Riki Hanten 力飯店 (Fukuoka, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

Tonight was the last chance to get ourselves some grilled meat before leaving Tenjin. I wounded up picking one of the best yakiniku restaurant to splurge at. Rated 3.71 in Tabelog and a "Top 100 choice for grilled meat" (百名店) in the nation last year, Riki Hanten (力飯店) is one of the top ranked yakiniku specialty restaurant in the city and not surprisingly, one of the hardest booking to get during our stay.

There are counter tables, normal dining tables and private rooms available at this highly coveted yakiniku restaurant.

In order to give ourselves some privacy, I have booked a private room online for a few extra bucks.

We were first started off with some small appetizers. Slices of bitter melon, sweet corn and bean sprouts.

It was accompanied by a Caesar salad. Little nugget thought the salad dressing was a little over the top but I thought it was right on the money with just enough acidity.

At this point, we were given an assortment of salt for the grilled meat. No soy.

And of course some glistening fat to oil the grill in preparation for the meats.

It was also time for our first batch of meat to take center stage.

Getting our grill ready......💥

We went with the omakase set (13,000yen) which consisted of 6 to 7 different cuts of beef to kick off the meal. First up, we had the tenderloin which had been thin-sliced, followed by the hip and stomach parts.

The tenderloin was very lean without much fat but very tender and flavorful.

The striploin was a bit disappointing. Lean and meaty but perhaps too meaty.

But I like the ones with thick cuts a little more and this cut they called "Top Round" was perfect as it came with alternating layers of meat and fat (the way it tasted like), almost like succulent pork belly. 

We ordered a bibimbap (or mixed rice) to go with the grilled meat.

This was less spicy than the Korean version of bibimbap.

After finishing the 7 cuts of beef, we were offered some homemade meatballs. 

These were marinated with a homemade sauce not too different from a typical teriyaki sauce. I have to admit, I did a pretty good job with these, leaving some nice charred marks for a crunchy outside and moist juicy middle.

Our next round of beef consisting of different cuts has been marinated with sesame oil, garlic and salt.

The cuts were more or less similar to the first round, with tenderloin, hip and striploin. Not bad.

Little one seemed to like this round a little more.

Our server kept reminding us to tell him when to stop feeding us with more meat! Since it was already getting late (and we had to leave Tenjin early tomorrow morning), I rang the bell signaling the end of the night for us, following two hours of non-stop action.

It was a very interesting yakiniku experience for me tonight because for the first time, we were not having fatty, well-marbled Japanese wagyu beef. What Riki Hanten offers was premium, super lean red meat which was rich in meat flavor. This felt a little more healthy from a typical yakiniku dinner but if I had to choose all over again, would I go for a traditional yakiniku serving wagyu beef? I think I will because simply put, lean beef is not for everyone.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: ￥￥￥￥

Address: 12-21 Nishinakasu, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka, 810-0004 Japan

Tel: +81 (0)50 5595-9929

Opening Hours: 5:00pm - 12:00am (Mon - Sat), 5:00pm - 11:00pm (Sun)