Hakata Senpachi

Very nice yakitori restaurant. In weekend lunch they serve ramen. They use charcoal for grilling the yakitori. Would recommend chicken offal. The also have the special menu. With very nice things.

I was super excited to try this place, because a lot of colleagues have been hyping it up, but I didn’t think it was the greatest thing since sliced bread :-/
I suspect the meal I had at Tanuki last year in Amstelveen was better than this.
I had an assortment of skewers, some side dishes, and a bowl of tonkotsu ramen (which was one of their specials that evening).
The skewers were inconsistently charred, I felt, and our unagi ones came out near room temperature instead of actually hot. +1 for the pork belly with miso, which was pretty awesome, and also +1 for the bacon wrapped tomato (which is one of my favorite things to get at yakitori joints). My colleague’s ebi skewer was tossed after a few bites — she complained about the freshness of the shrimp.
+1 for having takoyaki on the menu, and for actually doing the dish justice. I’ll be back just for this, I think. The agedashi tofu was just average.
The tonkotsu ramen was disappointing, after all the hype I’ve heard. I prefer Ramen-Ya’s version. :(
Also, service was inconsistent — a table that sat down next to us got warmed hand towels, but we weren’t given anything, not even enough cups for water.
I’ll be back, but only for multiple orders of takoyaki.

Mindestens 18 mal waren wir hier bereits — diese Location darf bei einem Besuch in Amsterdam einfach nicht fehlen!!! An einem Yakitori-​Grill mitten im Restaurant grillt ein Japaner den ganzen Abend lang unglaublich leckere Spieße. Zu unserem Lieblingsspieß zählt auf jeden Fall Chicken-Skin…lecker mariniert und frisch gegrillt schmeckt alles so gut, das es uns noch nicht gelungen ist, eines von den restlichen Gerichten auf der Karte zu bestellen :-)

Other Unilocalers were right when saying that it feels like you stepped onto Japan. And the smells. Well, they are enough to bring you in and sit your tush down!
We got there when they opened so service was incredibly quick. I thought the prices were reasonable, but for many items it is for one stick. The food was really really good, but we left with a bill the size of dinner, but we were still hungry!
I’ll update this review when we go for ramen!

This place is very unique in Amsterdam — I don’t think there’s another Japanese yakitori place in town. It’s so good, it might make you want to quit sushi. Delicious dishes, amazing sauces and meats. It’s usually busy.
I’m not going to lie, I don’t have any idea what we ordered… because Dennis pretty much just took care of everything while speaking perfect Japanese… so just stop reading my review and go read his — take notes… don’t come in unprepared to order or you will order wrong. Trust me and get here.

There are not enough letters or words to describe the AWESOME that is this place. A total gem. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful.

Oh sooooo Japanese… no i seriously meant that
From the moment you walk in this joint its like u not anymore in AMS but somewhere in Tokyo. I mean they even have manga books right by the entrance in case you have to wait in line and you don’t want to get board. Of course the catch in this is that you need to be able to read in Japanese as all the books are in Japanese.
Now the food… I wish i knew the Japanese characters for Yiammmi cause its sooooooooo Yiammi. Of course u need to have some knowledge on the Japanese cuisine to place your order. But again if you don’t just ask the waiters im sure they will be able to help. CAUTION this is NOT a sushi place so don’t expect to get the familiar menu with the nice pics of California rolls. After all Japanese cuisine is soooo much more than sushi.
SO u got it all nice food classy Japanese atmosphere and English speaking waiters… Definitely worth the ride

This is by far, one of the Japanese dining highlights in Amsterdam. And with me on my Asian eating odyssey, this is a find! A true gem!
Did you know, these crazy kids make ramen on the weekend and only on the weekend? Did you also know, this ramen is specially shipped in from the motherland, dear dear Japan?
The stock varies to be honest (sometimes more salty on certain weekends, sometimes more rich) but the noodles are heaven! Saturday and Sunday only guys, 12 – 3 and if they sell out before hand, well, you snooze you lose! And given winter appears to be creeping in already, don’t be late!
Now for the regular, non-​weekend-​lunch-​time food. You will often see many Japanese faces in the crowd, eating and drinking like they would as if this were a little place down the crazy streets of Shinjuku.
They do it because it is just as good as any place you would find further abroad. Having visited (and eaten heartily in) Tokyo, I can definitely vouch for this.
So when you come and visit, try the grilled yakitori chicken hearts (actually try all the grilled sticks, because bacon wrapped tomatoes?! Yeeeeeeess!) And the takoyaki! And the karaage chicken! AND the karash mentaiko! Actually, you can skip some of the others but you must try this. Little bits of salty delicious roe, that burst with flavour in your mouth. Yerm!
And of course order, then greedily sip the umeshu and eat the pickled plum at the base of your glass!
Oh and a tip, make a booking if you plan on visiting as it’s often booked out because of regulars!

Amazing authentic japanese food! The best japanese place I have ever been to! The ramen lunch in the weekend is the most delicious thing I ever had! :) friendly staff! Hidden gem in Amsterdam!
(I had to edit my review and deduct some stars because their ramen dropped in quality a bit. Makes me so sad :()

This is a Japanese izakaya (bar) and grill. It has a huge selection of sake, soju, cocktails and snacks to go with it. They do serve udon and ramen (only for weekend lunch), but it is mostly small plates or more like small sticks of meat.
It is a very authentic Japanese experience and the food is ‘heel lekker’!
Food: ⁵⁄₅
The menu has pictures of what everything is and you simply check it off on an order sheet. All the skewers were delicious, some of my favorite was the beef tongue, quail eggs and chicken skin. It is hard to find something you don’t like on this menu (unless you are a vegetarian, then this is not the place to go).
Other non-​skewer snacks I would recommend is the grilled onigiri (rice ball) in soup. The onigiri has a nice crunchy exterior and with the soup, it is amazing.
There was an extensive collection of alcohol. I was thrilled to see that they had calpis which is a sweet yogurty non-​alcoholic Japanese drink. They also mix these into their cocktails, which I sadly did not have a chance to try.
Service: ⁴⁄₅
It was an extremely busy night and so service was a bit slow. We had to wait a long while for the skewers to cook and sometimes we would only get 2 out of the 3 skewers we ordered.
Other than that, they were very friendly and polite. When you followed up with them, they immediately came back with an answer (or your food).
Atmosphere: ⁵⁄₅
You can’t get closer to an authentic izakaya experience than this. An izakaya is the Japanese equivalent of a pub. You go to socialize, drink and just have a great time. it is run and frequented by Japanese people.
I second that you should definitely make a reservation.
Value: ⁴⁄₅
In terms of food per price ratio, it is on the more expensive side. However, given the high quality of the food and also the fact that everything is cooked fresh to order it isn’t that expensive. We paid 40 euros per person including drinks and I would say that is typical for this kind of meal… (I was also with 2 really big eaters so that may be why there was a bigger dent in my wallet)

IRASSHAIMASEEEEE!!!
…shouts the employees as we walk into the almost hidden Japanese restaurant near RAI called Hakata Senpachi. You will almost miss it since the small sign for the restaurant is in Japanese!
If you’ve ever been to the land of the rising sun and samurais with unusually deep and hoarse voices (HAI!!!), then you’ll know that every store and restaurant you walk into, you are greeted by every single employee with the obligatory exclamation of IRASSHAIMASE! So hearing this tiny little phrase sent me back to my days living in good ol’ tempura land!
Nihon-​jin to Nihongo wo hanaseru kata he — Kono mise ha honmono no izakana nanode honto no washoku wo taberu no ga itoshii kimochi ga areba, zehi koko wo o-​tameshi kudasai! Nannichi ni ittemo kekkou komu kara yoyaku shita hou ga ii desu!
Let me warn/​excite you now, that this is a REAL and very typical Japanese izakaya. So no sushi, no six rounds of all you can binge mediocre food, no hello kitty. Let me list some keywords to describe this place:
— Dark wooden walls with a bar facing the chef
— A bookshelf of old but popular manga in Japanese
— Bottles of sake along the walls with people’s name on them (If you don’t finish your bottle, they keep it there for your next visit!)
— Large jugs of beer when you say «Nama biiru kudasaaaaaai!»
— Japanese or Japanese speaking staff that will make you feel like you are in Japan
For those not familiar with typical Japanese food, the menu will look really foreign. Especially since this is western Japanese style (Hakata is a city in the faaaar west side of Japan) AND the menu is in Japanese. So here’s a list of things I recommend!
Drinks
1. Nama beer (Heineken on tap in a big jug — very typical Japanese) but if you want Japabeer, get Kirin
2. Atsukan — Japanese warm sake drunk from a small wooden box
3. Umeshuu — if you want something sweet
Kushimono (Foods grilled on a stick)
1. Tsukune — I don’t know how to explain this… but basically it’s grilled ground chicken balls
2. Yakitori — Very typical in Japan, chicken meat on a stick
3. Gyuu — Gyuu means beef and they brush this yummy tare sauce all over it
4. Momoninniku — Momo is a part of the chicken and ninniku is garlic. Can’t go wrong with this!
Dishes (kind of like tapas — so small and to be shared with everyone)
1. Butakimuchi — REALLY yummy! It’s like bacon and kimchi cooked with a pile of beansprouts
2. Agetakoyaki — This is hard to explain… it’s like special batter with a small octopus tentacle inside, cooked into balls on a pan much like poffertjes
3. Hiya-​yakko — If you like tofu, give this a try! It’s cold tofu with some shaved dry fish toppings and you pour soy sauce over and eat! Mmm!
4. Shio-​Saba — For fish lovers, you will really like this! Basically a slab of fish seasoned with salt — very Japanese!
5. Karashi-​Mentaiko — If you are feeling a bit adventurous try this. Mentaiko is a specialty of western Japanese and it’s really small fish eggs lumped together
6. Yaki-​onigiri — Onigiri is rice mushed together in a triangle shape and wrapped in seaweed. You will see this in every grocery/​convenience store and is a great substitute for a normal bowl of white rice. Yaki-​onigiri is onigiri brushed with soy sauce and grilled. SUPER yummy!
7. Wakadori-​Karaage — In any izakaya in japan, THIS is for sure something that people will order. It’s fried chicken morsels (boneless) in a soy/​ginger powder batter
Things Not to Share (if you aren’t into octopus or cold tofu)
1. Zaru-​Soba — I used to eat this all the time during breaks between classes when I lived in Japan. It’s cold buckwheat noodles that you dip in this cold soup called Tsuyu and you slurp as looooooooud as you can! If you slurp good enough, Japanese people will tell you they are impressed with your slurping!
2. Mentaiko-​chazuke — So mentaiko are those little fish eggs and chazuke is rice soup with an aweeeesome broth that comes in small bowl. LOVE this one!
3. Tonkotsu-​ramen — Unfortunately you can ONLY get this on the weekends for lunch but it’s well worth it! Tonkotsu-​ramen is a specialty of western Japan and is ramen is pork-​bone broth. I love to dump shredded garlic in mine and you must get it with Cha-​shuu which is slices of reaaaaaaaally really soft pork. That coupled with beer and gyoza (which is also only during this ramen lunch time) and you’re set with a perfect lunch sure to put you into a nice nap in a couple of hours!!!
Sorry this review was so obnoxiously long, but I want EVERYONE to try this place so you can get a taste of Japan! Make sure to reserve a table because this place can be full any day!!! And when you get here and the Japanese food is in front of you ready for consumption, make sure to shout «itadakimaaaaaaaasu!» (eet smakelijk)