One of the best things about Hakodate, Hokkaido was that there were no McDonalds. This seems very odd, considering Hakodate isn’t such a tiny city. But not so odd, when you know that it has its own home-grown fast food chain Lucky Pierrot that could take over the world, just like McDonald’s, if it wanted to.

As soon as I started planning for our trip to Hakodate, I knew I wanted to visit Lucky Pierrot. It was the one touristy thing I wanted to do. We saw our first Lucky Pierrot (the original location) literally 10 minutes after I scarfed down the huge soft serve at Hanabatakebokyjyo. Although I was on vacation, my stomach was definitely not. I decided to put it to work, double-duty style by fulfilling one of my main missions during the trip: to eat a whale burger.

The menu

The exterior and interior of Lucky Pierrot failed to dissapoint with crazy decor spilling out of every pore of its walls. Although this seemed kind of gimmicky, it was comforting to see later on in the trip that all Lucky Pierrots are crazy in their own way. It was also comforting to see that the Lucky Pierrot we visited was packed with locals even on a Monday at 4pm.

Lucky Pierrot’s most popular burger is the Chinese Chicken Burger. This looked really appetizing as well, but I was determined to order the Whale Miso Burger.

The Whale Miso Burger was 380 yen. The burger had some lettuce, mayo, miso sauce and a few nuggets of fried whale.

Surprisingly, the whale tasted very fishy. The whale that I had had before (raw and barbecued) tasted more gamey, like lamb or venison. The smell of the whale meat in the burger wafted a bit of sardines, yet the texture was a little tough, like fish jerky. I enjoyed the burger, but they saturated it too much with the miso sauce. The breaded surface area ratio to the whale meat was also too high – I could not get a proper grasp of the taste and texture of the whale meat because of the distractions surrounding it (breading and sauce). That said, I am very satisfied to have tried the whale burger, especially since this is something you can only eat in Hakodate.

Although I like the fact that Lucky Pierrot exists only in Hakodate, I would be ecstatic if they made a branch out here in Tokyo. I would be in line on the first day to try their Chinese Chicken Burger.

Lucky Pierrot (Original location)
23-18 Suehiro-cho
Hakodate Japan
TEL: 0138-26-2099

M: he wasn’t there for the whale, but he has taken me to another cool japanese place

Of course, I am not advocating the clubbing or the brutal treatment of any animal (and my diet rarely consists of animals with legs), but my eyes have been opened to just how brainwashed I was as a westerner. Take eating whale, for example, as an American, this is atrocious and barbaric – insensitivity and carelessness rated on a high scale.

Yet, after living in a country that has been eating whale for thousands upon thousands of years, it doesn’t look as reckless. Something like the headline “Japan and Iceland refuse to give up their right to eat whale,” makes the people of these two countries look like ravenous killers who indulge in unnecessarily gluttonous practices. When in fact, communities have depended on the industry of whaling for thousands of years, and if they had been oblivious to the currents, migrations and breeding patterns of the whales, they’da been gone way before America was there to school the world.

That said, this might just be my argument for feeling better about eating the following foods I would probably never get to eat in America (or announce that I did too loudly in America, especially California):

Kujira – Whale (barbequed whale-steak on a grill)
Setting: Last Saturday at a outdoor BBQ for a friend’s birthday in Shimokitazawa, brought by my Icelandic friend Arnar.

Verdict: Like a perfect combination of T-bone steak and lamb. There was definitely a gamey essence to it – perhaps an aftertaste of grass or some kind of ruffage.

Probability out of 10 I will eat this animal again: 10, the first taste sparked my interest in trying whale prepared in different ways.

Basashi – Horse sashimi (thinly sliced raw horse meat)
Setting: Town izakaya during a festival in Koenji, ordered because my friend Kishi visiting from SF, had one thing on his list of things to do in Tokyo – eat horse.

Verdict: Quite heavenly – like sashimi in 4 dimensions. Again, it gives off a gamey scent that I can’t quite pin point.

Probability out of 10 I will eat this animal again: 8, I wouldn’t order it – it’s actually quite delicious but it’s a bit intense psychologically. However, it’s probably gonna be hard to avoid given that this is pretty common most Japanese-style restaurants.

Suppon – Snapping turtle soup
Setting: Chinese restaurant in Hatagaya. I reviewed this visit here

Verdict: A bit too knuckly for my taste and the meat was extra chewy and dense. I was told it’s good for you when you get sick and I believe that.

Probability out of 10 I will eat this animal again: 3, I am not into knuckly things. I would however, happily indulge in Suppon broth.

Judging by how exciting these culinary delights were, I hope this list grows…