Niku Niku is located at 46 James St. N. in downtown Hamilton, about 65km w. of Toronto. It’s currently $39 weekend all-day price. There's also a reduced weekday lunch menu for $30, but we would be unlikely to get there for that timeframe. There is a 90-minute dining limit and unlike some places there's actually a timer running on the iPad menu to enforce it but we didn’t have any issue of running out. The waiter indicated that this is not a hard-and-fast but we’d not like to test that. There are also rectangles of fat to smear on the grill to prevent things from sticking. The grills are very solid. Has a darker interior with modern music. Unfortunately, disposable chopsticks are included, so we brought our own as always. Soy-based sauce at table is excellent, flavourful, somewhat sweet and very fresh.
We both loved the miso soup as it was very rich and flavourful and savoury without any dilution. Sweet and sour, and General Tao chicken seemed to use the same sauce, but were both very good. Mishy said that the pickled radish could have used a little more vinegar and I tend to agree. She also complained about the wontons saying that they were skimpy on cheese, and I tend to agree on this as well. The pork gyoza/dumplings were delicious and well-filled. Mishy did not like the bibimbap and I initially was not sure why because it wasn't any worse than other places, however she’d unintentionally had originally tried my seaweed bibimbap, however she then didn't even like the regular one.
The so-called umami bean sprouts were actually terrible. Both of us noticed and we couldn't tell whether it was that they had gone off, or just that the seasoning was awful. They were even really hot and burned my mouth as well as having this terrible flavour combination. I could have eaten a dozen bowls of Gyubee’s before I could finish one here. Kimchi also had this awful, cumulative heat that isn’t noticed at first, and I was in agony and lightheaded from pain endorphins for several minutes after eating it... not a pleasant experience! I know this isn't a requirement, as other places’ kimchi isn't like this. Umami cucumbers at least didn't have the horrid heat, but they were a bit salty.
Chicken wings are half-wings and because of this dry out a little easier so they were dry but still tasty. We both enjoyed the chicken cutlet and I was surprised that Mishy even tried it, but I waited too long and mine was cold. Shrimp and yam tempura were quite good although a bit oily but I didn't mind and the sauce well was good.
Finally on to the barbecue, beef short ribs were delicious and well-seasoned. There are thirteen varieties of beef, so it was difficult to keep them all separate but they were all great especially the miso varieties. I also really liked the finger beef which, contrary to how it sounds, is merely finger-shaped and was delicious cylinders of steak. Chicken scallion was excellent and we both loved it and commented on this.
Beware the rolls as they have eight pieces so you may get more than expected. Because of this we only ordered one which was a mango roll. It included ginger, which was not dyed pink. It was actually very good, almost unexpectedly so... I guess the “umami” bean sprouts and kimchi had lowered my expectations.
For dessert, single Melona bars are available, plus an assortment of puddings and rice cakes. I was too full for the rice cakes but tried everything else. The Melona strawberry bar was of course excellent, but we can't really count that as it's not made here. Coffee pudding was quite good and at least it didn't have any heat. Mango pudding was good although not much mango flavour but at least the rest of it was tasty. I’d like to say it was an enjoyable lunch but those two noted items ruined it; nothing else was bad although there was some “meh”. Considering this it’s also for the items about $5 more than it should be. I wouldn’t be averse to returning, but avoiding those two items.
Rating: 8 / 10 - 1 value adjustment = 7 / 10
