Tokyo's Hamburg Steak Rice Chain Hikiniku To Come Lands in Shanghai—After the Lines Died Down, I'm Still Voting for the Local Rival

On opening day in January, a long line formed outside the newly opened FUFU mall on Shanghai's Donghu Road, everyone waiting for a slab of charcoal-grilled meat patty served over white rice. This is Tokyo-born Hikiniku To Come's first outpost in Shanghai, and it snagged a prime street-facing spot in the mall, impossible to miss from the foot traffic outside.

Hikiniku To Come already runs over a dozen locations across Asia, having built its name on freshly ground Wagyu charcoal-grilled hamburg steak rice bowls. The Shanghai branch uses Australian Wagyu shoulder, with each patty weighing 90 grams. The standard set comes with three patties for RMB 128, or two patties for RMB 98, both including miso soup and a raw egg, with unlimited rice refills. Every patty is grilled right at the counter in front of you, so the whole process is fully visible.

Tucked in a drawer at the table is a guide to eating the dish, introducing six dipping sauces: soy sauce, salted lemon with green chili, oil-cured green chili, Xinjiang spice blend, Japanese-style pepper sauce, and fried garlic chips. Pickled cabbage and other sides are unlimited, and so is the rice, but miso soup isn't included in the refills—an extra bowl costs RMB 5. The complimentary raw egg has to be picked up yourself from a corner station, and no one tells you this. The trick: separate the egg white and use only the yolk to mix into the rice.

Restaurants built around a single item leave no room for error—with so few choices, any flaw stands out immediately. The second patty only arrives after you finish the first, leaving a noticeable gap in between. Every patty comes out well-done and on the drier side, with zero flexibility on doneness. That said, the patty itself is genuinely juicy and well-seasoned, carrying a nice hit of scallion aroma—though that does make the little tabletop grill feel pretty pointless. The rice runs a bit too wet, with some grains clumping together.

Stacked up against Roumi Dami, the scale still tips toward the local rival

Hikiniku To Come grinds its meat finer, giving the patty a fluffier texture. But compared to Roumi Dami—the homegrown brand often called a "copycat," now with over a dozen locations in Shanghai—the scale still tips toward the latter. Roumi Dami lets you pick your doneness, and ordering medium-rare gets you a patty sizzling on a hot iron plate the moment it arrives, plus unlimited soup and salad. Hikiniku To Come's charcoal aroma really does hit the mark, but overall, it doesn't quite live up to the hype.

The queuing frenzy has since died down. Going in the early part of a weekday dinner service and grabbing a number 15 minutes ahead meant almost no wait at all. The system releases numbers 30 minutes before each meal service, available either through Dianping or in person on-site—grab one in the first batch and you're pretty much guaranteed to skip the line. Seating opens for two windows, 11am and 5pm, with 12 seats per counter, and each diner takes about 30 minutes on average.