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Now Try This: Hambāgu at Wa Dining Okan

Japanese burger? Yes, please!

Wa Dining Okan's burger, topped with shredded daikon and zesty, salty sauce
Wa Dining Okan's burger, topped with shredded daikon and zesty, salty sauce
Place

Wa Dining Okan

3860 Convoy Street #110, San Diego

Drop what you are doing for yet another trip to Convoy Street. This time, it’s the hambāgu from Wa Dining Okan that ought to drag you out of your hiding place for an extended lunchtime binge followed by a food-coma naptime. The restaurant changes specials and menu items on the regular, so no promises that it’ll actually be around, but it’s worth a special trip.

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Listed on the menu as “Japanese style hamburger steak,” the hambāgu is an oniony patty smothered with tangy, super-salty burger sauce and coated with a pile of shaved Daikon radish. Okan’s menu items come with an array of side dishes, like pickled vegetables, pureed yam salad, rice, and miso soup laden with veggies.

Despite the fact that hacking the burger to shreds with a set of chopsticks makes for a daunting task, the eventual reward of meaty goodness tempered by cooling radish, and the heroically salty burn of the sauce is just too good! The end result will have you salivating for more, and alternating bites of plain rice and rich, fatty meat with effulgent zeal.

Japan-ized versions of not-typically Japanese foods are the stuff that foodie dreams are made of. Curry (which Okan also does very well!) is practically the Japanese national food, and burgers are a close contender. This flies in the face of what most people think of when they think of “authentic” Japanese cuisine, but that’s only because they mistake “traditional” for “authentic.” Some people have made good cases that it’s not sushi or ramen (which is basically stolen from Chinese cuisine anyways), but curry and burgers that have become the most authentic Japanese food around.

Now, go, redefine your ideas of what it means to eat Japanese food. Have a hambāgu before they run out!

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Wa Dining Okan's burger, topped with shredded daikon and zesty, salty sauce
Wa Dining Okan's burger, topped with shredded daikon and zesty, salty sauce
Place

Wa Dining Okan

3860 Convoy Street #110, San Diego

Drop what you are doing for yet another trip to Convoy Street. This time, it’s the hambāgu from Wa Dining Okan that ought to drag you out of your hiding place for an extended lunchtime binge followed by a food-coma naptime. The restaurant changes specials and menu items on the regular, so no promises that it’ll actually be around, but it’s worth a special trip.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Listed on the menu as “Japanese style hamburger steak,” the hambāgu is an oniony patty smothered with tangy, super-salty burger sauce and coated with a pile of shaved Daikon radish. Okan’s menu items come with an array of side dishes, like pickled vegetables, pureed yam salad, rice, and miso soup laden with veggies.

Despite the fact that hacking the burger to shreds with a set of chopsticks makes for a daunting task, the eventual reward of meaty goodness tempered by cooling radish, and the heroically salty burn of the sauce is just too good! The end result will have you salivating for more, and alternating bites of plain rice and rich, fatty meat with effulgent zeal.

Japan-ized versions of not-typically Japanese foods are the stuff that foodie dreams are made of. Curry (which Okan also does very well!) is practically the Japanese national food, and burgers are a close contender. This flies in the face of what most people think of when they think of “authentic” Japanese cuisine, but that’s only because they mistake “traditional” for “authentic.” Some people have made good cases that it’s not sushi or ramen (which is basically stolen from Chinese cuisine anyways), but curry and burgers that have become the most authentic Japanese food around.

Now, go, redefine your ideas of what it means to eat Japanese food. Have a hambāgu before they run out!

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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