The Gurakoro Burger is a seasonal item added to McDonald’s Japan’s winter menu every year. This year, they are releasing a new rich beef stew flavour on December 2 for a limited period.

“Gurakoro” is a portmanteau of the Japanese words for “gratin” and “korokke,” the latter being the Japanese version of a French croquette. The Gurakoro burgers are crunchy on the outside and melty on the inside. They first appeared at McDonald’s Japan in 1993 and have returned every winter since, popular for its combination of the Gurakoro patty which is filled with creamy ebi, cabbage, a special korokke sauce, and an egg sauce, all squished between a toasted bun.

Gurakoro Burger | ¥340

The burger was created with a new recipe in 2019 that makes the flavour richer. The number of egg yolks used for the egg sauce was also increased, as was the spiciness of the korokke sauce.

Beef Stew Gurakoro | ¥390

This year, McDonald’s Japan is adding a beef stew sauce made with a combination of red wine and demiglace sauce. Added to this is mustard, creating a delicious flavour that goes hand in hand with the creamy gratin korokke.

McDonald’s Japan has revealed two new beverages which will be sold at McCafé by Barista branches of McDonald’s from November 25: the “GODIVA Chocolate Espresso Frappe & Macaron” and the “GODIVA Chocolate Espresso Frappe.”

This is McCafé by Barista’s first collaboration with the Turkish chocolate company GODIVA. The drinks were made under the supervision of Yannick Chevolleau, an executive chef and chocolatier pâtissier at GODIVA, bringing together a match made in heaven of rich chocolate and espresso.

GODIVA Chocolate Espresso Frappe – Regular Size (¥540)

The beverage contains a dark chocolate sauce which combines cacao powder and roasted cacao beans which is mixed together with fragrant espresso and milk before being topped with whipped cream drizzled in a couverture chocolate sauce made from 54% Belgian chocolate.

GODIVA Chocolate Espresso Frappe & Macaron – Regular Size (¥540)

You can also get it topped with a vanilla-flavoured macaron which adds sweetness to the rich beverage and looks even more Instagram-worthy.

McDonald’s Japan is releasing a new tiramisu flavour of its popular triangular chocolate pie dessert at all branches in Japan for a limited time starting from November 11, 2020.

The chocolate pies have a crunchy exterior made up of layers and layers of delicious pastry. They’re filled with warm, melted chocolate to complete the tempting treat. Last year saw strawberry and cookies and cream flavours.

Loving Triangular Chocolate Pie – Tiramisu Flavour | ¥150

The tiramisu chocolate pie is filled with mascarpone chocolate cream and coffee cream, lending a delicious sweet and bitter combination. The tiramisu flavour is themed on “Love,” which is fitting as you’re sure to love whoever buys you one of these warm treats this winter.

McDonald’s Japan’s triangular chocolate pies are the perfect accompaniment to their Premium Roast Coffee, so if you’re in Japan this winter, stay cosy with a cup of coffee and one of these hot desserts.

McDonald’s Japan recently re-introduced its hugely popular rice burgers last month, and they’re adding a new one to the roster. They are turning their most popular burger, the classic double cheese, into a rice burger too, which will hit McDonald’s menus in Japan on October 28.

McDonald’s Japan first introduced “Evening Macs” in February this year, a collection of rice burgers available from 5pm until closing hours. Due to their popularity, the fast food chain brought them back last month on October 7. Until now, there were three flavours to choose from: Rice Teriyaki, Rice Bacon & Lettuce, and Rice Chicken Filet-O-Fish. Now the Double Cheeseburger has joined the line-up.

Named the “Rice Double,” the cheeseburger is stuffed with two 100% beef patties and two layers of creamy cheese. And it’s all held together by special buns made from Japanese rice seasoned with soy sauce.

All four of the Rice Burgers are available to enjoy in Japan until early November.

McDonald’s Japan has announced that it’s once again bringing back its crème brûlée coffee drinks to McCafé by Barista branches of McDonalds on October 14, 2020. The line-up includes the Crème Brûlée Frappe, Crème Brûlée Latte and Iced Crème Brûlée Latte.

The fast food chain’s crème brûlée beverages have been sold every autumn and winter since 2015 and are enjoyed for their perfect combination of sweetness and richness.

Crème Brûlée Frappe: Regular ¥460 / Large ¥500

The delightful Crème Brûlée Frappe contains a mix of caramel sauce, subtly sweet crème brûlée whipped cream, and crème brûlée syrup, all combined inside an espresso latte. Topping the drink is more crème brûlée whipped cream, caramel sauce and crushed cookies. The cookies have been baked lightly which together with the whipped cream change the flavours of the cream’s sweetness and espresso’s richness on each sip.

Crème Brûlée Latte: Small ¥350 / Regular ¥390

The Crème Brûlée Latte combines crème brûlée syrup with bitter espresso and fluffy foamed milk. It’s topped with crunchy cookies and whipped cream.ほ

Iced Crème Brûlée Latte: Regular ¥390 / Large ¥430

Like the hot drink, the Iced Crème Brûlée Latte contains the crème brûlée syrup and espresso but is served with cold milk. It’s topped with crushed cookies, crème brûlée flavoured whipped cream and caramel sauce.

Popular global chocolate brand Snickers® joined hands with the the TV anime series Dr. Stone on Monday for a special collaboration.

Dr. Stone is a hugely popular manga series written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Boichi and serialised in Weekly Shonen Jump. The manga has over 7 million copies in circulation. The first season of the anime series aired in 2019, with a second slate to begin broadcasting in January 2021.

For the collaboration, the voice actor for Senku in the anime series voiced character lines for a Snickers® commercial.

In the commercial, we see Kusanagi of the Japanese comedy duo Miyashita Kusanagi turned to stone in the Stone World. If you’ve watched or read Dr. Stone, you’ll know that Senku always knows what to do, and is ten billion percent sure that his plans will work, so of course in this there was only a single answer: to feed Kusanagi a Snickers® bar! Check out the results in the commercial below.

Snickers Japan is also holding a Twitter campaign for the collaboration. 40,000 lucky people in Japan who answer the page’s quiz questions correctly will get to win a Snickers coupon. Additionally, 100 people will be randomly selected to win a special prize.

Are you looking forward to season two of Dr. Stone next year? Follow us know on Twitter or Facebook and let us know!

©米スタジオ・Boichi / Shueisha・Dr.STONE Production Committee

McDonald’s Japan first introduced “Evening Macs” in February this year, a collection of rice burgers available from 5pm until closing hours. Due to their popularity, the fast food chain is bringing them back on October 7. There will be three flavours to choose from: Rice Teriyaki, Rice Bacon & Lettuce, and Rice Chicken Filet-O-Fish.

The burger fillings are your classic tasty McDonald’s toppings, but the buns are specially made from rice to create a completely new flavourful experience.

Rice Teriyaki | ¥390

A delicious pork patty lathered in a sweet and spicy teriyaki sauce and stuffed between two rice buns.

Rice Bacon & Lettuce | ¥410

A 100％ beef patty topped with smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, and crunchy lettuce.

Rice Chicken Filet-O-Fish | ¥410

A chicken patty with a crunchy coating. The burger is filled with lettuce and aurora sauce.

The rice buns are made using 100% domestic Japanese rice and seasoned wit soy sauce. They go perfect with fries and cola.

This is a McDonald’s experience you can only have in Japan, so if you’re in Japan this year, be sure to head to your closest branch.

Häagen-Dazs Japan is bringing back its Hana Mochi series of mini cup ice creams this year in two flavours: Chestnut Paste and Ginsen Soy Flour Brown Sugar Syrup, both of which will be released across Japan on September 29, 2020 for a limited time.

The Hana Mochi series takes Häagen-Dazs’s smooth and rich ice creams and adds soft, chewy mochi to it. The Ginsen Soy Flour Brown Sugar Syrup was released last year and proved hugely popular, while the Chestnut Paste is a new mouth watering contender this time around.

The Ginsen Soy Flour Brown Sugar Syrup ice cream is made using dark roasted soy flour and is mixed with brown sugar syrup before being topped with mochi and a blend of yellow and black soybeans.

The new Chestnut Paste is a super sweet chestnut infusion and has an authentic Japanese wagashi confection taste to it. The ice cream is also laced with a chestnut sauce as well as salt to bring out the sweetness of the chestnut even more.

Both are the perfect flavours for autumn-time this year.

Baskin-Robbins has created an exclusive flavour for Japan, the “Houjicha Brûlée,” which was released on September 1 and will be served for a limited time only.

The ice cream is laced with rich and fragrant houjicha green tea and irresistibly mixed with caramel-infused brûlée. It’s a fusion of Japanese and Western flavours here for the autumn season and is the first time Baskin-Robbins Japan has sold it.

The ice cream recreates that same burnt look that crème brûlée has. You get the full-bodied aroma of the houjicha tea balanced by the sweetness of the custard and caramel.

This is the choice of ice cream for autumn this year, so if you’re in Japan to see the beautiful autumnal colours, don’t miss out.

Häagen-Dazs Japan released its new “Honey Sweet Potato” flavour of mini cup ice cream on September 1, 2020. The ice cream is a combination of two types of potatoes with high sugar content.

Roasted sweet potato is a popular food eaten in Japan during the autumn season. By roasting them slowly, you allow the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes to come through, giving them that distinct autumn-time flavour. And it’s these potatoes that are used to make Häagen-Dazs’s new ice cream.

Sweet and rich honey-loaded ice cream

Sweet potatoes are naturally very sweet and have a syrupy texture to them, something which has been recreated to make this ice cream. As you spoon the ice cream, the melty honey sauce laced throughout the ice cream trickles.

Preserving the natural sweetness of the sweet potato

Roasting the sweet potatoes actually draws out their natural sweetness. Combined with Häagen-Dazs’s full-bodied milk, they have created a rich and subtly sweet ice cream.

Create your own Häagen-Dazs autumn recipe

Häagen-Dazs has also created a video using their vanilla flavour to showcase how to make your own ice cream dessert using pumpkin and cinnamon.

McDonald’s Japan has announced the release of four limited-time drinks which will be sold at McCafé by Barista branches of McDonald’s from September 2. The line-up includes the ‘Houjicha Frappe Shiratama Kuromitsu Kinako,’ ‘Houjicha Frappe,’ Matcha Frappe Shiratama Kuromitsu Kinako,’ and ‘Matcha Frappe.’

The beverage lineup is the perfect pink for an autumn-time dessert drink, each made with authentic flavours from Japan.

Houjicha Frappe Shiratama Kuromitsu Kinako | Regular ¥490, Large ¥530 (Tax Included)

Made using 100% Japanese houjicha powder and delicious milk, this houjicha frappe is topped with soy flour, sweet brown sugar syrup from Okinawa, chewy rice flour dumplings, and a squirt of whipped cream. This is the ultimate McDonald’s Japanese dessert drink, laced with fragrant houjicha tea with a creamy texture.

Houjicha Frappe | Regular ¥450, Large ¥490 (Tax Included)

Houjicha frappe is used as the base for this one, and if inished with whipped cream and a dusting of houjicha powder. The subtly sweet houjicha and creaminess of the whipped cream is a deliciously perfect match.

Matcha Frappe Shiratama Kuromitsu Kinako | Regular ¥490, Large ¥530 (Tax Included)

Just like the houjicha variant, except this time it’s a latte made with matcha and matcha powder from Uji, Kyoto. A truly all-star Japanese dessert drink.

Matcha Frappe | Regular ¥450, Large ¥490 (Tax Included)

The matcha frappe too is sprinkled with matcha powder from Uji, combined with full-bodied milk, and topped with whipped cream.

McDonald’s Japan is celebrating Japan’s annual Tsukimi (moon-viewing) festival this autumn by releasing a Tsukimi-themed menu line-up of four burgers and McMuffins, two desserts, one side, and two drinks, on September 2, 2020.

The food lineup captures the Japanese custom of moon-viewing during autumn. McDonald’s Japan celebrates the festival every year, and this year is not only bringing back their signature “Tsukimi Burger” and “Cheese Tsukimi,” but the all-new scrambled-egg packed “Fuwatoro Tsukimi” burger and the “Tsukimi McMuffin” which was last seen back in 2017.

McDonald’s will also serve their first ever McFlurry® made using warabimochi, the McFlurry® Tsukimi, drizzled in brown sugar syrup. The Tsukimi Pie from last year is also back on the menu, filled with red bean paste and mochi. Customers can also order tempura flavoured fries, and to wash it all down, the McFizz® or McFloat® Kyoho Grape.

To promote the limited-time menu, McDonald’s Japan released a cute online commercial starring Ken Mitsuishi and Yukino Kishii who play a father and daughter respectively. Check it out below.