Yoyogi Hikiniku — Restaurant in Petaling Jaya

New Japanese Hamburg with Rice Restaurant In Damansara Uptown. It’s also call Hikiniku to Kome 「挽肉と米」 means minced meat with rice in Japanese.

Yoyogi's Binchotan-infused Special Patty is made with 15 years of perfection from a humble store in Tokyo. The Yoyogi hamburg made its debut in 2016 Omulab with limited quantities. In 2023, they decided to start a speciality restaurant.

Ordered the cheapest drinks - Mugicha & turn out with surprise. It come with layer of roasted smell.

It would be abit complicated if you are looking at the menu.

They have both physical menu, QR ordering system (Beep) or order via the staff.

Basically we can choose rice, ramen or udon. The best things is, they allow to have 1 free refill.

Choose among tsukemono, onsen tamago, raw egg or fried egg.

Then Beef, Chicken, or Lamb, there is a choice to choose 1 patty, 2 or even 3 with the option of mix & match.

Then the sauce like classic binchotan, savoury yuzu kosho, umami mentaiko, creamy curry, crispy Manchu katsu, & smokey black pepper. All of them need to top up price except for classic binchotan.

There are also few type of sauce at the corner, the staff never introduce about that at all. But I find it weird to have Gochujang BBQ sauce (Korean Sauce) in a Japanese Cuisine. But it turn out a good combination with the rice.

For big eater, would suggest to order 2 patties.

The Yakitori is worth to order as it only cost from RM3.8 per stick with 5 different flavors. The portion is huge for the price point, highly recommended to order this.

For those who like corn or crispy snack, you would definitely like this.

Overall satisfy with the food but improvement needed for the service.

There is a small note placed infront of the counter to enjoy free drinks if follow their social media but none of the staff promote about it, same to the opening promotion which encourage customer to give feedback, luckily that is big enough for customer to see it.

Some of the staff don’t speak English properly, not easy to communicate.

Don’t forget to scan the QR on the receipt for 5% cash back on Beep.

Would I come back again? Yes...

The price is a bit on the higher side so for those of us on a tighter budget, it's best to save this for a time to treat yourself.

Ume Tomato Tsuke [RM8.80]

Very bright in flavor. Sharp sourness. The tomatoes are blanched with the skin removermd so it has a nice soft mouthfeel. Refreshing on a hot day.

Okinawa Kokuto Milk Tea [Rm12.80]

Kokuto is similar to gula melaka but in this drink it has a milder, maltier taste. The fragrance of the sugar is more noticeable than the tea.

Cheesy Tamagoyaki [RM12.80]

Egg was fluffy and warm and creamy. Smoky katsuobushi on top and nori inside balance the fattiness. Nice and comforting.

Hamburg Rice (raw egg) Small Size [RM25.80]

The bowl was about the size of my hand, but since it's using japanese rice that's higher in starch and it comes with quite a lot of vegetable sides, it was very filling. The patty is juicy and well cooked and the raw egg doesn't have that "fishy smell" to it at all. The patty is, however, underseasoned but I think that's intentional. If you'd like to add sourness and spice to it, I recommend eating it with the spicy pickled radish it's served with, but if you would like to add saltiness I would suggest using the japanese pickles provided at the seasonings table near the cashier. The seasonings table also offers mustard, tomato sauce, and chilli sauce to suit your tastes.

On a side note, the miso soup served with it interestingly has a VERY strong radish taste. Personally, I really like radish soup so I was pleasantly surprised but I understand it might catch some of us off guard.

Ambience

Nice, quiet and intimate. The graffiti and posters on the wall and the LED strip lights under the concrete benches make the restaurant feel like a trendy street industrial themed bar without the loud music or booze. The tables are quite small so you might not be able to enjoyably seat a party for more than 4-6. Great place for a casual but...

Subject: Feedback on Visit to Yoyogi Hikiniku - 21 Oct 2023

My husband and I visited Yoyogi Hikiniku for the second time on October 21, 2023.

During our first visit on October 3, we had a great experience and particularly enjoyed the "Beef Udon."

However, during this visit, we noticed that they had fewer items on the menu, and our favorite, the "Beef Udon," was missing.

It seemed like they had taken out several pages from the menu too.

When we asked the waiter why those dishes from the old menu were missing, he simply said they didn't have them anymore and didn't explain further.

This left us unsatisfied with the answer, so we decided to leave and went to have Vietnamese Beef Noodle in Puchong instead.

Upon returning home, we reached out to Yoyogi Hikiniku directly.

The social media administrator admitted that the unavailable dishes were actually just test dishes and that they were uncertain when or if these dishes would return to the main menu.

At present, their menu features only a limited selection of dishes. It's quite a "now you see it, now you don't" situation.

Given the limited choices available and the absence of our favorite dishes, it is unlikely that we will be returning to Yoyogi Hikiniku in the near future.

Review on 03 Oct 2023 during our first visit.

Excellent and delicious food. Everything we ordered was delicious and well-seasoned.

The service staff were very knowledgeable and efficient.

Pricing is quite reasonable, offering great value for the quality and portion sizes.

Highly recommended. Thanks, Yoyogi Hikiniku for providing us a memorable dining experience. We will...