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  Nikuman... (Entered Dec. 18, 2006)     Sponsors:  
 

Passing through any convenient store in Japan, you'll notice a glass bin near the cashier. Usually you'll find a selection of very greasy, very fried 'stuff', that's been sitting under a heat lamp for what may seem like days. Usually to the left or the right of that bin is another bin full of what looks like doughy, white lumps. Look tempting? You've just discovered 'nikuman'.
Nikuman are Japan's version of the Chinese 'Baozi', a steamed bun filled with meat, usually pork. 'Niku' in Japanese means 'meat' and 'man' means 'steamed bun', no fancy names here. The Japanese were unsatisfied with the simplicity of just pork and steamed bread though and decided to experiment. Now you've got to choose if you'd rather eat a plain old nikuman, or perhaps something more exotic like a cheeseman or a curryman, etc. So are they any good? You'd think that it would be pretty hard to go wrong with bread and meat, but then again this is convenient store food we're talking about. Well let's find out.
Soft and doughy looking, you might think they were uncooked, but since they're steamed, they don't turn brown or get crispy like pies, still super hot though.

The curryman smelled kind of good, like real curry, so I went with it first. Upon breaking it open, you can see that nikuman are generally 80% bread and 20% filling if you're lucky. The bread is kind of cake-like, soft, spongy and kind of gooey, but not too bad I suppose. Inside we have small bits of stuff that could be meat, curry sauce, mushrooms and something that might have once been a carrot. Maybe I imagined a small piece of potato too but that's probably pushing it. Overall not bad though, I ate the whole thing and wanted another, but that might have been because I was hungry.

 

 

Summary

 

Score

Shop:   AM PM   ---

Name:

 

Curryman

 

---

Cost:   105 yen (worth it).   8/10

Smell:

 

Like curry without much spice.

 

7/10

Taste:

 

Curry with a lot of bread.

 

7/10

% Eaten:

 

100%

 

10/10

Overall:

 

Not bad, could probably eat another.

 

80%

 

Next we have the jumbo nikuman which is the equivalent size of a hamburger. I had asked for the regular sized one at the convenient store, but the lady behind the counter kindly gave me the jumbo sized one for the same price as the regular. 'Service' she said. I didn't have the heart to tell her I didn't want the jumbo size seeing how I was worried these things might end up being gross. Turns out I was right to be worried. Upon opening the big fella I was greeted by a most unpleasant smell. Looking into the depths of the puke-like mass in the middle, I wasn't encouraged at all. Nowhere could I see anything that resembled meat, much less food. Perhaps there were some onions but who could be sure? I steeled myself to take a bite and discovered some stringy gristle. Sickened, I only managed the one bite plus a few half-hearted nibbles. I thought about chucking it on the street for the birds and/or cats, but decided they'd probably be better off without.

 

 

Summary

 

Score

Shop:   AM PM   ---

Name:

 

Jumbo Nikuman

 

---

Cost:   105 yen (they should be paying me).   3/10

Smell:

 

Like bad airplane food.

 

1/10

Taste:

 

I'd say dog food if I knew what it tasted like.

 

0/10

% Eaten:

 

5%

 

0/10

Overall:

 

Shudder....

 

10%

 

I had lost my appetite, but I gamely gave the pizzaman a try. As you can see, the contents consist of what looks to be an orange stain around the edges with chunks of unidentifiable stuff in the middle. I recognized some corn and what might have been cabbage. Is this some kind of joke? Where's the pepperoni and mushrooms? Cheese was nonexistent and the tomato sauce would've embarrased a bottle of ketchup. It smelled funny too, but what could you expect from a pizza with corn and cabbage? I struggled to eat it, only because I felt bad about the waste, but it ended up decorating the garbage with the jumbo nikuman.

 

 

Summary

 

Score

Shop:   AM PM   ---

Name:

 

Pizzaman

 

---

Cost:   105 yen (save your money).   3/10

Smell:

 

Fake, tomato-like smell.

 

1/10

Taste:

 

Like a piece of bread with ketchup.

 

2/10

% Eaten:

 

60%

 

6/10

Overall:

 

I could pull a better pizzaman outta my ....

 

30%

 

Another day, another couple nikuman to test. Here we have what I first thought was a cheeseman, but when I opened it up, it was brown. After a second of horror at the thought of brown cheese, I looked more carefully at the name and saw it was a demigura-cheese man, demigura meaning demi glace, a kind of gravy. Well it actually smelled ok although once again it was pretty hard to make out the contents except for the cheese, which definitely improved it. Some chewy things inside that might have been meat, but overall it was pretty tasty and I managed to finish it.

 

 

Summary

 

Score

Shop:   7-11   ---

Name:

 

Demigura-cheeseman

 

---

Cost:   126 yen (a bit more expensive than most).   6/10

Smell:

 

Kind of like beef gravy, a little strong.

 

6/10

Taste:

 

Not bad at all, the cheese was a nice touch.

 

8/10

% Eaten:

 

100%

 

10/10

Overall:

 

A lot better than the cheeseless pizzaman.

 

75%

 

Dessert up next! I had my doubts about this one, but seeing how I searched 6 convenience stores and only AM PM had it, I wanted to give it a try. The idea is good, put chocolate into the man instead of meat. When I got it home it had wrinkled up on the outside from cooling off, and didn't look too appealing. When I broke it open though, it smelled good and you can see some nice chocolate sauce in the middle. The taste however, was fantastic! Just like eating a warm piece of chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Definitely the winner so far.

 

 

Summary

 

Score

Shop:   AM PM   ---

Name:

 

Chocoman

 

---

Cost:   105 yen (good deal!)   10/10

Smell:

 

Like chocolate cake.

 

10/10

Taste:

 

Excellent! Warm, soft, gooey, like good cake.

 

10/10

% Eaten:

 

100%

 

10/10

Overall:

 

The high point of lunch!

 

100%

 

Like I said, I was planning to do a few more nikuman just for fun, but in the end I couldn't stomach the thought of eating another one even in the interests of science. There are more weird variations out there to try, but if you're really curious you're going to have to try them yourself. Have a blast!

 

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