Subway in Japan is largely the same as it’s American brethren. Their main production is sub sandwiches; while they do largely focus on the tradition stuff such as ham, turkey, chicken, and BLTs, they’ve naturally added their own spin to the mixture. While much of it is recognizable, some will definitely throw you off.
A Different Type Of Sub
Bacon on a sub is normal, but what about bacon potato? Chicken’s nice and normal, but tandoori chicken? Might as well stick with a traditional Philly steak, adding cream cheese or mascarpone cheese to the sub. As always, you can double the meat, or you can add a serving of shrimp for less. Drizzle oil, vinegar, season with salt and pepper, or coat it in mayonnaise (a product that Japan seem to love to put on everything), and there’s nothing new and special. Chili tomato sauce, wasabi and soy sauce, basil mayonnaise and balsamico sauce are a little out there in toppings.
I’d personally make a tandoori chicken with a bit of basil mayonnaise, or a shrimp and avocado with chili tomato sauce.
Want something purely out there? Shabu, Cajun chicken, just an outright egg sub, Shrimp and Red Snow Crab, toss curry on there, or go for the fullest extent of uniqueness: smoked salmon and mascarpone with sardine oil. Broccoli and Caesar or Avocado (with shrimp carbonara) also seem to hit the right spot.
And heck, just for completeness, if you’re avoiding the carbs, you can get a few wraps.
Sides
Need something to go with that on the side? Instead of a bag of chips, how about some potato wedges? If it’s cold, you can get one of their hot soups, such as tomato bisque, and if it’s hot, you can get one of their cold soups, such as Pumpkin Potage or asparagus and broad bean soup chilled. And for the children, make sure to get… pancakes?
England
Apparently in celebration of the Olympics, Japan has two subs dedicated to England; Roast Beef and Coronation Chicken. I’m not exactly sure why Japan doesn’t have roast beef regularly (outside of lack of land for cows), or what makes the chicken “Coronation”. These two people look like the sandwiches are delicious, if anything.
France
For a while, they focused on France. I don’t even want to guess what they sold, but Google Translates says that
Subway Japan Co., Ltd. (President: Akira Ito, Minato-ku, Tokyo) in the sandwich chain “Subway” to expand, we will expand (Wednesday) from April 11, 2012 the campaign of the world’s food series. The theme of “France” as the third bullet, the herbs will release “Wind”, “oven cheese & basil potato Provence tailoring of” sardine oil “refreshing orange sauce duck pastrami.”
I may try “refreshying orange sauce duck pastrami.” I can’t tell if that’s incredible or horrifying.
Marketing
Japan loves Jared Fogle as much as we do, but as the commercial below shows, a current promotion features a woman ordering a man. We think. They also don’t feature the immensely-successful Five Dollar Footlong, but do feature Toku Subs 320 Yen (slightly over $4), and while we can’t actually tell if they’re foot-longs or not (Metric system and all), it doesn’t seem likely.
- Monday is Spicy Mexican
- Tuesday is Teriyaki Chicken
- Wednesday is Potato and Cheese
- Thursday is Turkey Breast
- Friday is Avocado and Veggie
- Saturday is Bacon Potato
- Sunday is Ham
Drinks
Might as well stick with a traditional water, sports drink, or soft drink… or you can step out of your protective bubble and drink iced royal milk tea, alcohol-free Suntory, or mango orange juice. If you want to avoid dairy, they have a soy latte, soy mango latte, and soy banana latte.
Bread Lab
Subway has tried something new in Japan: The Bread Lab. While featuring Subway branding, cups, and the like, the store purely focuses on the stuff surrounding the meat and cheese: bread. Japan apparently has a fascination with bakeries; while Americans might make an occassional stop for a really good donut at a local store, or go to a neighborhood bakery when they need a cake for a special occasion, Japan considers it as common as a a fast food place. You stop by, grab what you want for a quick snack or small lunch, and go about your day. The Bread Lab feautres cakes and simple, bread-based treats. Basically, it’s sugar and carbs that Jared wouldn’t advocate.
It would be nice to see the American Subway adopt some of these ingredients, even on a limited time. A broccoloi and shrimp sub with basil mayonnaise would be a tasty treat.