It's surprisingly filling, I love the terimayo nikumaki with some chilli oil. It's a nice little place; easy to miss, and you most likely have to takeaway, but it's totally worth it! Can be a bit salty at times, but that's what you get when you put so many condiments in my case... Still delicious.
Do yourself a favour and get the spicy yakitori don and add extra shallots! If the heat is too strong, it goes great with a little kewpie mayo drizzled on top. For $10.50, the size of the don is beyond generous (easily the size of a meal and a half for me) and it's the winner of the menu.
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
A little place on the outside edge of Warrigal Shopping Centre, this is pretty much a hole in the wall joint rather than a restaurant per se. There were just a couple of tables with a couple of seats in the walkway when we went, so it is set up more as a takeaway place.
Their thing is, unsurprisingly, nikumaki, or rice balls wrapped in thin slices of marinated meat (niku), then baked. Further toppings can be added, like cheese, kimchi, mayo.. They do have fixed combinations of these, or you can make your own. Other garnishes like fresh coriander, fresh chilli, or tabasco are free. The starting price for a plain nikumaki is $5. For that, you get a reasonable size cylinder of content. The rice at the core was tightly packed and held its shape through the eating. The meat was tender and@ tasty. The cheese topping was melted and stretchy. The Japanese mayo and teriyaki sauce added a moreish sweet and salty flavour. They were generous with the fresh coriander. It all comes out to you piping hot (they wisely add the greens afterwards). As someone else has said, one makes a hearty snack, and you would be reasonably full with two as a meal.
Would eat again.
Nikumaki is a rice ball wrapped with marinated pork. It absolutely went beyond my expectation, was so delicious. This shop offers the "real" Japanese meals, which are different from other Japanese restaurants and the prices are all reasonable. The owner's super friendly which makes me wanna buy more from his shop:) haha
This tiny little Japanese shop sells delicious 'nikumaki' which is simply rice wrapped with a thin layer of flavoursome pork. We chose the popular cheese topping which was torched, providing a smoky creamy texture that we loved. The meat was tender and the rice was cooked nicely. For $5, this is a great snack between lunch and dinner :)
Absolutely love this place. The Nikumaki rice balls are very tasty, as well as the other menu. You can add many toppings and you can also customize the amount and types of toppings if you wish. The prices are all pretty reasonable :)
Nikumaki, one of the many street foods I miss from the time I went to Japan. This place does it just as good.
Too sad that I can only eat one at a time, I wish my stomach had more room~
This awesome meat wrapped rice ball hits the spot every single time! We always get the one with cheese melted all over it, and toppings of coriander and fresh green chilli. The owner is so awesome too and takes pride in his work. Could do with another one right now...
While nikumaki is not the cleanest snack you can eat (as in it could get really messy), they are delicious. Such simple flavours that were done well. Special credit to the owner who runs the shop all by himself yet he makes every single nikumaki fresh to order. Even though you will need to wait a little while for the food, they're worth it.
Prices are pretty reasonable $4.50 to $5.50 for each Nikumaki. You'd need maybe two of them to call it a meal. All rice bowls are also a good option and a lot easier to eat if dirty hand is what you're worried about. We had Negi mayo (eshallot + mayonaise), Spicy Kimchi mayo Nikumaki, Aburi spicy buta don (Spicy flame grilled pork rice bowl).
Take advantage of the shopping centre's wide range of food outlets and try some Asian tea from Sakuraya or Coffee bun from Pappa Roti while waiting.
YUMMO! We've been coming here regularly since "discovering" it while waiting for our pizza from the other shop a little over a year ago. The owner is really friendly and would chat to us while he made our food. The shop is very unassuming, but oh boy, they dish out some very good food. They have their meal deals, which is very good value.
Absolutely love this place. The staff are super friendly, the food is great, and the price is very very reasonable. I look forward to making this place my regular.
Good on go snack! I always order original pork with chilli. Pork wrap is a little bit strong favour but when you eat with rice is good combination.
Although I am not a rice-lover (strange Chinese man), I still appreciate the passion of offering something different from other Japanese food outlets by this little shop. I also appreciate the self-reflection on the market demand that they offer various type of salad (lately) in order to refresh customers' taste buds and reduce the sense of filling from the rice "maki". Good on you.
Not like Japanese I've had before. Despite it's size, the establishment has made quite an impression on me. The menu is quite varied, and has a selection which will satisfy just about everyone's cravings; from small snack options to box meals, I wasn't disappointed by what I ordered. The prices are quite reasonable as well, you really can't go wrong. Can't wait to go back :)
Great quick fix. Good if ur on the go n want something not over filling but real takeaway beats the mccas crap anyday. everything under $10. There very quick. Owners are always friendly. Main menu food is simple, delicious, cheap. Nikumaki,tobasco,mayo & kimchi is the best. Once you have it you'll get craving regularly.
Snack food. Good snack food. Probably not filling enough to eat for dinner on its own.
Must eat with cheese, fresh chilli and fresh coriander; this helps soften the salty marinated meat.
Yum!. Just delicious. That's it.
The Invisible Food Critic
+4.5
This place had been one of my top preferred snacks whenever I feel peckish. Awesome flavours with customisable toppings. I love this snack place I rate it 8.5/10
Really good snack! Love it. It really tasty and very filling!
The owner is a really nice guy too!
Very friendly
Must get the chilli! Drool!:):)
This is a decent snack but nothing to really write home about. It was a little too salty for my liking.
What a perfect little snack! Nice flavours and its just right for the between meal snack. Little bit pricey thou.
Snack-ilicious. Taste sensation.
YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. We really love your tasty yummy pork rice NIKUMAKI especially me KEEP THE GOOD WORK AND COOKING UP !
Authentic - took my Japanese exchange student here and she said it was really authentic (though for about 4 times the price than what you'd pay in Japan) but considering it's the only thing of it's kind in Brisbane, it's worth it to try and have occasionally. It's not that big so I have it as a snack. Cheese ($4.50aud) is definitely heaps yummier in my opinion and I don't really like the chili or coriander as a topping - it's got enough flavor on it's own. Don't think it's too healthy as there's always a collection of juice/oil in the packaging. But it's definitely worth eating!!!
OMG yes!. Seriously one of the best snacks I have had in a loonng while. Deliciously sweet pork wrapped around luscious rice with melted cheese...what more do you want? Everything thing about these little parcels of heaven are perfect. Make sure you get the coriander and chilli toppings! Owner is a great dude as well!
OMG I craved this all week! So fresh tasting, so healthy, so goooood!!! And the guys that run it are really passionate, friendly and good to have a chat with! Such a good overall experience..... Do yourself a favor, go and get one today!!!!!
NIKUMAKI. Oven Baked Steamed Rice Ball with Wrapped Marinated Special Slice of Pork
A taste sensation. Please give it a try all the rage in Japan, better than a wrap.
Nikumaki (肉巻き) is short for meat wrapped rice balls. Put some cheese on top, and it is the ultimate comfort food ＼（＠￣∇￣＠）／. Its noteworthy that Nikumaki Honpo closes at 7.30 mostly, which is quite early. I'm sure lots of night owls like me would love to be able to eat hot meaty cheesy rice balls in the middle of the night. The shopfront is quite simple, the menu only consists of two types of nikumaki, basic or cheese, with a variety of toppings, as well as several takeaway rice meals. Upon ordering, the owner puts the rice ball into the oven to heat it up so its piping hot, and then uses a torch to further toast the cheese. End result : very very hot rice ball. So here's the my rice ball, all wrapped up in takeaway fashion. Here's my rice ball in all its glory o((*^▽^*))o. Ni
But HOLY MOLY, it was deli.. wait for it... CIOUS! The pork marinate was sooo tasty, the rice was perfectly cooked.
...oven baked rice ball that’s been wrapped up in thin slices of marinated pork. It intrigues me as to how they managed to cook it in the oven and maintain the shape and not fall apart...
It probably wasn’t the healthiest thing to eat, but boy was it tasty.
We all thoroughly enjoyed the nikumaki rice balls. The flavor was strong but moreish and comforting. I can imagine these would be really nice in winter. I normally hate rice but the rice was flavored and delicious. Moreover, there's nothing else like it in Brisbane so it was great to try something new.
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