I tried Japan’s cheap but yummy convenience store egg sandwiches at 3 chains

The egg sando, or tamago sando, isn’t just your plain old sandwich. The Japanese milk bread hits different, the mayonnaise is light, and the savory texture of the egg salad makes for a great, creamy filling.

For a quick bite on the go, you’d be hard pressed to find a better option. In terms of price, all three chains sell their sandwiches at just under 300 Japanese yen, or around $1.85.

Maybe I was hungrier than usual — I’d grabbed the Lawson sandwich as a to-go meal to munch on outside the Tokyo Dome, while waiting for the Seventeen concert to start. Or maybe the sandwich was just that good.

“Pillows of love,” Bourdain called these sandwiches. And he was right — the Lawson egg sandwich was perfection in plastic wrap.

The shokupan was soft, milky, and just sweet enough without being cloying. And the egg, even an hour out of the cooler, was absurdly tasty.

Family Mart, in my opinion, has the best chicken cutlets among the Japanese konbini stores — another debate, for another time. This time, I had to evaluate the merits of the egg sando as a standalone.

I found Family Mart’s bread a little thinner and dryer than the 7-Eleven and Lawson options. The egg mayonnaise, however, was savory and delectable.

Where the Family Mart sandwich lost out in the bread wars, 7-Eleven’s lost in the egg fight. I had not one, but three 7-Eleven sandwiches during my weeklong trip in Tokyo, mostly because my hotel was next to an outlet.

The bread was great: spongy, perfectly cut, and still at a perfect consistency even when consumed as a late-night snack — but the eggs were not as hearty as its competitors’ offerings.

My friend disagreed: 7-Eleven is her favorite, and its lighter, less-salty eggs were far more appealing to her.

Lawson took top billing, with Family Mart and 7-Eleven tied for second.

I don’t recommend that you eat egg sandos for every meal in Japan — because, come on, you’re in Japan. I’ve had some great lunches and dinners in the country: a kaisendon on Enoshima Island with a view of Mt. Fuji; wagyu chuck flap tail on the grill; omakase and shabu-shabu at TikTok-viral locales that we had to book months in advance.

But some of my best memories of traveling in Japan have involved me, my friends, and our egg sandos — eaten, with gusto, during 6 a.m. Shinkansen rides, or at post-karaoke supper.