Whatever you picture when you read “triple jumbo shrimp rice bowl,” it’s probably not this.

Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district is an area home to many businesses, shopping, and a very lucky Shinto shrine. There are plenty of excellent restaurants in the area, many of which always have a line of customers waiting to get in, and Nihonbashi Tonkatsu Hajime Nihonbashi-hanare is no exception.

The sister shop of Nihonbashi Tonkatsu Hajime, this new restaurant opened in May. While it’s also a tonkotsu shop like the original, there’s something on the menu that you can only get here.

That menu item is the “triple jumbo shrimp rice bowl,” of which there are a limited quantity offered every day. While that name may indicate that it’s made of some really jumbo shrimp, or perhaps even lobster, its true form is mysteriously different. It’s also not cheap, costing 3,380 yen (US$23.83) for one serving.

Our Japanese-language reporter and large-portion-aficionado P.K. Sanjun was overcome by an insatiable curiosity about this dish, so he headed over to the new shop as soon as he could. He arrived in the early afternoon and sure enough, there was already a line of about 10 people out the door. The staff told him it would be a 30-minute wait.

Once he was seated, the first thing he did while waiting for his food was make his own “P.K.-style” tartar sauce. Like it or leave it, this delicacy involves crushing a boiled egg in the sauce.

Before long, the main dish arrived. Two of the most ginormous shrimp he had ever laid eyes on lay on top of a layer of omelet and rice.

By the way, the shrimp were huuuuuge–especially in width!!

So what was the secret behind the “triple jumbo shrimp” naming? It turned out that each “jumbo shrimp” was actually made up of three shrimp bundled together and then fried. Since there were two triple jumbo shrimp resting on top of the rice, that meant that he actually had six shrimp in all.

The shrimp turned out to be very supple. He enjoyed the various crispy and smooth textures in his mouth along with his self-made tartar sauce. Even without the extra sauce, though, the salty sweet sauce drizzled over the omelet layer was delicious.

Though the bowl of food had looked slightly daunting at first, he had no problem getting to the bottom of it.

There probably aren’t many restaurants that offer this kind of triple jumbo shrimp rice bowl, so any shrimp enthusiasts out there should definitely check this place out. This would also be a good time to check out Burger King Japan’s newly released Shrimp Whopper, available for a limited time only.

Restaurant information
Nihonbashi Tonkotsu Hajime Nihonbashi-hanare / 日本橋とんかつ 一 HAJIME 日本橋はなれ
Address: Tokyo-to, Chuo-ku, Nihonbashi Muromachi 1-11-15
東京都中央区日本橋室町 1-11-15
Open: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Closed: Tuesdays
Website

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[ Read in Japanese ]