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KFC now sells takikomi gohan rice boxes in Japan, if you know where to look for them [Taste test]

Casey Baseel a few minute ago
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Kenta creates a new way to enjoy its Original Recipe: with chopsticks!

“Kenta Rice Box” might sound like an offering from a traditional Japanese restaurant, but Kenta is actually short for “Kentakki,” the Japanese pronunciation of “Kentucky,” as in Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yes, like McDonalds (“Makku” or “Makudo”) and Starbucks (“Sutaba”), KFC has become so popular in Japan that it’s got its own fan nickname, which is also a sign that there’s room for some special Japan-exclusive menu items tailored to local tastes, the newest of which is the Kenta Rice Box.

Part of the design concept for the Kenta Rice Box is to be “a KFC meal you can eat with chopsticks.” This would seem to go against the chain’s well-known promise of being “finger-lickin’ good,” but we weren’t going to knock the Kenta Rice Box until we’d tried it, so that’s just what we headed out to do.

Currently, the Kenta Rice Box is available only at select KFC Japan branches in Tokyo and the prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, and Hyogo (a full list can be found here), but luckily we didn’t have to go too far out of our way to find it for sale here in the capital. Prices also vary by region, starting at 690 yen (US$4.35), but the downtown Tokyo branch we got ours at was charging 740 yen for the Kenta Rice Box alone, or 930 yen as a combo with a drink.

Opening up the flaps, the first thing you’ll see is sliced pieces of boneless fried chicken slathered with a teriyaki sauce. This is actually still KFC Original Recipe chicken, though, so you get an internationalized mix of its familiar herbs and spices plus all the sweet and savory notes of teriyaki, which makes for a very tasty combination.

Underneath the chicken is a layer of shredded cabbage, giving you some nice crisp texture, and underneath that is the rice. This isn’t just any rice, though. It’s takikomi gohan, a traditional Japanese dish made by cooking white rice in a pot together with other seasonings or ingredients, so that the additional flavor gets steeped in. Fitting, for the Kenta Rice Box KFC Japan makes its takikomigohan with chicken broth.

Though the takikomi gohan flavor isn’t particularly heavy, it is really good, giving the rice a delicious touch of meatiness that pairs very nicely with the pieces of fried chicken themselves.

As for negatives, with fried chicken being their specialty, we tend to associate KFC with large, hearty meals, but the Kenta Rice Box isn’t particularly huge. It’s definitely bigger than a snack, but this isn’t the sort of thing that, if you ate it at lunch, would have you thinking a simple salad or something is all you’re going to need for dinner later on. Also, despite the design goal of being something you can eat with chopsticks, the unusual shape of the box, squared-off at the top but round at its base, actually makes it a little hard to eat with utensils, and we think a spoon might actually be the better equipment to use.

But out of “tastes great,” “large portion,” and “easy to eat with chopsticks,” we’d say the first is the most important, and that’s a box the Kenta Rice Box easily checks.

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