Around the World: Lotteria Japan - New Triple Ramen Burger

Japanese burger chain Lotteria is set to introduce a super-carb-heavy triple ramen burger featuring three ramen noodle patties sandwiched inside of a hamburger bun come May 20th.

The official name of the burger is the "Taishoken Original Tsukemen Burger" as it was developed in partnership with Tokyo's Taishoken ramen shop.

Besides the ramen noodles and the bun, there only appears to be a tare sauce (sweet, thickened soy sauce) dressing the burger.

The burger is also available with a single or double patty and comes with a side of tsukemen broth with toppings on the side. Tsukemen is similar to ramen except the broth is more concentrated and the noodles are served cold and come separate from the soup. It's typically a preparation for hot weather when it's too sweltering for typical ramen.

In case you don't know what to do with the broth and toppings, the chain provides a helpful picture:

As you can see, you can just eat the meatless burger on it's own, you can dip it in the broth, or you can dilute the tsukemen broth for a mini bowl of ramen.

This isn't the first time Lotteria has offered a ramen burger as they offered a similar sandwich last year (although that one actually had a piece of pork to break up the noodles and bun).

It's 750 yen (~$7.33 US) for the triple ramen patty burger, 700 yen (~$6.84 US) for the double, and 650 yen (~$6.35 US) for the single. The burger is slated to stick around through mid-June.

While the idea seems weird to us in the States (although burgers with ramen buns and a beef patty have recently become popular), it's probably more normal in Japan where the yakisoba bun (stir-fried noodles in a hot dog bun) has been around for a while.