, so let's compare a little bit. If I had to choose between 7-Eleven and Lawson here in Japan. I gotta go with 7-Eleven purely based on the instant ramen selection alone I mean if Lawson had those instant ramen as well I think it'd be a little more equal because having fresh fried chicken here in store that's a huge plus plus but unfortunately today the chicken I had was kind of old and it didn't really tastes like fresh fried chicken, wasn't crispy. But overall Japanese convenience stores or convenience stories I've had at least in Taiwan, in Japan They really smashed the stereotype that that we tend to have in the US where we only go to the convenience stores when we need you know a stick of gum or slushy or some underwear Wait, is that just me? I was just kidding. I've never bought underwear from a convenience store ever in my life [lol sure Mike!] But we tend to never see convenience stores as a place that we would go if we wanted to have a delicious meal but here That's a hundred percent the case So if you guys are Vacationing in Taiwan or Japan and one day you just thinking I wouldn't eatat the convenience store all I'm gonna say to ya is Bon Appetit. Anyway, guys, hopefully you enjoyed my review of 7-Eleven and Lawson and if you want to see where I am and what I'm doing in real time Make sure to follow me on Instagram and Twitter All that information is listed for you in my description box below Thank you all so much for watching until we eat again. See you later.
