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Finding Lawson's Secret Menu?
honestly that smell is prob just the karaage they fry up before the evening rush. Lawson's kitchen does hot snacks like that and it drifts out. not really a secret menu, tho some stores do late-night oden and fried stuff that isnt on the sign
Okubo-dori is right by the Shin-Okubo Korean town stretch, so a lot of that smell is actually the tonkatsu and jjigae spots doing late service, not the conbini. Lawson kitchens mostly just reheat, they don't really cook from scratch, so a "secret menu" isn't a thing there. If you want the actual source, walk toward Okubo station around 11pm and follow your nose to the small places on the side alleys.
the okubo area stores get a ton of kankoku fuzoku traffic late so the kitchens run way past midnight, more than a normal conbini would. i used to grab the 100 yen off karaage at the shin-okubo branch around 1am when they were clearing the warmer before restock. if its a specific smell you want, the menchi katsu at the 3-chome one near the yakiniku row is the move, they do a second fry batch around 11
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Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.