The Japanese are officially obsessed with burgers (as well as most things American). But like a lot of the food, it’s geared towards their own taste. Which doesn’t bother me a jot as I happen to like mayonnaise and tuna on pizza. It may seem odd to go to Japan and eat burgers but it does happen to be what they are obsessed with and I of course have to give this a go.
MOS burger (standing for Mountain Ocean Sun) is the second largest burger chain in Tokyo after McDonalds. And despite it’s standing, it’s hard to find a MOS burger outlet. When I had heard that they had specially designed branches of MOS burger called “MOS burger Green Cafe” Dick Bruna (he of Miffy the bunny fame) designed store I knew I had to visit. So one rainy afternoon we traipsed along to the Ginza cafe. Unfortunately the famous “Takumi Judan” premium “artisan taste” burger with avocado, Tasmanian beef and wasabi for Y1000 isn’t available or perhaps I just can’t read Japanese well enough (that’s quite possible). The burgers are smaller (as is the food generally in Japan) so if you’re hungry, you may need 2 to satisfy your appetite.
One thing that they do is at MOS burger is a rice burger where they replace the bun with two patties of rice. I first tried MOS burger many years ago in Singapore and was eager to have a second taste. Unlike other burgers chains, it’s a little harder to find a MOS burger outlet and when I read about a Dick Bruna (he of Miffy the bunny fame) designed concept store in Ginza, I know that we have to visit. It’s called MOS Green, and is outfitted in a Scandinavian style with of course a lot of green. The cute illustrations are instantly recognisable as Dick Bruna’s work when you come upon the store. Service is impeccable although there doesn’t appear to be an English menu, the staff translates the relevant items. We order a Spicy beef burger and a teriyaki burger. Disappointingly, there aren’t any rice burgers at this branch, just the regular burgers.
Spicy Beef Burger Y380
The spicy beef burger is interesting, with a thick slice of tomato and a slightly spicy sauce, my husband loves this as it tastes so much like a salad. It’s very fresh.
Beef burger Y320
The regular burger is also good, there is a good amount of lettuce (unlike Lotteria’s piddly pieces) and the patty is tasty. Like a good teriyaki burger with mayonnaise.
Of course we can’t leave Japan without trying a rice burger so later we make our way over to Shibuya where we find a regular MOS burger. It’s signage is subtle in comparison with the other burger places like the multiple Lotteria and McDonalds in that location. Indeed we count three “Freshness Burger” shops in the one stretch.
Japanese vegetable rice burger Y280
We order the three types of rice burgers available: a Japanese vegetable salad filling Y280, the prawn burger Y300 and the beef teriyaki burger Y350. We get our number and take a seat and they deliver us the burgers within minutes. The Japanese vegetable salad burger is filled with crunchy julienned vegetables and is crunchy and good with the rice patty.
Prawn rice burger Y300
The prawn burger is very seafoodey in aroma but not quite to my taste. If you’ve ever had a Sea Shanty, and my mother used to buy these for us thinking that we liked them but I didn’t, it’s a similar taste. It’s my husband’s favourite though.
Beef Teriyaki rice burger Y350
My favourite is the beef teriyaki burger, with thinly sliced beef and lettuce on the rice patty. It goes perfectly with the rice. What is disappointing about all of them is that the front of the burger has a lot of filling but the back of the burger is empty. This is with all three burgers so we feel a bit jipped by that and wouldn’t have expected this to be the case here.
And because no visit to Shibuya is complete without a browse of the Love Hotel district, I leave you with some pictures of what is on offer, should the urge strike you while you are in Tokyo along with a shot of the famous Shibuya crossing.
Not just your ordinary hotel room
Rental of costumes and lotions and creams is also possible!
The famous crazy busy Shibuya crossing (not so many people though)
MOS Burger Ginza Cafe
Ginza Ｎine 2-1F, 8-7, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 〒104-0061
TEL : 03-5568-5067
Business hours : Weekdays 09:00 ～ 23:00
Sat , Sun 09:00 ～ 21:00
Holidays : No Holidays
MOS Burger Shibuya
Dogenzaka Center Bldg. 2-29-8 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0043
Exit Shibuya station (look for AM PM store)
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12 Comments | Add your own
You have seriously got me wanting to go to Japan more than ever! I was even looking at accommodation yesterday!
missing your cooking blogs though!
x
What, no Beard Papa’s for dessert? I think you’re neglecting the dessert section of the food pyramid here!
Ah, now I’ve died and gone to heaven! Living in a wheat-free-world has kind of left the burger on another continent for me, so reading about these DELICIOUS burger-variants is fabulous!
Yum-oh!
aah good ole’ Mos Burger.. we used to go about once a month. Brandon likes their onion rings and the Mos cheeseburger, while I like their fries and the chicken burger
I admit to never having tried their rice burgers before though
ps- Mos burger is soo much better than Freshness burger.
that’s a juicy looking teriyaki burger NQN! I love the idea of the crunchy rice bun and is like the slightly burnt rice at the bottom of the rice cooker. Good to chew on!
the rice burger looks so neat! i can’t believe the pieces of rice stick together so well–what a fabulous bun replacement.
Hi Iron Chef Shellie-hehe travel’s always a good thing!
We stayed at the Akasaka Grand Prince which we always stay at as it’s very central (on 3 train lines), has big rooms and a great concierge service. Hah! sorry but I can’t cook that much in a hotel room 
Hi SydneyGal-I haven’t seen a Beard Papa here (although I did in London) but I want to try food that I can’t get in Sydney!
Hi Kyle-This is perfect for you then! It’s a pity it hasn’t come to Sydney yet but who knows?
Hi Kathy-We didn’t try their onion rings but I always prefer them to fries so I should have! ha really? Freshness burger seems to have quite a presence on Dogenzaka. Pity there aren’t more MOS burgers.
Hi Maria-It was very juicy, lucky that the wrapper they used was genius too! No spillages on clothes or soaking through!
Hi grace-I’m not sure how they do it, unless it’s glutinous rice but they’re pretty perfect looking!
i can’t believe i didn’t know about the Dick Bruna-designed concept store! arghhh! we found Mos Burger frustratingly difficult to find at times too. actually that was true of most things in Japan - you saw a thousand branches of a shop/food outlet while strolling around but when you wanted to find one specifically, they all seemed to disappear!
i was kinda disappointed with Mos. we went late one night when we couldn’t find anything else (decent) open. there were no rice burgers at the one i went to
so we had regular cheeseburgers and i thought they were kinda sloppy and not that great. maybe i just got them on a bad day though!
Hi lindsey clare-I wish they had an English version of their site. That would help enormously with all of the English speaking fans and I wanted to try that special Y1000 burger too
Hehe that was our exact experience! When we wanted it, there was none to be found.
Hmmm sloppy is no good! Maybe they got lazy at the end of the day? Which shouldn’t happen anyway. After all, it’s a MOS burger!
I’d be like you, I’d have to try the burgers in Japan. They look great in the photo’s! I love the idea of the Dick Bruna themed burger joint! I still remember a themed Macca’s I visited in the USA. Mountains, fishing, wild ducks.. that kind of thing near the mountains & ridges of Wasington state. It had a log cabin feel. Thank you also for introducing me to “The Love Hotel Disrict” & concept –news to me!
Hi Maria-I know, miffy is so cute!
Wow, I had no idea McDonalds also did themes! It might convince me to go into one actually 
You’re welcome, it’s one of those “only in Japan” kind of things
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