Eat: Hina SF
ju-ni, listed in the sushi section is one of the best omakase experiences in the city. I was so, so excited when Hina SF finally opened. After many delays, this yakitori omakase place was worth the wait.
The head chef and yakitori master, Tommy Cleary, has been studying the art of yakitori for over 17 years and he is serving 10 rounds of yakitori using all parts of the chicken that are edible. The result is incredible. We had karaage, a chicken tartare meatball with egg yolk to dip it in, chicken pearl (which is one of my personal favorites), a fried chicken meatball and well, I won’t give all the surprises away. Another very cool aspect is that they use the traditional binchotan coals which give the chicken a rich and smoky flavor. There are only 12 seats (just like ju-ni) so reservations can be hard to come by, but keep trying!
I’m going to go on a quick tangent about the raw egg yolk. While we were eating there our sous chef was super awesome and was answering all my annoying questions about the food, chef, etc. If you watch Terrace House, you always see them eating raw egg yolks with hot rice. When the egg yolk is mixed in, it creates this beautiful, fluffy consistency that looks DELICIOUS. I’ve been dying to try this on my own but thought maybe Japan has some type of egg that is less prone to causing sickness and salmonella when consumed raw. I asked the sous chef and he said that the egg yolk is actually the least likely to make you sick. It’s the shell and the egg white that carry the salmonella. So, that’s why you see the yolk often served as a dipping sauce or side to Japanese food.
Knowing that, I went home, cured some egg yolks and plopped them on top of hot rice. The combination is a perfect meal or side to a larger Japanese feast. So, moral of the story, it’s totally okay to eat raw egg yolks, and you should try it because you’ll love it.
Location: 808 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94117
