Little nugget has been grounded for the past two weeks in preparation for his upcoming exams. While I enjoyed the quietness of not being bothered by him, I do feel for him and all the kids in Hong Kong facing the pressures associated with examinations. Those tiger parents certainly make things difficult.
As a good dad, I decided to give him a break from his studies. With that in mind, I booked a few seats at Hikiniku to come (挽肉と米) for lunch this Sunday. It's been a few years since Hikiniku to come landed in Hong Kong from Fukuoka, yet the hype shows no signs of fading. In fact, we noticed a small lineup outside the restaurant both before and after our meal.
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We were seated at the far end of the bar, right in front of the chefs as they skillfully shaped and grilled the beef patties over charcoal.
They’re currently running a promotion featuring Tokachi beef (十勝牛) at their Harbour City (海港城) outpost. All of their beef patties are made with prized Tokachi wagyu beef from Hokkaido so I was eager to see if they are as good as advertised.
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First — I have been here before so I knew the drill. While I was trying to give little guy a prep talk about our beef patties, the first of our three patties were already on deck.
We were supposed to enjoy the first patty without any sauce or condiments, but I totally missed that instruction. Instead, I decided to mix in an egg yolk (each guest can get one from the front) with some homemade soy sauce and rub it onto my patty.
This turned out well, although I thought I would have enjoyed it even more with a sweeter soy sauce to balance out the savory flavors. Nonetheless, it was a nice start.
Second — For our second patty, we were offered some grated radish and a jar of homemade ponzu vinegar.
This provided a refreshing change of pace, allowing the exquisite taste of the Wagyu beef to shine through with a pleasant acidity.
Three — By the time the third patty arrived, we were supposed to utilize our only egg, but it had already been mistakenly used with our first patty. So, we all got creative by mixing and matching our patty with the condiments. There were green chili, Japanese pepper sauce, fried garlic, and more inside the container.
I simply enjoyed my patty with the pepper sauce, which added a bit of smokiness and a flavor profile reminiscent of shiso. By this point, before I started munching on my third patty, I was already feeling a little stuffed.
The whole meal took just under an hour. Little Nugget seemed to enjoy the experience and even vowed to return for another visit. We’ll see if he adds this restaurant to his selective list of favorites, which already includes No Milk No Life ML, Yakitori Tsukada (燒鳥塚田), and a couple of others that I can’t quite remember.
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 3203-4 & 3204A, 3/F, Gateway Arcade, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2682-9868
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily
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