I was familiar with Gyumaru – a Japanese hamburger joint – thanks to its branch in Ho Chi Minh City. The restaurant is originally from Saga prefecture and is a chain with several branches in Kyushu. I went to their Nagasaki restaurant to make a comparison. There were subtle differences with their overseas location.
The visit
The restaurant was located in a shopping mall. The plastic food models were in display.
It looked like a popular restaurant. There are many hamburger chains in Japan. Gyumary seems to offer a quality product.
I started with their creamy (and super hot) corn soup that comes with a pastry.
There were instructions on how to enjoy the soup… that I did not follow. But they show that this is a signature dish for the chain. It is also available in Ho Chi Minh City.
Of the various hamburger dishes, I had one with soft-boiled egg (this side is not available in Ho Chi Minh City). It was the 140-gram size (they also had a 180-gram version). It came with a plate of steamed rice. In Ho Chi Minh City you can choose between rice and bread and you also get a free salad.
The hamburger was soft and super juicy… actually the juice would come out by cutting it. It was remarkably similar to their hamburger in Ho Chi Minh City. They did not have any burger on the menu as in Vietnam.
The check
Total check 1,660 yen (15.4 USD), the hamburger set was 1,280 and the soup 380 yen. In Ho Chi Minh City a 150-gram hamburger was 172,000 VND or 7.4 USD (vs. 11.88 for the set in Japan). The set in Vietnam also came with a free soup (not the premium corn soup though) and salad. The set in Japan came with the soft-boiled egg. Clearly, the Vietnamese branch is really a bargain.
Where in Nagasaki: 1-55 Morimachi, 4F (shop 410) Mirai Cocowalk. Website: gyumaru.net.
Polux is a new project headed by Paul Pairet, the chef extraordinaire behind Ultraviolet and Mr & Ms Bund. It is named after the cat of an old French cartoon and is located in the pedestrian area of Xintiandi, Shanghai.
If you are not familiar with Shanghai, you need to know that Xintiandi is a shopping and entertainment district with reconstituted traditional mid-19th century shikumen houses on narrow alleys. It is a very popular area, but I never associated it with good food (you might disagree if you are a fan of Wolfang Puck).
The visit
I headed to Polux on a Sunday for brunch meeting a friend, just one week after their opening on 14 March 2019. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner (all day dining) with different menus. Initially they were open 7 days a week, but at the time of this post they have instituted a day off on Mondays.
The staff had my reservation on the books and escorted me to a table. I liked the cloth towels, a small luxury these days.
By the way, even if the place was rapidly filling up, the staff noticed that the table was wobbling and they promptly offered me and my friend another table.
I recognized many faces among the staff from Mr and Ms Bund and Ultraviolet. These are incredibly professional people. (Including the marketing team: by the time of my visit Polux was correctly indicated on all social media, including Facebook and Google Maps; contrast this with the Bulgari Hotel for example…) By no accident, in their second week of operations, everything was running remarkably smoothly.
Bread was complimentary, as it should be in French eateries.
While I was waiting for my friend, I ordered their sardines, a simple dish, but it was nice that they included in the menu some small snacks.
I and my friend shared a steak haché with mash and eggs. A steak haché is basically a French hamburger. I found it very good, with the beef juice adding some flavor to the mix.
Then both I and my friend had the signature Polux burger coming with fries.
It was a relatively small burger (or I should say “compact”), with bacon and a good amount cheese melting around the patty. I think that some sauce was dripped on the buns as well. But there was a twist (in what I would call Pairet’s style): the lower bun was “excavated” to firmly accommodate the beef patty and some extra condiments (asparagus?). The overall flavor was on the spicy side.
We drank the namesake iced tea, that was not regular iced tea (again one of those twists that made Pairet’s cuisine a favorite of mine): it was a concoction with verbena, orange, lemon, apple, cucumber, and mint. The result was quite pleasant.
The check
Total check was 528 RMB (or 40 USD per person). Was it worth it? Wast it good? Will I go back?
To answer context is important. 40 USD for some regular cafe food may seem pricey, but this is Shanghai, where Western food, good one, is hard to come by at this price point. From this point of view, the final check was more than fair.
In an interview that I read (sorry, I cannot find the link) Pairet explained that they intended to offer good unpretentious everyday food, something that could be the second best for many diners. I think that they delivered what they promised and even more. Polux is good comfort food with a twist here and there (and to be fair, the brunch menu was quite extensive and I wish I had tried their cheek beefsteak, their croque, and some of the egg dishes).
Finally, you have to consider that you are in Xintiandi, an upscale district not famous for its gourmet food. Polux from this point of view is a game changer.
I totally see myself going back and digging into their menu. And that Shake Shack is just around the corner is another big plus.
Where in Shanghai: No. 5, Lane 181, Taicang Lu, by Huangpi Nan Lu In Chinese: 太仓路181弄5号, 近黄陂南路 Nearest metro: two blocks south of Huangpi South Road (line 1). Note: close to Xintiandi number 1 heritage house.
When in Tokyo, sometime I choose to stay around the Higashi-Nihnombashi station; it is a strategic point for transportation; from there, it is easy to get the Asakusa line to Narita or Haneda airport and it is just one stop away from Tokyo station. In fact, the area is served by three stations. I can be in Ginza in less than 10 minutes. I love this kind of convenience.
That’s why I came across a few interesting restaurants in the area. One of these is a yakiniku restaurant just outside the B4 exit of Higashi-Nihombashi station. I am not sure about the English name; at the end of the review I have provided what I found on Google Maps, while on the sign it reads “Shinihon Yakinikutou”.
The visit
I am reporting from my visit in September 2018 (the day of the big typhoon in Central Japan; another time I took refuge here during the big snow day of January 2018). The place fills with salaryman and group of friends pretty early.
I got as usual a seat at the counter and I was handed the English menu.
Being an yakiniku, most of the dishes are served raw ready to be grilled by the customer on a charcoal grill.
With my first order – a set of Yamagata beef – they brought the grill. It did not look precisely clean… but let’s say that it was well-lived.
Yamagata prefecture is home to one of the three most sought-after types of Japanese wagyu along with the well-known Kobe and Matsusaka. It is not clear to me if this was the Yonezawagyu, the top brand coming from Yamagata, or some other brand from the same region. Either way the marbling was evident and the beef tender and tasty.
I also ordered a set of home-made sausages. They also came raw to cook on my mini-grill. They were quite good.
Finally I had a fantastic wagyu hamburger. Probably the best dish of the evening.
The check
The three dishes plus a coke came to around 5,000 yen (45 USD). I had also to pay a 324 yen (before tax) cover charge. Yakiniky with quality beef is not cheap and this can be regarded as a mid-range place.
I really liked the hamburger and I could be back in the future.
Where in Tokyo:
New Japan Yakiniku Higashinihonbashi store
Name in Japanese: 新日本焼肉党 東日本橋店
3 Chome-11-6 Higashinihonbashi, Chūō-ku, Tōkyō-to 103-0004, Japan
Address in Japanese: 〒103-0004 東京都中央区東日本橋３丁目１１−6
There is a Facebook page.
Tip: take the Asakusa line and if your coming from South (i.e. Ginza, Haneda) take the B4 exit of Higashi-Nihombashi station. If you are travelling from north (i.e. from Asakusa or Narita) take the B3 exit and cross the street.
Japanese cuisine is immensely rich (it is not just sushi and sashimi!) and has been subject to many external influences (tempura is a legacy of the contact with the Portuguese for example). Along these lines, it should not come to a surprise that Japanese have developed their one version of the hamburger. It is called hambāgu and is quite different from the classic American hamburger: usually it has a softer texture and is enriched by various herbs. In Japan, an hamburger is often part of a quick set lunch. I have tested a few in Tokyo and Sapporo for example and I was left unimpressed. But luckily, I can satisfy my taste in Ho Chi Minh City in an authentic Japanese restaurant called Gyumaru Hamburger & Steak. Gyumaru is a small chain of restaurants that originated in Ureshino, a city located in the western part of Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu. They also have locations in Nagasaki (read thee review of the Japanese location for a comparison!), Hiroshima and a few other small cities. The branch in Ho Chi Minh City is their only international presence. In Saigon, there is a sizable Japanese business community; my theory is that the owners of Gyumaru must have had a friend in HCMC that encouraged them to open a branch.
The visit
This review refers to their location in an alley of Le Thanh Ton, in the part that is known as Japan town. They also have a small restaurant in the basement level two of Takashimaya, but it has a different menu specializing in burgers only.
I have been a customer of theirs for years. Every time I am in HCMC I pay at least a visit. The reason is their namesake hamburger steak.
The set meal begins with a salad with their delicious dressing sauce.
They have a number of set menus for lunch that include a soup and a side of bread or rice. I chose the simple onion soup. But for a small additional fee, you can get their signature corn pie soup that comes covered with a layer of pastry.
In this meal I chose the simplest option: a plain hamburger steak with some vegetables (this is the 150 gram version, you can choose bigger sizes.
As you can see in the picture above, the hamburger is served sizzling hot on a cast iron plate. By opening it, you will see its juices being released. The meat is soft, tender and enriched in flavor by various herbs. Just great.
The menu includes a number of combos (with croquettes, my recommendation, with fried fish, with BBQ meat, etc…). They also have an hamburger with curry that is great if you like Japanese curry. I finally recommend to have a go once with their huge combo meat platter.
They claim their beef to be wagyu (the type of beef steak that gets marbled with veins of fat that enhance its flavor and tenderness thanks to a special diet administered to the cows). And you can also order a full-fledged wagyu steak for reasonable prices. Honestly I do not care. Wagyu is one of the biggest fad in fine dining right now and I have seen restaurants calling wagyu ordinary beef. What matters, is that the resulting hamburger is brilliant.
I have not dined in any of their Japanese locations, but by looking at their pictures online the offering in Ho Chi Minh City seems to be the same as in Japan. My impression is that they offer the real deal.
The check
This set lunch cost me 209,000 VND (or about 9 USD). I went for the cheapest set, but even the larger combos will not set you back for more than 15 USD or so.
I think that this is great value for money for a quality meal with premium ingredients and professional preparation according to Japanese standards.
I highly recommend Gyumaru for anyone who has not tried a real Japanese hamburger steak or for hamburger lovers in general.
Pro-tip: if you become a regular, take advantage of their point collection scheme (it used to be more generous, maybe too much, but it is still a nice kick-back).
Pro-tip 2: also I love that they keep a set of colored crayons on every table. They can be used to draw on their paper cover. Fun for your kids or for your inner child.
Where in Ho Chi Minh City:
8/3 Lê Thánh Tôn, Bến Nghé, District 1 (Another branch serving burgers only – not the dishes presented in this review based on hamburger steak – is located in the second basement level of Takashimaya)
Attention: at time of writing, the restaurant is closed on Tuesdays. Check their Facebook page for Vietnam.
This review refers to their location in an alley of Le Thanh Ton, in the part that is known as 
