Wendy’s Japan’s mochi moon-viewing burger don’t just have mochi, they are mocchi too

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September is the start of tsukimi, or moon viewing, season in Japan, and if you’re a regular reader, you probably know it’s the start of tsukimi burger season too.

Tsukimi burgers get their name as an extension of Japan’s various tsukimi noodle dishes, in which an egg is cracked into a bowl of soba or udon noodles. The heat of the broth flash cooks the egg, and its resulting round shape looks like a full moon, hence the name tsukimi soba/udon.

Because of that, the defining ingredient of a tsukimi burger is a nice, round, fried egg, and yes, all five of Wendy’s Japan’s tsukimi burgers include one. Why, though, do they also have mochi inside of them, and why are they then called “Tsukimi Mocchi Burgers,” with two Cs in mocchi, instead of “Tsukimi Mochi Burgers?”

Let’s start with the first of those questions. In Japanese folklore, there are tales of rabbits living on the moon. They don’t just frolic around up there, either – these lunar bunnies spend their time making mochi/rice cakes. Because of that, tsukimi dango, dumplings made of mochi, have long been the traditional treat to munch on while actually doing moon-viewing in Japan.

So Wendy’s Japan decided to combine the two tsukimi associated ingredients, resulting in their moon-viewing burgers that have both a fried egg and also a thick slab of mochi in them, like the Tsukimi Mocchi Burger, pictured below, which also features a special teriyaki sauce to tie everything together on your taste buds.

OK, so that explains the mochi, but why the “Mocchi” part of the name? Well, if you’ve ever had mochi, you know that it has a soft, chewy consistency. Mochi is so soft that the word mochimochi is itself an adjective for something that has a tantalizingly tender texture, and if something is really mochimochi, then it gets called mocchiri, which now has been shortened down to mocchi for Wendy’s Tsukimi Mocchi Burgers, or “super-soft moon-viewing burgers.”

In addition to the baseline 950-yen Tsukimi Mocchi Burger pictured above, there’s also a premium Truffle Tsukimi Mocchi Burger (1,250 yen), which adds black truffle seasoning to the teriyaki sauce.

These can also be upgraded to the Tsukimi Mocchi Burger Baconator (1,190 yen) or Truffle Tsukimi Mocchi Burger Baconator (1,450), which toss in strips of applewood smoked bacon and slices of melty cheesy.

▼ Wendy’s Japan calls its standard Baconator the “Baconator USA,” making this an especially multicultural hamburger.

And, last, there’s a Jr Tsukimi Mocchi Burger, if you’re a comparatively small eater or maybe just saving room for all the other moon-viewing burgers you’ve got on your to-eat list this month.

Thanks to a unique brand-merging, Wendy’s Japan and fellow fast food chain First Kitchen have overlapping menus, with some branches even designated “Wendy’s First Kitchen,” so all of these moon-viewing burgers are available at First Kitchen locations as well.

The whole lineup will be served until late September.

Source: Wendy’s Japan

Insert images: Wendy’s Japan, Wikipedia/Opqr, Wendy’s Japan, First Kitchen