Train-station-attached convenience store brand Newdays often seems more functional than flashy. The brand serves as transit company JR East's effort at a konbini, and while it is a frequent sight to those riding the rails it also never gets mentioned in any discussions with the "big three." Somewhat ironically, it is so convenient as to actually be overlooked.
Yet take a peak at what Newdays get up to and you'll find some special wrinkles...plus horrifying ideas. Both come together in the current "Haitoku Fair" ("Sinful Fair") which promises unholy combinations of foods that allegedly taste good, running until July 6. Not all these concoctions are as intimidating as others (a "bacon and double cheese pasta" and "spicy pork and potato salad sandwich" sound delicious, not devilish), but others like what amounts to tonkotsu ramen stuffed into an onigiri or a "triple meat" sandwich offer something more dizzying.
Look, I should have tried the aji fry rice ball, which takes an onigiri only to slap cheese, tartar sauce and an entire fried piece of fish on top of it. That's the eye-catcher of the bunch...but honestly, that seems disgusting to me, and even a glutton for convenient punishment like me has limits.
So instead I got the pastrami sandwich joined by "spicy" taco meat, and macaroni and cheese. Visually, a lot to take in, but really nothing crazier than the already standard carb-on-carb madness that is yakisoba bread. Individually, the elements here taste fine, though there's something always a little off about convenience store stabs at taco taste and cold mac 'n' cheese. Together though, it's just too all over the place, like combining a week's worth of leftovers between two pieces of bread. Hope your next train ride is a really long one to let this digest.
