Fire up your appetite for Japanese 'hambagu' cooked over a charcoal grill at Taman Gembira's Tama Tama Sukiyaki House

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 11 — Watching food being cooked on a hot grill is like sitting at the front row of the best show.

If that is what you crave for, book yourself a seat at Tama Tama Sukiyaki House.

The spotlight here is on hambagu or the Japanese hamburg.

Usually served in yoshoku or Japanese Western eateries, it's in essence a Salisbury Steak, fashioned from a mixture of minced meat, onions and bread crumbs. What makes it unique is the texture as it's melting tender and eaten with rice. Usually it's served with a sauce or toppings like grated daikon mixed with soy sauce.

In Japan, a restaurant called Hikiniku to Come is changing the way hamburgs are eaten.

The patties are cooked over a charcoal grill and they test the temperature to ensure it's cooked.

You get your personal charcoal grill with the hamburg to keep it warm.

People jostle for a seat at the restaurant in Tokyo to watch the hamburg patties being shaped and cooked over a charcoal grill. There's only one item on their menu: A set with three hamburg patties, rice with unlimited refills, miso soup, one raw egg, grated white radish with ponzu sauce and condiments available at the table.

Tama Tama Sukiyaki House was inspired by that concept, hence the owner who resided in Japan for more than 20 years, brought the fun of eating hamburg to the Klang Valley.

Here, you get more choices of hamburg to cater to a wider audience. There's beef, pork, chicken and a mix of beef and pork.

If you feel like splurging, there's hamburg made with Australian Wagyu or Japanese Miyazaki Wagyu.

Even vegetarians can enjoy the hamburg too as they offer a meat-free version. There's a choice of two patties or three patties. Each patty weighs 80 grams.

The meat is juicy inside and makes a good pairing with rice.

The rice is cooked in a 'kamameshi' or an iron pot and served piping hot for you (left). You can add on an egg yolk to the rice (right).

For those who prefer a quick meal, they also offer rice bowls like Butadon and Gyudon. There's also Wagyu steak where they serve a 100 grams portion.

At night, they offer Zaruyaki chicken, where you can select which part of the bird you want. Zaruyaki refers to a special type of yakitori from Kyushu's Miyazaki region.

At Tama Tama, they prepare their own style of Zaruyaki. Whether it's the conventional chicken thigh or the bishop's nose, gizzards or cartilage, they have you covered.

The focal point of the eatery is the charcoal grill stations. You sit surrounding the stations to view how your hamburg is prepared. This means showtime!

Firstly, the pre-prepared mixture is shaped upon order and placed over hot charcoal to grill. A keen eye is needed to monitor the patties so they aren't overcooked.

Select from condiments like miso, pickled Japanese chilli with oil and BBQ sauce.

You also have fried shallots, dried chillies and 'togarashi' powder for you to pair with your hamburg.

There's also a lot of flipping action to ensure each part of the patty is cooked properly. To ensure the meat is cooked, they measure the inner core temperature of the patty with a thermometer.

Once that is ready, it's placed on your personal grill in front of you where they put a piece of hot charcoal. This helps keep it heated up. If the meat is not cooked enough for you, there's the option to cook it yourself on the grill.

Here, rice is cooked in the traditional manner, in a metal kamameshi rice pot. As the pot retains heat, you can order a raw egg to cook with the rice. The residual heat will cook the egg which will coat each grain.

You’re given a potato salad, a clear miso soup and grated radish. Just help yourself to the condiments on the side.

It’s fun to experiment with the flavours since there are six choices.

Miso soup is the clear type with 'wakame' and 'aburaage'.

The eatery is decorated with this drawn Daruma to bring good luck and various exquisite dragon artwork by a Japanese artist which are for sale.

There’s an earthy miso, a mild Japanese pickled chilli with oil and BBQ sauce. Or go for the dried chillies or togarashi powder for a spicy taste. You even have fried shallots that give a lighter flavour.

I had fun playing with the flavours, mixing them to my liking. If you prefer a more subtle taste, the grated radish works the best.

I tried the beef and pork hamburg which was RM42 for three patties. What I liked was the juicy taste of the meat that paired well with rice.

Probably the next round, it will be the pricier premium beef just to compare. Prices for that range from RM52 for two pieces of Australian Wagyu hamburg to RM99 for three pieces of the Japanese Wagyu hamburg.

Tama Tama Sukiyaki House, C-G-1, Seri Gembira Avenue, 6, Jalan Senang Ria, Taman Gembira, Kuala Lumpur. Open: 11am to 3pm, 5pm to 9.30pm. Closed on Tuesday. Tel:019-3823900. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tama_tama_sumiyaki_house/

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