I was going back and forth over which yakiniku place to go to and ended up picking one close to home. The Tokyo Prince Hotel sits right below Tokyo Tower, the mood there is good, and when I went this time they even had a night pool event on. I walk past the front of it all the time, and Le Pain Quotidien is right next door, yet it had never once occurred to me to go in.

The table setting

I was grateful that they gave us a private room. Most of the customers were families. And unlike an ordinary yakiniku place, the concept here is a bit upmarket. Short but powerful impact, you might say..

The course we had

We ordered the 7,000-yen omakase course, and with the service charge and everything it came to about 18,000 yen in the end. It is the simplest course, but it gathers up nothing but the good bits..

Fresh lemon sour

The lemon sour comes loaded with lemon. It has to be this refreshing to drink alongside yakiniku. There do not seem to be many places in Korea that serve lemon sour, and in Japan the only places I can think of that do it properly are here and Kameido Horumon.

Namul assortment

Oxtail soup

Which is to say kkori-gomtang. It had been simmered so well that the meat was meltingly tender and delicious. I don’t think I’ve had kkori-gomtang like this even in Korea..

Looking at it now, I don’t have a photo of the aged tongue.. anyway, tongue comes out first.

Salad

The second item in the course is the prime sirloin.

The fat dripped like mad and the flames really went up. Well.. taste-wise it is that wagyu flavour where the fat just melts away. They come out swinging right from the start.

Getting set up for the zabusuki

The yolk was seriously glossy. Who would have thought you’d get something like this at a yakiniku place. They give you rice too.

The meat

Out came a top-grade cut that rivals the sirloin — zabuton, the chuck flap.

Grill it through,

dip it in the yolk, and that taste..

The impact is enormous.

The second slice you eat on top of rice.

Ahh.. it’s the best. It’s easy to get to and there are plenty of branches, so if you’ve never had meat like this, it’s worth going once.

Rare cuts (hiuchi and rump)

They’re all fatty cuts. Which is exactly why they’re good.

Horumon

Eat this much and you’re comfortably full. As always.. the trouble with fatty meat is that it fills you up when you’ve barely eaten any..

Naengmyeon

The noodles are the wheat-flour milmyeon sort, but the broth holds its own against a decent naengmyeon place in Korea. I’d been underestimating hotel yakiniku..

Chilled tantanmen

Nutty with sesame.

Dessert

Smooth annin tofu and corn silk tea. The satisfaction level really is high.

On the way home we stopped by Le Pain Quotidien..

and bought breakfast to take home. Minato-ku really does give you a high quality of life.

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