Henry's Burger

🍔 Hamburger / 📍 Daikanyama/Jiyugaoka/Harajuku

📓 Visits: 3

I've never got why Henry's Burger is so popular.  Is it because the burgers are wagyu?  Is it because the founder runs a (highly rated) yakiniku restaurant and uses the same supply chain for the meat?  Is it down to good PR?  Whatever the reason, I've never understood it.  Why not?  Gristle.  One visit way back when was enough for me to never go again.  That was until the new Harajuku branch (which is the largest) of Henry's opened in June 2024 and gave me a chance to see if I was wrong, without having to wait in line, even on the weekend.  Well, I wasn't.

Same problem.  Why would anyone want to eat that?

There are many places that sell burgers made from Japanese beef and most of them are not particularly special.  The quality of the meat, the cut, the quantity of fat, the seasoning and most of all the cooking are all much more important than the origin of the cow.  If you're the founder, though, it's a terrific idea: use all the meat that's not good enough for the yakiniku restaurant and sell some burgers from it.

But I wasn't quite done with Henry's yet.  While they introduced a second type of burger in April 2023 (the Waton, or pork burger) most people go for what was originally the only item on the menu, the Wagyu.  But they have another kind of burger that isn't on the menu: the Harami (or skirt steak) Burger.  Sometimes you want a steak and sometimes you want a burger, well now you can have both.  The Harami Burger contains about 100 grams of meat.  The bun is the same.  The sauce is different.

Out of the grey and (after about 10 minutes' wait) into the light it arrives.  The meat was perfectly cooked: a char on the outside, soft on the inside, massive beef flavour and zero gristle.  The sauce is slightly different from the standard Henry's sauce, a perfect combination of cream, acidity and heat.  I couldn't believe the bun was the same as what I had in a normal Henry's burger a few weeks earlier.  Can only put it down to the toasting skill of the chef (who confirmed it's a "normal" bun).

It comes as a set with sweet potato 'fries' and a bottle of Fiji water.  I'm not a fan of sweet potato and excuse me if "artesian water" doesn't enhance my life.  So you might want to ask for a tanpin, or single item, when you book (and you need to book) and place an extra order of normal fries on the day (which are actually very good here).

After a poor second experience at Burger Police, I thought Aldebaran had kept the best burger in Tokyo crown, but the Harami Burger at Henry's is up there.  It's meaningless to give the restaurant a single score.  The wagyu burger I'd rate 2.3.  The harami burger is 5.0.  Credit to Eric Yu for introducing this to me, otherwise I'd have never known.  Will definitely be returning.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130303/13190156/ (Daikanyama)
📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1306/A130601/13297491/ (Harajuku)
📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1317/A131703/13266738/ (Jiyugaoka)

📱 Booking: 🟩 The Harami Burger must be reserved in advance and is only available at the Jiyugaoka branch for now (will be available at the Harajuku branch in the future).  The easiest way to reserve it is via DM.  Send them your name, phone number, preferred date, approximate arrival time and quantity required.  I recommend making your request a week to a few days in advance as they don't have staff available everyday who can cook it.  Also note that reserving the food doesn't reserve you a table.  It's a small restaurant with only a few seats (more on the terrace upstairs) so you may still have to wait to be seated, depending on when you arrive.  I made the request in Japanese but you can try English.

📅 Visit July 2024

Harami Burger set

💴 Damage: 3,810
⏱️ Time taken: 25m

📅 Visit June 2024

Wagyu Burger S 1,130
French Fries 480

💴 Damage: 1,610
⏱️ Time taken: 20m