It used to be that when you saw a viral Japanese restaurant pop up on your For You page, you’d have to book a flight to Tokyo to try it for yourself. Increasingly, that\u00a0is no longer the\u00a0case. Following in the footsteps of China’s F&B chains, Japanese brands have been steadily setting up shop in Singapore, bringing cult favourites like Torikizoku<\/a>, Cheese Wonder<\/a> and more to our doorstep.\u00a0<\/p>\n The newest to land on our shores is the Tokyo-born Hikiniku To Come, a hamburg steak specialist which\u00a0recently opened in VivoCity. Its name literally means “steak on rice”, and that’s exactly what you are served. In fact, there is only one\u00a0thing\u00a0you can order at the\u00a0standing\u00a0kiosk:\u00a0a signature set ($27.90), which comes with\u00a0three patties, refillable rice, miso soup, a side dish (your choice between potato salad and kimchi), and a raw egg.\u00a0<\/p>\n You are then guided to your seat, which is one among a series of 28 stools angled towards a central grilling station. All eyes are on the binchotan charcoal grill, where\u00a0each round\u00a0is shaped by hand and fired up expertly, developing a uniform sear on each side. The three\u00a0pieces are served in succession\u00a0for you to\u00a0enjoy them\u00a0at\u00a0their absolute freshest, and placed on your own personal grill, which is also kept warm by charcoal. There is also\u00a0a detailed\u00a0guide\u00a0in\u00a0your drawer\u00a0with a rundown of\u00a0all eight sauces and condiments on the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n First, try the patty on its own. It’s incredibly juicy, with each bite coating your\u00a0lips with an oily sheen. The rounds are made of 100 percent Japanese beef (albeit unspecified), finely ground with an even texture, well-seasoned, and cooked through all the way. There is\u00a0noticeably\u00a0no deep, beefy flavour, just the slightest trace of\u00a0smokiness\u00a0from the charcoal. It’s easy to wolf\u00a0it down in several bites, but take time to\u00a0savour\u00a0it over fluffy and slightly sweet Japanese pearl rice, which\u00a0pliantly absorbs\u00a0every drop of oil and juice from the meat.\u00a0<\/p>\n When you are almost done with\u00a0the first portion, the staff plates up the second serving, which is meant to go with\u00a0pickled daikon radish and a splash of ponzu vinegar. This\u00a0turns out\u00a0to be our favourite combination of the day, with the crunchy texture of the radish complementing the tenderness of the patty, and the ponzu adding a slight\u00a0hint of acidity.\u00a0Though by now, we are in dire need of a rice refill.<\/p>\n For the\u00a0third and final piece, you are encouraged to\u00a0dip\u00a0in raw egg, mixed in with a bit of soy sauce.\u00a0This is not the time to get squeamish \u2013 the yolk adds a luxurious silkiness to the meat, and with a few\u00a0shreds of soy sauce flakes, you get an even deeper, more savoury mouthful. Or, pour a bit of the egg mixture over\u00a0your rice\u00a0for a hearty tamogo kake gohan (egg over rice) moment. There are still other condiments to try \u2013 the Japanese pepper sauce and oil-marinated green chillies are lovely, but our favourite is the salted lemon green chilli sauce, which gives a zingy contrast to the intense flavours.<\/p>\n For something more unique,\u00a0reach for the Xin Jiang spice mix,\u00a0which\u00a0completely\u00a0transforms the flavour of the steak thanks to the cumin, fried garlic flakes, or plum vinegar-pickled Chinese\u00a0cabbage\u00a0as an intermission between servings. The combinations are endless. If we were to nitpick, the\u00a0heavy-handed seasoning of the patties does leave less room for sauce pairings, so don’t be surprised if you catch yourself polishing off a second or third bowl of rice \u2013 at least\u00a0they come\u00a0free.<\/p>\n With the hamburg steaks holding their own so well, the\u00a0other side dishes\u00a0become\u00a0rather unmemorable,\u00a0save for the kimchi, which is not quite kimchi in the Korean sense, but more of a fresh cabbage salad with a spicy dressing. But\u00a0we highly recommend ordering the\u00a0house-made ginger soda, which is punchy, refreshing, and just what you need to wash\u00a0down the grease and oil before reaching for another bite.<\/p>\n It’s hard not to draw a comparison between Hikiniku To Come and the recently opened Niku Niku Oh!! Kome<\/a> \u2013 now with two locations at Westgate and Resorts World Sentosa.\u00a0At $27.90,\u00a0Hikiniku’s set\u00a0is almost twice the price of Niku Niku’s basic $16.80 meal.\u00a0But this is also a more polished experience from start to finish, and\u00a0the proof is in the… patty. Hikiniku’s is juicier, more tender, evenly textured, well-seasoned, cooked through, and perfectly enjoyable on its own, without having to rely on sauces to do the heavy lifting. So if you ask us if the price jump is worth paying for, we’d say yes.<\/p>\n Note: Hikiniku To Come currently only accepts walk-ins, with a digital queue system put in place once the restaurant reaches full capacity.\u00a0As there are only 28 seats, make sure to\u00a0arrive early and be prepared to wait.<\/em><\/p>\n Hikiniku To Come is open daily from 11am to 10pm at 1\u00a0Habourfront Walk, VivoCity, #01-102\/103, Singapore 098585.<\/em><\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong><\/p>\n Niku Niku Oh!! Kome brings its sizzling hamburg steaks to Westgate \u2013 here’s our review<\/a><\/p>\n Dua Lipa named this iconic Chinatown hawker centre among her favourite places to eat in the world<\/a><\/p>\n Skyline views and chicken rice paella: Inside Singapore’s newest rooftop restaurant at the National Gallery<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It used to be that when you saw a viral Japanese restaurant pop up on your For You page, you’d have to book a flight…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Hikiniku](\"https:\/\/media.timeout.com\/images\/106412959\/image.webp\")
\n<\/figure>\n![\"Hikiniku](\"https:\/\/media.timeout.com\/images\/106412960\/image.webp\")
\n<\/figure>\n![\"Hikiniku](\"https:\/\/media.timeout.com\/images\/106412957\/image.webp\")
\n<\/figure>\n![\"Hikiniku](\"https:\/\/media.timeout.com\/images\/106412958\/image.webp\")
\n<\/figure>\nTime Out’s rating: 5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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