Hamburger recommendations (2019 onwards)
Feb 3, 2019, 4:59 am
#46
Join Date: Sep 2009
Programs: UA GS>1K>Nothing; DL DM 2MM; AS 75K>Nothing>MVP
Posts: 9,341
Henry's Akihabara
Made a quick trip to Yuzawa for a few hours of skiing before heading to Henry's for lunch. No breakfast and 3 hours of vigorous exercise in the cold mountain air has a profound effect on your taste buds (I learned to love natto this way) so take anything I say here with a grain of salt.
Skipping to the punch line. Very good burger. First burger joint I've been to in this series, where I'd bother to go back.
In detail...
Bun - Slightly buttered and lightly toasted face down on the griddle. Strictly speaking butter is a bit of a no no on burgers, but I'm always a sucker for anything with butter on it (it's the main reason I eat baked potatoes, pancakes and lobster) so no complaints here. Best bun I've had by far.
Lettuce - Leaf lettuce (not iceberg.) This plant does not belong anywhere near a hamburg. Boo.
Tomato - Excellent. Nice bite. Firm. Good flavor and not runny.
Sauce - Me ordering...."What? You put sauce on your hamburgers? Are you kidding? Get me out of here." Well I was really hungry so I capitulated, and you know what? The sauce was really good. Not sure, but I'm guessing.... ketchup, mayo, pickles, onion and a little mustard. Mayo and mustard are not approved condiments for a burger, but they got it just right so they get a pass.
Cheese - At Henry's the cheese seems to come standard. Cheddar. Single slice. Not overpowering and just the right size for the patty. A+ on the cheese.
Meat - The patty was a little small for my taste, but I think you could easily do a double burger here without wrecking the architectural proportions. Flavor was outstanding. The only thing is that I think a fatter patty with a little pink inside would have been even better.
Why this wasn't a perfect burger.....
There are four essential elements that put the hamburger near the pinnacle of human culinary achievement. I've already talked about architectural beauty. The second element which I mentioned briefly before is textural harmony. The soft fluffy caress of the body of the bun, the subtle crunch of the toasted bun faces, the crisp tingle of the lettuce, the firm bite of the tomato, the delicate friability of raw onion. the supple snap of a delicious dill, the subliminal viscosity of ketchup, and the soft melt of the perfect patty on your palette. Limp (leaf/butterhead lettuce) and gooey (sauce) are dissonant textural notes that disrupt this beautiful harmony. Were it not for this, the Henry burger would be close to perfect. And while we are on the topic, slippery/slimy (think cooked onions) on a hamburger is the culinary equivalent of flatulence from the conductor during a quiet passage in a symphony.
Other
Service - Friendly, personal and businesslike.... perfect for a burger joint.
Ambience - comfortable but spartan. Walking up to the third floor after morning of skiing was little rough though.
French fries - I like them a little thicker but they were perfectly fried.
Onion rings - Again perfectly fried. Very nice tasting batter. Not oversized (as seems to be the fashion these days.)
Couldn't find any napkins.
Heinz ketchup in foil packets - Really?
Burger 8/10
Restaurant Overall 6/10
Made a quick trip to Yuzawa for a few hours of skiing before heading to Henry's for lunch. No breakfast and 3 hours of vigorous exercise in the cold mountain air has a profound effect on your taste buds (I learned to love natto this way) so take anything I say here with a grain of salt.
Skipping to the punch line. Very good burger. First burger joint I've been to in this series, where I'd bother to go back.
In detail...
Bun - Slightly buttered and lightly toasted face down on the griddle. Strictly speaking butter is a bit of a no no on burgers, but I'm always a sucker for anything with butter on it (it's the main reason I eat baked potatoes, pancakes and lobster) so no complaints here. Best bun I've had by far.
Lettuce - Leaf lettuce (not iceberg.) This plant does not belong anywhere near a hamburg. Boo.
Tomato - Excellent. Nice bite. Firm. Good flavor and not runny.
Sauce - Me ordering...."What? You put sauce on your hamburgers? Are you kidding? Get me out of here." Well I was really hungry so I capitulated, and you know what? The sauce was really good. Not sure, but I'm guessing.... ketchup, mayo, pickles, onion and a little mustard. Mayo and mustard are not approved condiments for a burger, but they got it just right so they get a pass.
Cheese - At Henry's the cheese seems to come standard. Cheddar. Single slice. Not overpowering and just the right size for the patty. A+ on the cheese.
Meat - The patty was a little small for my taste, but I think you could easily do a double burger here without wrecking the architectural proportions. Flavor was outstanding. The only thing is that I think a fatter patty with a little pink inside would have been even better.
Why this wasn't a perfect burger.....
There are four essential elements that put the hamburger near the pinnacle of human culinary achievement. I've already talked about architectural beauty. The second element which I mentioned briefly before is textural harmony. The soft fluffy caress of the body of the bun, the subtle crunch of the toasted bun faces, the crisp tingle of the lettuce, the firm bite of the tomato, the delicate friability of raw onion. the supple snap of a delicious dill, the subliminal viscosity of ketchup, and the soft melt of the perfect patty on your palette. Limp (leaf/butterhead lettuce) and gooey (sauce) are dissonant textural notes that disrupt this beautiful harmony. Were it not for this, the Henry burger would be close to perfect. And while we are on the topic, slippery/slimy (think cooked onions) on a hamburger is the culinary equivalent of flatulence from the conductor during a quiet passage in a symphony.
Other
Service - Friendly, personal and businesslike.... perfect for a burger joint.
Ambience - comfortable but spartan. Walking up to the third floor after morning of skiing was little rough though.
French fries - I like them a little thicker but they were perfectly fried.
Onion rings - Again perfectly fried. Very nice tasting batter. Not oversized (as seems to be the fashion these days.)
Couldn't find any napkins.
Heinz ketchup in foil packets - Really?
Burger 8/10
Restaurant Overall 6/10
Last edited by 5khours; Feb 3, 2019 at 5:08 am
Feb 3, 2019, 3:28 pm
#48
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Hilton, Hyatt House, Del Taco
Posts: 5,378
Henry's Akihabara
Made a quick trip to Yuzawa for a few hours of skiing before heading to Henry's for lunch. No breakfast and 3 hours of vigorous exercise in the cold mountain air has a profound effect on your taste buds (I learned to love natto this way) so take anything I say here with a grain of salt.
Made a quick trip to Yuzawa for a few hours of skiing before heading to Henry's for lunch. No breakfast and 3 hours of vigorous exercise in the cold mountain air has a profound effect on your taste buds (I learned to love natto this way) so take anything I say here with a grain of salt.
That's awesome.
Feb 3, 2019, 10:42 pm
#49
Join Date: Sep 2009
Programs: UA GS>1K>Nothing; DL DM 2MM; AS 75K>Nothing>MVP
Posts: 9,341
Feb 3, 2019, 10:48 pm
#50
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Hilton, Hyatt House, Del Taco
Posts: 5,378
Wish I had a job that would let me go skiing during the week.
Feb 3, 2019, 11:20 pm
#51
Join Date: Sep 2009
Programs: UA GS>1K>Nothing; DL DM 2MM; AS 75K>Nothing>MVP
Posts: 9,341
That's really awesome. Tokyo is so wonderful to have skiing available within 90min from the city center. And thanks for the invite, although the problem is I live in US and my schedule's usually jampacked during all my short little trips to Jpn.
Wish I had a job that would let me go skiing during the week.
Wish I had a job that would let me go skiing during the week.
Feb 15, 2019, 11:23 pm
#56
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: 1A
Programs: UA GS, NH Diamond, Hyatt Lifetime Globalist (formerly Courtesy Card sadly), Amanjunkie, CLEAR
Posts: 3,713
I just waited over 1.5 hours in line at Fellows thanks to the above recommendation. Huge mistake coming on a weekend. I’ve never seen more inefficient service - even in Japan. Hope it’s worth it. A real nice kick in the ... how they force you to order a drink too. :-)
Feb 16, 2019, 11:07 pm
#58
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Tokyo, Japan (or Vienna whenever possible)
Posts: 6,379
I just waited over 1.5 hours in line at Fellows thanks to the above recommendation. Huge mistake coming on a weekend. I’ve never seen more inefficient service - even in Japan. Hope it’s worth it. A real nice kick in the ... how they force you to order a drink too. :-)
Feb 16, 2019, 11:27 pm
#59
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: 1A
Programs: UA GS, NH Diamond, Hyatt Lifetime Globalist (formerly Courtesy Card sadly), Amanjunkie, CLEAR
Posts: 3,713
Indeed. *I* was. That doesn’t impact the other half... logic doesn’t play a role there, ya know?
Japanese clearly have an amazing patience and tolerance of lines and waiting around. Something I could definitely learn from.
Nevertheless, was enjoyable! The poor older woman running the place looked frazzled and apologetic. Call me crazy though, I still DO love the Shake Shack patties just as much. The rest of the burger at SS, however, leaves something to be desired. Fellows was good but I think I’ll take mjm’s advice next time.
Got a kick out of the extra raw onions I asked for which flabbergasted the hostess, was charged for (of course) and was more than half an onion. Unfortunately they didn’t wash the onion slices like most places do in Japan. I smelled like high holy onion for 24 hours. Lol.
BTW, what’s up with 6 fries?
Japanese clearly have an amazing patience and tolerance of lines and waiting around. Something I could definitely learn from.
Nevertheless, was enjoyable! The poor older woman running the place looked frazzled and apologetic. Call me crazy though, I still DO love the Shake Shack patties just as much. The rest of the burger at SS, however, leaves something to be desired. Fellows was good but I think I’ll take mjm’s advice next time.
Got a kick out of the extra raw onions I asked for which flabbergasted the hostess, was charged for (of course) and was more than half an onion. Unfortunately they didn’t wash the onion slices like most places do in Japan. I smelled like high holy onion for 24 hours. Lol.
BTW, what’s up with 6 fries?
Feb 16, 2019, 11:59 pm
#60
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: 1A
Programs: UA GS, NH Diamond, Hyatt Lifetime Globalist (formerly Courtesy Card sadly), Amanjunkie, CLEAR
Posts: 3,713
Exactly. I routinely pull all nighters and work 7 days a week as well. My choice. No regrets.
To get back on topic, any good burger places open in the middle of the night? Seems good ramen and what not IS available. How about a burger or sammy?
To get back on topic, any good burger places open in the middle of the night? Seems good ramen and what not IS available. How about a burger or sammy?