If you're looking to enjoy a filling, flavorful meal that encompasses nearly the entire food pyramid, it's not hard to think immediately of hibachi dinners.
In a traditional American Japanese steakhouse, the meal is as much about the theater and performance of your cook as it is the massive portions of food, but if you're looking to enjoy that meal for a more affordable price and less pomp & circumstance, take out hibachi restaurants are the place to go.
(Technically, the flat griddle style of preparation is teppanyaki and hibachi is an open grate style of cooking, but colloquially this type of food - meat, fried rice, vegetables, delicious sauce - is known as hibachi so that's what I'm going to call it. Comment below and let me know if I'm wrong, because I often am.)
There are a few take out hibachi restaraunts locally: Hibachi Factory, Yummy Yummy Teriyaki Express, Shono's, and Fuji are examples you're probably aware of.
But, last summer or so, a new spot opened up close to the University in Fort Sanders, Hungry Sumo Hibachi House.
Being a lover of umami, I had to try it out.
The Menu and Restaurant
The restaurant is small, clearly geared toward take out and I imagine they do a lot of Doordash/Uber Eats type sales.
The menu offers quite a few appetizers, as well as Curry Katsu, Noodles, Ramen, and our delicious teriyaki hibachi meals.
On top of that, there is a vast selection of fruit and boba tea options.
Of course, it is debatable whether or not this qualifies as "affordable," as I imagine many of you remember buying a hibachi takeout meal for like $5 in the before times, but these prices are not far off from the significantly lower quality Hibachi Factory menu.
The Meal
I went with teriyaki chicken and, on recommendation of the friendly staff, a white peach fruit tea.
The portions are large and the meal includes a generous serving of that delicious Yum Yum Sauce. I don't care that it's mostly mayonnaise, I love it and you can't take it away from me.
To start, the tea was absolutely incredible and flavorful, and not too sweet. Refreshing, I can't wait to try the other flavors.
For the main attraction, I started with the vegetables and I immediately tasted the difference vs competitors like Hibachi Factory. The vegetables were fresh, perfectly cooked, and teaming with flavor.
The chicken was cut into good sized pieces with just enough teriyaki. Dip that into the yum yum sauce. Delicious.
At this point I had not even tasted the rice, but I was getting full. Yes, I probably could have made two meals out of this.
Onto the fried rice, it was perfectly prepared and cooked - not too dry, not too moist - and it was even better drenched in yum yum sauce. I'll admit I have no class.
Conclusion
The food was absolutely incredible, I will be back. Next time I want to try the katsu dishes and maybe an appetizer.
I ended up spending $18.50 on this meal and tea before tax and tip, you can decide if that's worth it to you or not, but it was worth the price for me.
Basically, if you want some tasty hibachi, order from Hungry Sumo Hibachi House.
They're located in Fort Sanders at 609 James Agee St, close to the University, and I imagine James Agee would be proud.
댓글