It’s weird, isn’t it? For Burger Month last week, I took a look at Rancho’s Bulalo Burger which, if you’re really a stickler about it, wasn’t a real burger as the meat wasn’t formed in a meat patty. This week, I’m looking at the pretty much the polar opposite. This time around, I checked out a burger that did have a meat patty… but no bun. Instead of a phat burger bun, the burger patty was encased in rice that have been formed to resemble a burger bun… sorta. Well, what do you expect from a Japanese burger franchise like MOS Burger.

Now, I’ve known all about MOS Burger for a while now. Several locations have been opened in the Philippines for a while but, for one reason or another, I haven’t been able to visit any of them. So, as this was Burger Month, this was the perfect reason to test it out. I went to the MOS Burger branch found at Megamall because, well, it was the closest. I was honestly surprised at how varied the menu was.

I originally went there thinking of getting the MOS Cheeseburger as, well, they put the name on the burger so it should be the burger that put them on the map. However, I ultimately changed my mind because, while the MOS Cheeseburger looks different enough from other burgers out there, I wanted to try something really different. Something that only MOS Burger could offer. Additionally, I also was rather hungry at the time and I felt the “normal” burger they had on offer was going to be a little too small for me that day.

Which is why I ultimately went with the Wagyu Garlic Rice Burger. I mean, it uses rice as the bun and, simply based off the information I got from the pictures and the significant price bump, the Wagyu Garlic Rice Burger had to be larger, right? But, like I said, I felt extra hungry that time so, while I did get the Wagyu Garlic Rice Burger with a side of hash browns, I also got myself a Grilled Salmon Onigiri. Besides, I really love Onigiris so I was going to get one even if I wasn’t starving.

I guess I’ll talk about the Grilled Salmon Onigiri first because, well, that’s what I ate while waiting for my order. I have to comment on the packaging as, while it’s really convenient and sealed for your convenience, it’s just too compact! Yes, there’s a tab on the top to supposedly make it easier to unwrap. However, the Onigiri I got had seaweed wrap kind of folded around the plastic wrapper, which caused it to unfold along with the plastic! Still, besides this mild inconvenience, I loved MOS Burger’s Grilled Salmon Onigiri. The Salmon tasted fresh and the rice and seaweed did a good job enhancing the fish while being a neat little container you can eat. However, the packaging did say it was “garlic rice” onigiri but I didn’t taste any garlic. In retrospect, that’s a good thing as I would think the garlic flavor would be too distracting.

But let’s now get to the main attraction: the Wagyu Garlic Rice Burger. As I figured, the burger itself was large but, unfortunately, the “rice bun” wasn’t enlarged to compensate for the additional size. This meant that the “rice bun” looked comically small and made the wagyu burger look enormous! Now, I don’t really have a problem with that since I have been trying to cut down on my rice intake as much as possible. But I do have to warn others as they may feel cheated.

I also have to point out that MOS Burger’s Wagyu Garlic Rice Burger came with lettuce, tomato and bacon. I’m mentioning this because, well, the burger that I got did have all of this but the bacon was placed in such a way that it kind of looked like my food was sticking its tongue out at me. This is why the pictures of the actual burger may look kind of funny.

I also have to mention that the Wagyu Garlic Rice burger was rather unwieldy because everything was so slippery because of the sauce. The placemats do have handy instructions on how to handle the burgers and they recommend you do not remove the burger from the wrapper as the thing will just explode or something. Even with those directions, it was pretty difficult to get a good hold of the burger itself because of the tiny rice bun. Also, did the wrapping paper have to be this humongous? Apart for being, well, a waste of resources and making it so much more difficult to get a good picture of the contents, the burger just vanishes in it and the issue is only exacerbated as you eat it as the burger gets smaller and smaller, slipping deeper into the wrapper! Still, it does do a good job of making sure you don’t end up with a mess on your hands (literally) and, since the burger itself was piping hot because it was fresly cooked, it enables you to handle it without burning your hands. I just hope they go easy on the wrapper just a bit.

I will say that MOS Burger does make a really tasty Wagyu Garlic Rice Burger. Well, that’s kind of expected since it’s supposed to use Wagyu meat, something that’s supposed to taste really good. I have literally no complaints with the flavor of the burger patty. It wasn’t just good. It was great. I do wish the sauce was a little lighter on flavor as there were moments when it seemed like the slight sweetness was trying to compete with the natural goodness of the beef. Same thing goes for the garlic chips as there were times when it would simply overpower the beefy goodness of the patty. Still, I can’t really complain all that much because the sauce and the garlic did taste good.

The rice, surprisingly, did kind of work for me but, since the rice buns were small, I really didn’t get much from them. On a side note, while I liked the burger served right after cooking, this may have caused the lettuce to become kind of soggy somewhat as it came off as kind of mealy. Regarding the tongue… I mean, the bacon, I do wish it was much crispier as the texture was more ham than bacon.

I also do have to talk about the side of hash browns that came with my order. They were good but I’m not really sure they’re real hash browns. They kind of felt like fried mashed potatoes than a proper hash brown to me. Sure, they were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. I can also appreciate the fact they had holes in the middle to allow the frying oil to make the thing cooked really well in the middle. The inside were soft and fluffy but, like I said, they didn’t have the texture of traditional hash browns and I think that’s what threw me off. They weren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination but they just didn’t have the feel of what I think hash browns should have.

All-in-all, I did like MOS Burger’s Wagyu Garlic Rice Burger. I may have made some complaints about it, such as the inadequate “rice buns” and the rather strong flavors, but I did think it was really good and it did make me want to try out the other items MOS Burger has. Probably with another Onigiri, of course. Did I mention how much I love those little rice things?

Have you tried MOS Burgers’ Wagyu Garlic Rice Burger? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!