We try the Yakiniku Like Tower Burger, the beefy bento box you can eat with your hands

Does a tower of tender beef in between two rice buns meet expectations?

Few things rank as highly on Mr. Sato’s list of favorite foods than yakiniku and burgers, and so when Japanese yakiniku restaurant chain Yakiniku Like announced they’d be offering a delicious burger of marinated beef rib meat in between two rice “buns”, he had his heart set on eating it. Tender kalbi meat, crunchy kimchee, fresh lettuce, and a special Gochujang Korean red chili paste mayonnaise, all between two patties of soy sauce-flavored rice? What’s not to love?

The sandwich, called the Yakiniku Like Burger, is only available for take-out and delivery from the Shibuya Udagawacho branch of Yakiniku Like. It’s purported to be “a yakiniku bento that you can eat with one hand”, since it contains all the essential components of a yakiniku boxed lunch in sandwich form.

▼ It comes in four sizes: Small (420 yen/US$4), Medium (420 yen), Large (620 yen), and Tower (1,050 yen).

Obviously, Mr. Sato chose the Tower. Mr. Sato loves beef so much he’s willing to pay upwards of $100 for a beef sandwich, so there was no question of which size he would order. Rather, he was worried about whether he could bring this sandwich home in one piece. How would it possibly maintain its glorious sandwich shape while being jostled around in a plastic bag?

At the register, though, a new concern arose: the clerk warned Mr. Sato that it would take about 40 minutes for his order to be ready. Apparently, because of the rainy weather, the restaurant was swamped with delivery orders. But that was okay. After placing his order, Mr. Sato would kill time with errands and come back to pick up his burger on his way home.

He returned an hour later, but to his surprise, the restaurant was still crazy busy, and his sandwich still wasn’t ready yet. It was all right, though. For the Tower Yakiniku Burger, Mr. Sato would wait a whole day if he had to. He’s no stranger to waiting long hours for things he wants, though his rumbling stomach would probably have disagreed in this instance. Thankfully, he only had to wait 20 minutes before he could happily return home with the sandwich in hand.

But when he finally took it out of the bag at home, he was surprised to find that it did not look anywhere near as big as the advertisement. It was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand! It did seem like something you could eat with one hand…but it certainly did not meet his expectations of a “Tower” sandwich.

It was also much lighter than he imagined it to be. Was this the right sandwich? Did they give him the wrong size??

No…the package said “Tower Like Burger”…so there was no mistake. Still, Mr. Sato couldn’t help but feel somewhat let down, even though he knew he should have known better than to be fooled by the advertising.

Surely it would still taste good though, right? He unwrapped his sandwich with a tempered anticipation, and he was pleased by what he saw. It wasn’t as tall as the advertisement promised it would be, but it was definitely stuffed full of meat! There was so much tender, thin-shaved kalbi that it was spilling out from between the rice buns.

Mr. Sato then checked out what it looked like under the rice patties, and an enticing soy sauce scent wafted up to his nostrils. His expectations rose up another notch. Though it wasn’t the veritable tower of meat he had been expecting, it was still a delicious-looking sandwich.

The first bite proved that it was as delicious as it smelled. The rice buns were cooked perfectly, and their slightly crunchy surface was a nice complement to the soft meat inside. The rice and the meat were delicious together, and with the added spice of the Gochujang mayonnaise, this was a sandwich that he could come back to again and again.

All in all, there’s nothing left to be desired about this sandwich, despite its slightly underwhelming appearance compared to the advertisement. Its flavors are fantastic, and it’s got plenty of volume for even the hungriest of stomachs. It’s even fairly reasonably priced for yakiniku, so Mr. Sato gives this sandwich gets a solid thumbs up.

They’re apparently planning to make the Yakiniku Like Burger available in more branches in the future, so if you see it become available at a branch near you, definitely give it a try!

Restaurant Information:
Yakiniku Like Udagawacho / 渋谷宇田川町店
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Udagawacho, 31−4 Shinoda Building 1F
東京都渋谷区宇田川町31-4 シノダビル1F
Hours: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. (last order 10:30 p.m.)

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