Matsuya Showcases 'Chunky Chicken Marengo-style Set Meal,' Linked to Napoleon, on Official X

On September 16, 2026, Matsuya’s official X account published a post introducing the store-limited “Chunky Chicken Marengo-style Set Meal” as the “second test-sale item this week.” The post touched on the dish’s origin, noting it’s “said to be a French flavor that Napoleon loved too,” and explained that it’s “on sale in two slightly different sauces!” — referring to the Fond de Veau and Tomato varieties.

What Is ‘Marengo-style,’ Linked to Napoleon?

The “Marengo-style” referenced in the post traces back to the classic French dish “Chicken Marengo” (Poulet Sauté Marengo). It’s said to have originated in June 1800, when Napoleon Bonaparte won the Battle of Marengo in Italy and his cook improvised a dish on the spot using chicken, tomatoes, eggs, crayfish, and other ingredients gathered locally. Garnishing the dish with a sunny-side-up egg and crayfish is known as the classic presentation.

The photo posted on the official X account also follows this classic composition. Large chunks of chicken are piled into an iron pot, coated in a thick reddish-brown sauce. A soft sunny-side-up egg sits in the center, and shrimp are added in place of crayfish. The set meal comes with rice, salad, and miso soup.

First French-style Take in 10 Years of ‘Chunky Chicken’

“Chunky Chicken” is one of Matsuya’s staple lines, with spin-off products rolled out over 10 years since the “Chunky Chicken Curry and Rice” launched in April 2016. A wide range of flavors have appeared over the years, including Butter Chicken, Tomato Curry and Rice, Teriyaki Egg, Japanese-style Tartar Sauce, and Rich Carbonara, but this marks the first time the line has taken on a French-style treatment under the “Marengo” name. The most recent spin-off was the limited-time “Neo Tomato Chunky Chicken Curry and Rice,” which appeared in June, making this the first new flavor in about three months.

Second Item in This Week’s ‘Test Sale Festival’

This post is the second item in the “Test Sale Festival” that Matsuya’s official X account has been running this week. At 10 p.m. on September 15, the account announced, “It’s another Test Sale Festival this week,” and later that same evening introduced the first item, the “Teriyaki Egg Hamburg Steak Set Meal.” The following day, September 16, this post introduced the “Chunky Chicken Marengo-style Set Meal” as the second item. Both are store-limited menu items whose sales began at 10 a.m. on September 15, with the official account introducing the test-sale items on consecutive days.

Test sales serve as trial runs ahead of potential addition to the regular menu; in the past, “Hiyajiru” and “Chicken Nanban,” announced in May, became regular menu items several months later. Both of those items ended their sales the day before this post, on September 15.

Store-Limited, Offered in Two Sauces

The menu item is sold in two sauce varieties — Fond de Veau Sauce and Tomato Sauce — at 35 stores each, for a total of 70 stores. Both versions are priced at 1,180 yen, with sales starting at 10 a.m. on September 15. The store breakdown was already provided in the September 10 launch announcement, and this post doesn’t present any new information such as store counts or pricing. The post is written in a numbered introduction format, opening with “The second test-sale item this week is…” and closing with an emoticon (╹◡╹).