Hallyu, the Korean wave – whatever you call it, South Korea’s popular culture continues to captivate the world. Food is a major aspect of this, and now one of the country’s most popular burger chains has opened its very first Japanese branch in the heart of Shibuya.
Mom’s Touch has, since its 1997 founding, been committed to hand-preparing everything in-house at its more than 1,420 homeland locations, rather than using pre-frozen ingredients. This approach has earned the brand a formidable reputation.
The debut Japanese branch, located on Shibuya’s Koen-dori just north of the Scramble Crossing, extends across three floors infused with an Instagram-worthy, retro-futuristic aesthetic. Here in Tokyo, Mom’s Touch offers the brand’s signature item, the unabashedly meatily named Thigh Burger. This uses a whole spicy chicken thigh fried in crunchy batter as its patty, which is topped with zesty pickles, sliced onions, fresh lettuce and a secret sauce.
Exclusive to this location is a reinterpretation of traditional Korean beef bulgogi in burger form. Another Korean-style touch is the machine that adds a retro-style black-and-white photo of the customer to each printed receipt, a feature that's highly popular in the brand's homeland.