Trying the Viral 7-11 Japanese Egg Salad Sandwich and Matcha Latte: Are They Special?

Let's eat an egg salad sandwich, and pair it with a matcha latte. Are we in Japan? The viral egg salad sandwich, hailing from Japan, has made its way to Canada and US. This is part of 7-11's larger efforts to improve its food operations. 

Japan and other Eastern Asian countries like Korea are well known for their convenience stores. Cheap, quick, and plentiful selection. In Japan, these are called 'combini', with popular stores including FamilyMart, 7-11, and Lawson. You could basically live a week off of food from these stores because of the vast and healthy selections, from pastas and rice dishes to fried chicken and fruit smoothies. 

Unfortunately, 7-11 in Canada and US have long neglected food options, opting for faster, cheaper options like pizza, taquitos, and hot dogs. As such, few if any go to 7-11 go specifically for food or drinks (with the exception of snacks and slurpees). Will this new item encourage us to visit more often?

The sandwich was $5.95 (less a $0.95 discount for promotion) and $2 for any size coffee / latte. And oof...this egg salad sandwich was rough. We had high hopes considering previous experiences eating at 7-11 in other places (like Taiwan for instance, where we ate onigiri), however, there were a lot of problems with this in almost every facet:

1. It tasted very basic and unremarkable
2. The bread was very stiff and lacked that pillowy texture found in Japan
3. The egg salad was very mayo or vinegar heavy; too much tangy

This was disappointing because many local news outlets have hyped up the sandwich but unfortunately the taste failed to live up to the hype. It's not close to the fluffy egg sandwiches that are readily availabe in Japan. However, we very much enjoyed the latte; it was generous with lots of matcha flavour. Well worth the cost at $2.

Hits:

• The matcha latte (XL) is worth every penny at $2; comparable to cafes but just not as creamy
• Can fill up gas at the same time
• Self serve station makes the purchase experience efficient and quick

Misses:

• Once is good enough for us; the sandwich is not the same as Japan right now and there's a lot of improvements needed
• $5.95 is too expensive for the egg salad sandwich, better are available elsewhere

Rating: Egg salad sandwich 2/5, Matcha Latte 4.5/5 - I will definitely return for the matcha latte but maybe our expectations for the egg salad sandwich were too high