Well, completism runs rampant, but I’m able to tick off another item on the under-track extravaganza. In my defence, I did go to a genuine fine-dining restaurant on Saturday (in case you missed it, nestled among the dross) and had never been to a Beck’s before. The oddest things about this Beck’s experience were as follows:
– It felt exactly like being in a Doutour, the decor and menu both (and the quality of the coffee, but shoganai ne?)
– The terrible, horrible quality of the BLT, which lived up to all the terrible stereotypes about Japanese sandwiches. You know the one, like in a convenience store sandwich, where they put a small mound of filling in the center of a much bigger slice of bread, then cover and slice it in such a way as to make it look like the sandwich is stuffed full, when in fact there’s exactlyh one satisfying bite per sandwich half and the rest is just damp bread? That one.
– The surprising satisfaction of the Beck’s Premium sandwich (yes, I got two. It was late, I was hungry, and I guessed correctly from the prices that the size would justify 2 sanwiches.). This was a two-layer concoction with meat, veg and sliced egg with a nice honey-mustard sauce, and while my standards were no doubt lowered by the Bacon Lettuce Travesty that preceded, I enjoyed it. Beck’s has about 75 locations to serve you, but all in metro Tokyo. Interestingly, other brands under this umbrella include bread shops Little Mermaid AND Andersen, 3 other coffee brands, 4 hamburger shop brands, cheap-crap stalwarts Yoshinoya and Pepper Lunch, and McDonalds. They’ve been busy! My personal favorite among their chains is ‘Life with Bread: as Leaf’ (sic).
Http://www.jefb.co.jp/becks/