If you spend a lot of time trying to avoid the crowds in Harajuku, you’re bound to find yourself taking the indirect back streets and alleys to get to your destination. Quite often you never walk the same route twice, usually because the maze of back streets can be a little like an M.C. Escher drawing.
One such day (I wasn’t lost, honestly) providence led us to the front of a quaint-looking shack housing “The Burger Stand Fellows.” The three-storey building has seating for around twenty customers, and it is blissfully completely non-smoking. The restaurant feels like a beach house and is very relaxing. The staff welcomed us with big smiles and asked how many were in our party.
The place was packed so we sat at the counter overlooking the kitchen. From our lucky seats we could see all the orders being made right in front of us. This only served to increase our hunger. The aromas of the char-grilled patties elicited an immediate Pavlovian response. It smelt like a summer BBQ and we took no time to order the basic hamburger for myself, and a cheeseburger for my companion.
The aromas didn’t lie. Juicy, flavoursome, and big enough for a manly man like my companion, we each slipped silently into a personal “burger moment.” The accompanying wedge-cut fries and coleslaw, an original recipe created by the owner, were the perfect size and flavour to go with our burgers. The coleslaw was more tangy than creamy, and I could have eaten a lot more.
Having eaten our fill, we happily chatted to the owner who told us about their prize-winning menu item: The Hickory Burger! This monster received top-billing in a Tokyo burger review magazine a couple of years ago. Available from 6pm only, with a limit of five Hickory burgers per day (due to the size of the smoker), we decided we needed to return and try his prize-winner.
A few weeks later, the cosmos aligned and we found ourselves on the doorstop of Fellows once again. Fretting ever so slightly at our 6:13pm arrival time (almost 15 minutes late!), we fervently hoped they wouldn’t be out of Hickory burgers yet. We were in luck. We got two of the last three of the day and…….”Holy Moly” we were in heaven.
It was (for the moment) the tastiest and biggest burger I have ever eaten. We were dubious at first about the fried egg on top of the beef patty and hickory-smoked bacon, but the egg really did add to the unique flavour of the meal.
I managed to eat about 60% of my burger before my stomach protested at being stretched so much. My cohort managed to eat all of his, but even he declined to help a damsel in distress with hers…..this time. We did, however, take the remaining hickory-smoked bacon out of my burger and eat it, not wanting to be wasteful. I’m salivating simply remembering my first delicious bite.
Each visit to Fellows has more than sated my meat addiction, and with a menu filled with around a dozen varieties, three speciality burgers, side dishes, tea, coffee, soft drinks, and fridge full of funky beers (chocolate beer anyone?), I believe other burger lovers will feel the same.
Get down to Harajuku and get a burger in your belly.
