Yoshinoya

The Yoshinoya in CA cannot compare to the ones in Hong Kong! The options in HK seem endless, and even after looking at the menu, you can still be unsure about what you want to eat. Yoshinoya is set up much like the other Asian fast-​food dining restaurants. There’s a menu of all the food items that they’re serving on that particular day. If the item is removed or a sticker is placed over it, they’re sold out and you can no longer order that item. If you want to get their hot pot, you have to come relatively early or else they sell out.
This Yoshinoya is located on the second floor on Nathan Road. It’s fairly big with two big dining areas. After you order, you take your receipt to the «kitchen» area where the workers will start assembling your order. Then you pretty much seat yourself wherever you want. If you order hot pot, you’re going to have to ask one of the cleaning staff workers to get you the base of the hot pot and help you light the fire.
My sister absolutely loves the individual hot pots that you can find in HK. There’s more than enough for her to eat, and she can put whatever she wants into the bowl whenever she wants. Even though the hot pot meat set was pricier than at most other places, the quality definitely reflected in the price. I think they used Angus beef, and it was really, really good. There was a ton of vegetables and other ingredients. The broth had a good flavor — and you’re able to refill the pot yourself if you ever run low. We sat next to a table of girls who were eating their hot pots for more than an hour.
I was intrigued by their curry pork cutlet with egg and rice. This dish came with either a curry or a spaghetti sauce, but the curry sounded much more appropriate with the other ingredients on the dish. Everything was really good — only complaint was that they gave me way too much rice, so I was left with a good chunk and not enough curry. The pork cutlets were small, but tasty — but then again, anything fried is bound to be good. The egg was a good choice! That runny egg definitely tied the rest of the dish together.
The regular beef bowl — pretty much your standard beef bowl that you’d get in the US. Nothing special. Beef tasted good, but there wasn’t that excess of sauce that would soak into the rice, making the rice flavorful. It was just plain white rice. Meh, nothing special and I probably wouldn’t recommend ordering this, especially if you’ve had it in the US.
Pork belly with rice — this was a few dollars more than the beef bowl. The name definitely sounds enticing: pork belly! And the meat was a bit sweeter and juicier than the beef. But honestly, the beef bowl was just as tasty. Although it’s only a few more dollars, I probably wouldn’t order this again.
tl;dr — Stick with the more unique offerings that HK Yoshinoyas have! Prices are a tad more expensive than regular places. And looking around, there were lots of people who seemed to be on dates? I guess it’s a good date place? Highly recommend their hot pot!

A Japanese fast food chain that primarily serves a dish of rice + meat + vegetables. It’s filling, not greasy, and good value.