A Closer Look at the Restaurant Awards: What are the Best Japanese Restaurants in Beijing?

In March, you, our readers, voted for the Beijinger’s 2016 Reader Restaurant Awards. Let’s take a closer look at the winners for Best Japanese.

Opened in 2001, the winner of Best Japanese Hatsune has been welcomed by customers ever since. Owner Alan Wong was elected into our Dining Hall of Fame last year, with a total of 12 restaurants throughout Beijing and Shanghai, including Hatsune, Karaiya Spice House, and Japanese Kagen Teppanyaki.

Good news for people who are visiting the new Disney in Shanghai: Hatsune will open a branch there on June 1, featuring its menu of California-style sushi and other dishes.

The dishes we love most:

Egg-plosion salad: it was created as a birthday gift for one of their staff, Kristen. It contains four kinds of “eggs”—salmon roe, black and red crab roe, and is topped off with a Japanese onsen tamago (hot spring egg).

Rock shrimp: it is mixed with their 119 thick chili sauce. Crispy on the outside, they are deep-fried golden brown.

Butterfly: Wong created an updated version of their cabbage caterpillar roll in 2002, this rich dish is served in the shape of the animal from which it takes its name.

At the outstanding level, Matsuko and Tairyo Teppanyaki received the most votes.

Matsuko, with eight branches in Beijing, is best known for Japanese-style buffets at reasonable price since 1992 (Lunch: Monday – Friday RMB 108, Saturda – Sunday RMB 128). We love the sushi here, as well as their grilled eel

The second winner of the Outstanding Japanese was Tairyo Teppanyaki, with 10 branches, it also is known for all-you-can-eat teppenyaki for RMB 198. Be sure to go there with an empty stomach, because the chef will slice, dice, and serve everything up in front of you and fill you up.

And if you have the budget, try Yotsuba, which is popular for its Japanese traditional cuisines. Or if you're short of money, no worries, here's the list of the affordable izakayas.

More stories by this author here.

Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
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Photos courtesy of Dianping, Tairyo Teppanyaki, Tracy Wang