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  • Harry: From Croissant Stuffers to festive pizzas

  • to gingerbread lattes, we wanted to find out

  • all of the fast-food Christmas menu items

  • in the UK, Japan, and the US.

  • This is "Food Wars."

  • Here in the UK, we have several festive drink options

  • at Starbucks, all of which are hot.

  • We'll start with this one,

  • which is the very festive gingerbread latte.

  • I'll do a Joe and try and sip all of these.

  • Actually not bad.

  • Next up, we have this one,

  • which is a caramel waffle latte.

  • Then we have this one,

  • which is a fudge brownie hot chocolate.

  • Oh.

  • Ooh, I don't like that. That's bad.

  • We also have this one, which is a toffee nut latte.

  • Are toffee or nuts particularly Christmassy?

  • I'm not really convinced.

  • It's very nutty. That is nutty.

  • Then finally we have this one,

  • which is a venti eggnog latte.

  • I think the last time I tried eggnog

  • was actually our last Christmas special,

  • and I haven't touched it since.

  • I've kind of forgotten everything about it.

  • I'll try it again.

  • No. What?

  • This isn't a British thing.

  • Do people in America actually drink eggnog?

  • If you want to get your Starbucks fix at home,

  • then UK Starbucks also offer beans.

  • These come in the form of a Christmas roast

  • and also a blond Christmas roast.

  • So, we have lots of delicious Starbucks holiday drinks,

  • such as gingerbread latte.

  • This is perfect for winter season.

  • It warms me up.

  • Not only my body, but also my heart.

  • You should definitely try this.

  • Next one: toasted white chocolate Frappuccino.

  • Hm.

  • It's a little bit sweet, but I'd say it's very good.

  • Every Santa Claus would love this.

  • We've got toasted white chocolate mocha.

  • Itadakimasu!

  • I'd say it's totally the same as this one,

  • but that means it's very good.

  • And last one,

  • we've got crème brûlée latte.

  • Ooh, it's too sweet!

  • It's too sweet!

  • We also have the three whole-coffee-bean options.

  • We've got Christmas blend

  • and Christmas blond roast

  • and Christmas espresso roast.

  • Take a look at this.

  • It says, "Christmas" ...

  • blah, blah, blah.

  • But it's not Christmassy at all.

  • Starbucks, you should make it more Christmassy,

  • just like this.

  • This.

  • This is so perfect.

  • And in the US, our holiday Starbucks drinks

  • include all of these.

  • You know what we doing.

  • First one, of course, is the venti crème brûlée latte.

  • I like crème brûlée.

  • Let's make it a latte.

  • Yeah, that's very good.

  • Toasted white chocolate mocha.

  • Holy s---.

  • That might be the best one. That's the one to beat.

  • Irish cream cold brew.

  • Whoa, first miss. Mm-mm.

  • All right, next one.

  • A sugar cookie almond milk latte, iced.

  • I think everything settled to the bottom.

  • Nope, yeah, that's OK.

  • Chestnut pralines latte.

  • Does anyone know what a pralines is?

  • I don't.

  • Well, whatever it is, it's good.

  • Yo, Starbucks is on it this year.

  • They did not have a peppermint mocha

  • at the Starbucks we went to, unfortunately,

  • but that is also available.

  • Also at Starbucks you can get the bean blends to go.

  • We have the peppermint mocha blend,

  • have the Christmas blend,

  • and the holiday blend.

  • One holiday drink to look out for in the UK

  • is the venti eggnog latte.

  • One of these contains 476 calories

  • as well as a whopping 54 grams of added sugar.

  • Please. In the US, we have three holiday drinks

  • that have 60 grams or more of added sugar.

  • The venti crème brûlée latte rocks 60 grams of added sugar,

  • while the venti peppermint mocha

  • has 68 grams of added sugar,

  • and the venti toasted white chocolate mocha

  • has 69 grams of sugar.

  • 69!

  • Careful, Santa can read your thoughts.

  • That means at least two drinks during the holiday season

  • make the fourth- and fifth-most sugary drinks

  • on the Starbucks menu.

  • Japanese Starbucks didn't tell me

  • how much sugar is in these Christmas drinks,

  • but we do have a calorie count.

  • A venti gingerbread latte has 488 calories,

  • and a venti crème brûlée latte has 497 calories,

  • and tall toasted white chocolate Frappuccino

  • is 403 calories.

  • The most calories award

  • goes to the venti toasted white chocolate mocha.

  • It has 669 calories.

  • What have you done?

  • Very good.

  • What about the food?

  • Well, in the UK, we have a bunch of new items,

  • as well as some classic favorites.

  • First up we have this one, the Festive Feast panini.

  • Next up is the 'Tis the Season turkey sandwich.

  • Two new additions include a

  • chocolate and orange s'mores toastie

  • as well as a blue cheese and chutney toastie.

  • Our last two sandwiches are a Toastie To Be Thankful For,

  • lots going on,

  • and then finally a Very Merry Beyond Meat sandwich.

  • Then we're on to some of the baked options,

  • starting with my favorite, South Pole Sam.

  • He's making a return.

  • He was in the last episode.

  • I love him. He's still my son.

  • Look at him! He's adorable! How could you eat this?

  • Come on, look at him.

  • Not only is South Pole Sam still on the menu,

  • but he's been really busy this year,

  • 'cause he's come back with a girlfriend!

  • This is North Pole Nat.

  • Maybe supposed to be a polar bear.

  • Not 100% sure.

  • So not only is it kind of a forbidden romance,

  • it's also a very long-distance relationship

  • between South Pole Sam and North Pole Nat,

  • but their love is just that strong.

  • It carries them through.

  • And I for one really hope it works out for them.

  • In less adorable but still very delicious news,

  • the Christmas tree brownie is back at Starbucks in the UK.

  • Another returning favorite is the Cranmerry muffin.

  • It's basically just a cranberry muffin

  • with I think some either icing or custard in the middle.

  • It's pretty good.

  • Then we have two new additions,

  • starting with the toffee nut latte cupcake.

  • This is a coffee-flavored cupcake

  • topped with some chopped nuts and a chocolate star.

  • And, finally, we have a red velvet loaf cake.

  • As the name suggests, it's a red velvet loaf,

  • and then it's topped with some icing

  • as well as some very festive-colored sprinkles.

  • In Japan, we have several sweet holiday options,

  • which are a cranberry bliss bar

  • and a chocolate pound cake.

  • They also have gingerbread cookies and a stollen,

  • which are currently unavailable.

  • So sad.

  • A stollen is a classic holiday bread

  • with red cranberries, green pistachios,

  • white powdered sugar, raisins,

  • almonds, walnuts, orange peels, and marzipan.

  • And also you can get a holiday cheesecake,

  • baked cheese tart, and a chocolate forest cake.

  • But online order only.

  • It's a new era.

  • It's not like grandma's cookies.

  • Here in the US, get yourself a reindeer cake pop,

  • this little guy right here.

  • Turns out he's delicious.

  • Snowman cookie.

  • Personal favorite, cranberry bliss bar.

  • Now, you can get a slice of the bar

  • or the bar tray to go.

  • And also this year they have the sugarplum cheese Danish,

  • which the Starbucks we went to did not have, unfortunately.

  • In the UK, our KFC exclusives

  • are mostly focused on the gravy.

  • First up, we've got this gravy burger box meal.

  • This comes with a gravy burger, a chicken tender to dip,

  • a side of fries, and a side of gravy.

  • If you're wondering what a gravy burger is,

  • it's basically a chicken sandwich

  • with some cheese and some gravy mayo,

  • but then it's also got this hash brown on top,

  • into which they've kind of pressed a circular divot.

  • The idea is that you pour more gravy on top of it,

  • it kind of holds it in there, so that when you bite into it,

  • you get a lot of gravy in your bite.

  • So I've poured a small amount of gravy.

  • As you can see, it's holding it nicely in place.

  • But we're not here for a small amount of gravy

  • in "Food Wars."

  • Now, that is a gravy burger.

  • If that's somehow not enough gravy for you,

  • you can also get a range

  • of gravy bucket meals from a UK KFC.

  • Firstly, you can get a double gravy bucket meal,

  • which contains six pieces of chicken, a large drink,

  • four orders of gravy, four orders of fries,

  • one order of popcorn chicken,

  • and then you can choose between either eight hot wings

  • or six boneless chicken strips.

  • If you don't want to choose between the wings or the strips,

  • you can also upgrade to a triple bucket meal,

  • which contains them both for a reasonable price

  • of 23 pounds 99 pence.

  • Also, I know that's only three orders

  • of gravy instead of four,

  • but one of them exploded in the delivery transit.

  • Now, we're guessing that the bucket meals aren't designed

  • to be eaten by one person, but the box meal definitely is.

  • One of these box meals contains 1,075 calories,

  • which is 53.75% of your daily allowance.

  • There's also 107.8% of your daily sodium in here.

  • One culprit for the high sodium might be the gravy.

  • According to KFC, one portion of the gravy

  • contains 480 milligrams of sodium,

  • which is around 20% of the total meal's value.

  • KFC is very popular in Japan around Christmastime.

  • Ever since the '70s,

  • KFC has been a part of the Christmas tradition in Japan

  • because of a popular KFC marketing campaign called

  • or Kentucky for Christmas.

  • And now it's become so normal to have KFC on Christmas.

  • And also very small percentage

  • of Japanese people are Christians.

  • So Christmas is just fun event to spend with your family,

  • or if you're dating, you spend Christmas

  • with your boyfriend or girlfriend.

  • And now, even now,

  • I'm still looking for the one

  • who can enjoy Christmas with me.

  • Message me.

  • I'm on the nice list.

  • Since KFC for Christmas is so popular,

  • KFC requires you to reserve your Christmas specials

  • weeks in advance to be picked up closer to Christmas.

  • Unfortunately, at the time of this recording,

  • the food isn't yet available.

  • I wanted to try them.

  • So, KFC offers party barrels,

  • which are either an eight-piece original chicken

  • or a four-piece original chicken

  • with four chicken tenders.

  • Both barrel meals include a minced chicken lasagna,

  • glaçage chocolate cake,

  • and seasonal buckets and plates.

  • Wow!

  • And also you can get roast chicken and gravy

  • and roasted garlic thighs

  • and chicken breast with cheese sauce

  • and barbecue chicken.

  • Oh, by the way, if you haven't watched

  • KFC episode USA versus Japan,

  • you should definitely watch, watch, watch

  • after watching this video.

  • Here in the US, KFC, for a very limited time,

  • and it totally got past me,

  • has a very slick, very cool

  • Finger Lickin' Chicken Mitten Bucket Hugger.

  • Apparently you had to preorder one

  • by, like, before November 13.

  • Anyway, it's a knitted sweater, like,

  • I don't know, Koozie for your KFC bucket.

  • It has mittens sewn into it.

  • It is hilarious.

  • Couldn't get my hands on one,

  • but if we could have someone in graphics go ahead

  • and just put it on there for me.

  • Yeah! That's what it looks like.

  • Pretty cool, huh?

  • What is available in much larger quantities

  • is this, the KFC festive-design Christmas bucket.

  • It even has a little top there.

  • That fun?

  • [crash]

  • In the UK, McDonald's is featuring

  • two sandwich options for Christmas,

  • a festive stack and also a festive crispy chicken sandwich.

  • In the UK, the festive stack contains some beef patties,

  • some cheddar cheese, a white cheese sauce,

  • some bacon, some lettuce, as well as some red onions,

  • whereas the festive crispy chicken is a crispy chicken patty

  • with some bacon, some cheddar cheese,

  • I think there's some sage and onion mayo in there,

  • as well as some cranberry sauce.

  • McDonald's in the UK has one festive side,

  • and it's these cheese melt dippers.

  • These are little disks of Camembert cheese,

  • which are then breaded and fried,

  • and they look and smell really good, I gotta say.

  • And they also come with this tangy tomato sauce,

  • which also looks pretty good.

  • I think it's just kind of like a fancy ketchup.

  • And we have two dessert options,

  • including a Celebrations McFlurry and a festive pie.

  • I'll get into a little bit more detail

  • on Celebrations later,

  • but what it is, is a selection box in the UK.

  • It's all of the kind of Mars brand candy,

  • so it's things like Snickers and Maltesers.

  • And they put little bits of them into a McFlurry,

  • and it's pretty good.

  • The festive pie is basically the apple pie shell,

  • but instead of the apple filling,

  • it comes with a mincemeat and custard filling.

  • Now, for those of you who aren't versed

  • in stunning British cuisine,

  • mincemeat is not actually beef.

  • Please don't freak out.

  • We're not putting beef and custard together.

  • That would be weird.

  • Mincemeat in the festive context refers to

  • a mixture of fruits, things like raisins,

  • little pieces of apple, and things like that,

  • which are simmered down in some sugar

  • to create a kind of sweet, fruity mixture

  • and then added to things like this or mince pies.

  • Then, finally, we have two hot drink options.

  • We have a choco fudge latte,

  • and our final seasonal McDonald's item

  • is this hot chocolate deluxe.

  • In the US, our McDonald's only has one exclusive drink,

  • the peppermint mocha, which unfortunately was not available

  • when we went to that McDonald's to get it.

  • What they did have, thankfully, is this holiday pie.

  • I don't know what's in it.

  • Mystery pie about to be solved.

  • It tastes exactly like a sugar cookie.

  • Very disappointing.

  • In the US and the UK

  • from December 13 to Christmas Eve,

  • McDonald's has partnered up

  • with the queen of Christmas music,

  • that's right, Mariah Carey,

  • for the Mariah menu.

  • Check this out. See that?

  • Starting on the 13th,

  • if you spend over $1 on the McDonald's app,

  • there will be an exclusive free menu item you can have.

  • It's nice. It's kind of like a McDonald's Advent calendar.

  • It's a pretty good idea.

  • Japan McDonald's is offering

  • two exclusive nugget dipping sauces

  • from now until next year.

  • We've got lobster and tomato cream sauce.

  • In a nutshell, this is so good.

  • It's got strong lobster flavor.

  • 10 out of 10.

  • Thank you.

  • Let's try kokuuma steak sauce.

  • So, koku means richness,

  • and uma is deliciousness.

  • And this steak sauce is a Japanese-style steak sauce

  • based on soy sauce.

  • This is so good.

  • I could eat rice with this.

  • Like, forever.

  • These new exclusive sauces, Santa Claus love them.

  • In the UK, Pizza Hut only has one festive offering,

  • and it's this one, the hog roast pizza.

  • This is topped with pulled pork, red onion,

  • a sage and onion stuffing, and an applesauce drizzle.

  • I'm really intrigued by the applesauce drizzle,

  • so I'm going to have to give this a try.

  • Honestly, I'm kind of impressed by this.

  • I thought the applesauce would ruin it,

  • 'cause I don't normally want sweet things on my pizza,

  • but, yeah, it kind of all works.

  • Hog roast pizza. Does what it says on the tin.

  • Our Pizza Hut in the US

  • is offering this very festive triple treat box.

  • Now, what this is, is a box, obviously,

  • with two medium one-topping pizzas,

  • five breadsticks, and Cinnabon mini rolls.

  • A-plus for presentation with Pizza Hut.

  • Wait a second. What?

  • Aw!

  • This is not what's on the website!

  • There was a thing that had, like, shelves and stuff!

  • Show what it looks like on the website.

  • And this is just, like, three pizza boxes.

  • I am so mad that this is what they did.

  • This is not at all what I thought this was going to be.

  • So everyone can see how disappointing this is.

  • Oh, this looks all beat up and stuff.

  • The whole point was it was supposed to be a fun box!

  • This isn't that fun! This is regular.

  • Bah humbug.

  • We have a special deal based on Pizza Hut's mascots,

  • Kazu and Mook.

  • Kazu is one of the most famous comedians in Japan,

  • and also,

  • Mook is one of the most famous characters in Japan.

  • And recently they have been appointed

  • as Pizza Hut's ambassadors.

  • And this Christmas, you can get

  • Kazu and Mook's Blissful Half and Half pizza.

  • Ta-da!

  • One half is for Kazu's favorite,

  • Camembert and mozzarella,

  • and another half is for Mook's favorite,

  • meat sauce, thick-sliced Ibérico, and margherita.

  • And also you can get a family side set with this pizza

  • that includes a chicken combo set.

  • Wow!

  • Festive.

  • In the UK, Domino's has one Christmas pizza,

  • and it's called The Festive One.

  • This one comes with sage- and onion-marinated

  • turkey breast, some bacon,

  • some sausage, and some onion.

  • Let's try it out.

  • A little bit dry maybe.

  • Maybe Domino's can redeem themselves

  • with these After Eight cookies.

  • For those of you who don't know,

  • After Eights are a chocolate and mint combination

  • which are generally kind of eaten

  • at the end of dinner parties.

  • That was the marketing back in the day.

  • Obviously we are filming this before 8 p.m.,

  • so it's not a strictly enforced rule.

  • Let's give these a try.

  • OK, yeah, these are actually really good.

  • It tastes exactly like the After Eight filling,

  • as I guess I'd expect.

  • And yeah, just a really good dark chocolate and mint cookie.

  • Our Domino's offer the Christmas premium quattro,

  • which is separated into four sections.

  • We have smoked chicken with basil sauce,

  • charcoal roast beef,

  • Italian juicy roast pork,

  • and shrimp and scallop with crab sauce.

  • For dessert, we've got a cool mille crepe.

  • This is what it looks like.

  • Hm. It's actually a huge one.

  • Not only these, but also Domino's will be offering

  • premium roast chicken soon.

  • It's gonna be festive!

  • Subway in the UK is featuring something

  • called a Tiger Pig sandwich for Christmas this year.

  • It's basically a giant pig in a blanket in a roll.

  • So, a pig in a blanket in the UK

  • is not the same as it is in the US.

  • In the UK, it is a sausage wrapped in bacon.

  • Whereas in the US, I think it's, like, a hot dog in pastry.

  • That is correct, Harry.

  • In the US, our pigs in a blanket

  • are normally tiny hot dogs wrapped in croissant dough.

  • And they're usually hors d'oeuvres

  • or what picky kids eat at holiday parties. So.

  • That looks real gross.

  • Another festive sandwich filling from a UK Subway

  • is Brie cheese.

  • And then finally we have a festive

  • dessert option at UK Subways,

  • which is a chocolate orange cookie.

  • Chocolate and orange are a really popular combination

  • around Christmastime in the UK.

  • I'm not really sure where it originated from,

  • but there's a brand called Terry's Chocolate Orange,

  • who do these kind of balls of chocolate and orange.

  • Those are super popular around Christmastime.

  • I think this is Subway's attempt

  • to kind of get in on the act there.

  • Now, one Christmas tradition we have in the UK

  • when it comes to sweets are selection boxes.

  • These are little tubs filled with small sweets,

  • usually all from one brand.

  • So, for example, you have Heroes,

  • which are owned by Cadbury,

  • or you have Celebrations, which are owned by Mars.

  • I'm not sure where the association between Christmas

  • and selection boxes started in the UK,

  • but I know it's been going on for years,

  • because I think Quality Street and Roses in particular

  • have been around for decades.

  • One last thing to check before I hand over

  • is the contents of the Quality Street tin.

  • It's become quite a divisive topic in the UK recently

  • because people feel shortchanged

  • when they don't get enough of the good ones in there.

  • I think the good ones are generally considered

  • to be, like, the purple ones, maybe the green triangles.

  • So let's count them out

  • and see how many we're actually getting.

  • So, we got four green triangles,

  • five of the orange chocolate crunch,

  • six of the caramel sticks,

  • six of the toffee pennies,

  • seven of the orange creams,

  • eight of the fudge,

  • five of the purple ones,

  • five of the milk choc blocks,

  • eight of the caramel swirls,

  • six of the coconut eclairs,

  • and seven of the strawberry delights.

  • Make of that what you will.

  • In the US, just about every candy brand

  • has a Christmassy-themed candy flavor,

  • shape, and/or package.

  • There are too many to name in this video,

  • so I just went ahead with some of the hits.

  • We got a Reese's peanut butter snowman,

  • Reese's holiday lights.

  • How do we think this is?

  • Do you think it's actually on a string?

  • It's not!

  • What?

  • What?!

  • Correct me if I'm wrong, but they're connected

  • by a string like lights, right?

  • They just gave me these!

  • They're just chocolate eggs! Thank you.

  • Reese's, you are on the naughty list.

  • Reese's peanut butter trees.

  • This is kind of like a Rorschach test.

  • What do you see?

  • I bet nobody said tree.

  • This is sooner to be my parents fighting than it is a tree,

  • as far as what I see in here.

  • Nutcracker shape. I mean, everything's suspect now.

  • OK, they actually did it.

  • Congrats, you got one right.

  • They also have white trees.

  • One exclusive is Reese's peanut butter cups, peanut brittle.

  • I just saw these at Target on the fly.

  • They got gingerbread cookie KitKats here in the US.

  • Oreos, Oreos, Oreos.

  • You can get yourself a white-fudge-covered Oreo.

  • So I guess that's supposed to be snow.

  • Gingerbread Oreos.

  • M&M's, M&M's, M&M's.

  • So, M&M's has, this year they're doing snowballs,

  • which looks to be white chocolate pretzel M&M's.

  • Pretzel M&M's are so good.

  • Before I had them, I was like, who cares?

  • They're so good.

  • And this one is just a white chocolate sugar cookie.

  • Holy s---.

  • I know it sounds stupid,

  • but it tastes exactly like a sugar cookie.

  • These are really good.

  • This caught me by surprise.

  • I'd never even heard of this. I saw it at Target.

  • I had to get it and show it to you guys.

  • Sour Patch Kids Xtreme cookie chalet.

  • Cookie house? No, sir.

  • Chalet. Look at this thing.

  • This is either delicious or terrible.

  • Either way, I love it.

  • Good call on this one, Sour Patch Kids. I love it.

  • So many other candy brands

  • are featuring various holiday specials.

  • We couldn't cover them all.

  • So a few others you might want to check out

  • are York Peppermint Patties, Dove,

  • Hershey Kisses, Blow Pops, Tootsie Rolls,

  • Rolos, Cadbury.

  • They're all doing something for Christmas.

  • There's also a few holiday sodas.

  • Two specific holiday sodas are this,

  • the Mountain Dew Gingerbread Snap'd soda,

  • and one I could not get my hands on

  • was the spiced cranberry Sprite.

  • Cranberry Sprite sounds actually pretty nice.

  • Gingerbread Mountain Dew does not.

  • It's not bad.

  • I'm not gonna lie. It's growing on me.

  • Yeah, so it's just OK.

  • My adorable kids right here.

  • Look at this.

  • A famous Japanese chocolate brand called Tirol Choco

  • has two Christmas exclusives.

  • Ooh!

  • And this one too, open it up.

  • Ooh!

  • All right, so this is Tirol Choco,

  • and it's so Christmassy.

  • Look at this.

  • How cute! You are so adorable.

  • It's got white chocolate.

  • Mm!

  • Not only white chocolate, but they've got milk chocolate,

  • strawberry chocolate, coffee chocolate,

  • and white chocolate and something else, yeah.

  • And merry Christmas for you.

  • Thank you for watching.

  • Happy holidays.

  • Christmas jokes with Harry.

  • Why did the turkey join the band?

  • He already had the drumsticks.

  • What do polar bears like to eat?

  • Iceberg-ers.

  • Who hides in the bakery at Christmas?

  • Mince spies.

  • Hello, guys. I'm George Japan.

  • Thank you for watching,

  • and I wish you all merry Christmas.

  • That's it, guys.

  • Merry Christmas.

Harry: From Croissant Stuffers to festive pizzas

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