Hikiniku to come

⚠️ Since July 2023 all seats for the Shibuya branch only need to be reserved in advance via TableCheck.  Check the TableCheck page for details on booking periods and policies.  Additional same-day seats may be released via TableCheck at 9am on the day.  If these will be made available they will be announced on their Twitter feed (in Japanese) just before 9am.  After 11am, if more seats become available on the day they can be reserved in-person (see Twitter again for updates).  Prices have also increased at the Shibuya branch since October 2023: JPY 1,800 for the set and 550 yen for extra burgers.  Note that even once you have a 'reservation' you may still need to queue a little on the day.  Reservations at the Kichijoji branch are still done in-person.

Hikiniku to come (挽肉と米)

⭐⭐⭐

Hamburg / 📍 Kichijoji/Shibuya

📓 Visits: 3 (1 Kichijoji, 2 Shibuya)

In the original version of this post in January 2021 I said:

I wouldn't be surprised to see another branch of Hikiniku to come popping up somewhere else in the future.  There aren't many more scalable restaurant concepts than this: it's a no choice menu, they only have to buy two main ingredients and cooking is simple.  Hopefully that will be somewhere closer to home.

Well as of Monday, 22nd March 2021 a second branch opened in Shibuya!  This review combines my visits at both branches.

The usual romanization of  挽肉と米 is hikiniku to kome, meaning minced meat and rice.  You'd be forgiven for not being aware of that and thinking the "to come" is as in "to come and go" (or something else) and mispronouncing it accordingly.  Only one set is served here: three 90g beef burgers (grilled in front of you and served one at a time), rice and miso soup.  Refills of rice are free but extra miso soup is charged at 100 yen.  Until the Shibuya branch opened the set was priced at JPY 1,300 with extra burgers charged at 380 yen but from then the set is now JPY 1,500 with extra burgers charged at 400 yen.

Hikiniku to come is very popular and uses a ticket-based reservation system.  Tickets for lunch and dinner are distributed from 9am each day.  On my visit to the Kichijoji branch I turned up at 9:10 on a weekday in January and the next available slot was 11:40.  When I turned up at 11:40 the next available slot was 13:20.  By 13:45 all slots for lunch (which ends at 3pm) were taken and all slots for dinner by 16:20.  On my visit to the Shibuya branch on the fourth day of opening I turned up at 08:50 and there were already about 60 people in the queue.  I got my ticket at 09:17 to dine at 11:50 (the two people in front of me got the last tickets for 11:15).  By 09:30 the queue had disappeared.  On my most recent visit to the Shibuya branch I came at 09:55, there was no queue and I could choose any slot for dinner.  You'll be asked to come back to the restaurant about 5 minutes before your reservation time and told they'll call your name when they're ready to seat you.  When you return it can be a bit confusing as to whether or not any queue is for people with or without tickets and or whether or not you should go into the restaurant if there are no staff outside.  I just tend to go to the front of the queue or walk in and then follow directions.  You might have to wait 10 minutes or so again for the staff to guide you in and purchase your meal ticket.

If you can't get there early the best way to get a sense of how busy they are is to check their Twitter feed (Kichijoji, Shibuya) as they tweet a few times a day on the availability of tickets.  Staff are friendly though no English is spoken and there's no English menu.  Some Japanese will help when making your reservation and understanding the system.  Children are accepted but I don't think it's child-friendly and you'll be charged 500 yen for a rice and miso soup set per child.  Seating is cramped and at the Shibuya branch the floor is uneven and the stools are very small.

Both the meat (100% Japanese beef) and rice were very good quality and had good flavour.  The patties were not too fatty and there was only a tiny amount of gristle.  There are a number of (pretty spicy) condiments you can have with your meal and you can take one raw egg per meal.  There could be gaps between the serving of burgers so just shout 'okawari' if you want to speed things up.  The Shibuya branch is more spacious and seems to have better ventilation so there was much less of a whiff of grilled meat on my clothes compared with when I went to the Kichijoji branch.  You can keep your coat in a cupboard (an actual cupboard) away from any fumes.

The back and forth with the ticket system might be a bit off-putting but at least instead of having a long wait in the cold/rain/humidity, as is usually the case at no-reservation restaurants, you can spend the wait time doing something else.  If you're visiting the Kichijoji branch you could queue up for cakes for dessert from the even more fabulous a tes souhaits not far away.  Shops don't really open before 10 or 11 in Japan so if you're stuck for something to do early morning you can take a stroll in the lovely Inokashira Park or have a coffee and use the free WiFi in the nearby branch of the excellent City Bakery if you're more sedentary.  Lots more options in Shibuya.

Hikiniku to come is starting to be copied and one of those is Arabikidaze, not far away in Ebisu (review here).

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1320/A132001/13246332/ (Kichijoji)

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130301/13257261/ (Shibuya)

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.8

📱 Booking: A limited number of seats can be reserved at the Shibuya branch now but you have to pay for the seat reservations.  Otherwise, no bookings - see above.

📍 Location:

     Kichijoji: 2-8-3 Kichijoji Honcho.  Just around the corner from the Tokyu department store.  Dedicated street-facing entrance.  5 minutes walk from Kichijoji station, North Exit

    Shibuya: 3F Shiizu Bldg, 2-28-1 Shibuya.  Dogenzaka alley, up the stairs, opposite the 200 yen coin lockers and the Strawberry Jam men's entertainment 'premises'.  Dedicated street-facing entrance.  1 minute walk from the A0 Exit of Shibuya metro.

Map data ©2021 Google

📅 Visit October 2021

💴 Damage: 1,500 (cards now taken)
⏱️ Time taken: 30m (eating)

📅 Visit March 2021

💴 Damage: 1,500 (cash only)
⏱️ Time taken: 20m (eating)

📅 Visit January 2021

💴 Damage: 1,300 (cash only)
⏱️ Time taken: 30m (eating)