Nikuman for those that don’t know is a Japanese steamed dumpling (the same or at least based on Chinese buns I guess) filled with meat and vegetables. They sell them in convenience stores here along with other varieties like Pizzaman (a dumpling with a ‘pizza’ style filling), curryman (a dumpling with…well I’m sure you can guess that one) and kaniman (crab filling).
Usually you eat them with hot mustard and maybe soy sauce.
Recently I discovered the best nikuman in Kobe if not Hyogo (at least I and quite a few others think so), a shop called Roshoki in Motomachi’s Chinatown – in Kobe.
There are 2 of these shops apparently; one run by the original owners son, and the other by his best apprentice. I’m not sure who ran the one I went to but the nikuman were definitely fantastic.
The shop is in the main square of Chinatown and easily found as it’s the one with the huge winding queue outside the door.
Luckily, however, the queue moves pretty quickly as there are only a few seats inside and most people buy the nikuman to take away. Also they only sell one type of nikuman, and…nothing else.
You buy them in plates of 3 for ￥210, which is an absolute bargain, even if the nikuman are a little smaller than the ones you get in convenience stores.
I had 6 but to be honest they were so good I could easily have had another half dozen. Soft dough with a juicy ball of meat inside with a delicious sauce (the sauce is actually inside the dough ball itself), dipped in soy sauce and mustard. Oishii!
If you’re in Kobe I highly recommend checking the shop out, in fact to be honest, it’s worth visiting Kobe just to pick up a dozen or so Roshoki nikuman to take home!
