My friend suggested that since we’d come all the way to Kobe, we really ought to try Kobe beef. Truth is, you don’t need to eat Kobe beef in Kobe. The cattle aren’t even raised in Kobe itself. It’s the top-grade beef produced in Hyogo Prefecture, usually in the northern Tajima region, that gets sold under the Kobe Beef brand. Still, since we were in Kobe as tourists anyway, it doesn’t hurt to play the tourist a bit. So I took us to a safe, reliable steak house.
The entrance
It’s not far from Sannomiya Station. Judging by the number of branches, business seems to be good. I normally steer clear of places with lots of branches, but steak like this is expensive and doesn’t take much skill to cook, so I figured more branches might actually mean more consistency.
The basic setup
There’s a soy sauce dip, a miso sauce, and salt. Vegetables tasted best with the sauces, the meat with the salt.
A glass of beer
It was a hot day, so my friend started with a beer. I wanted wine, but I had to drive soon, so I ordered orange juice. I really shouldn’t have brought the car.
We ordered the Kobe beef course called the “Rokko menu” and the premium wagyu course called “Course C”. They’re not cheap.
Premium wagyu tataki
Moist and delicious. If meat at this level is already this good, how good must the Kobe beef be?
Premium Kobe beef sashimi
True to Kobe beef, the fat has a beautiful color. The taste is pretty good too, but beef sashimi just lacks bite. For sashimi, I think chicken or horse is better.
Today’s steak ingredients
Kobe beef, premium wagyu and foie gras.
Close-up of the Kobe beef
The color of the Kobe beef is really lovely. I expected more fat, but not so.
Close-up of the foie gras
It comes as a pretty big chunk, though I’m starting to get a bit tired of foie gras.
Close-up of the premium wagyu
Compared with the Kobe beef, the fat is spread through it in finer flecks.
Vegetables, bread and garlic
The bread is used as a base for the meat. They grill thinly sliced garlic, which looked like it would be great with drinks.
Special oxtail soup
In a word, it’s kkori-gomtang. Maybe because it had been a while, it tasted great.
Today’s potage
Also above average. For a steak house, the non-meat dishes aren’t bad at all. They seem to put a lot of care into things, as you’d expect for the price. Going to a teppanyaki place in Tokyo costs a fortune, so taking that into account, this might even be quite cheap.
Pan-fried foie gras
You just dip it in salt. I thought I was over foie gras, but I was wrong. Simply grilled with no seasoning at all, it was really delicious. Not greasy in the slightest, with a gentle natural sweetness coming through as if it had been dressed with a dessert-wine sauce. Foie gras is such a great ingredient on its own, so I spent a moment wondering why the world is so full of recipes that ruin it.
Vegetables
Grilling nicely.
Bread
Not for eating; it’s there to hold the steak.
Salad
Nothing special… but when you eat meat, you should always have salad and vegetables with it.
Grilling it up nicely.
Slurp~
You eat it on top of the bread like this.
Makes for a nice picture
Close-up of the steak
Kobe beef at last! Honestly, I’m not someone who cares about brands, so I never imagined the day would come when I’d eat Kobe beef. Tasting it, it certainly had the balance of chew and juicy fat you’d expect from top-end beef, but it wasn’t some extraordinary flavor. Eaten alongside the regular wagyu steak, its edge was clear, but to my taste the saeusal (rib-eye cap) I had at Byeokje Galbi was a little better. Ah… though the price is about the same too, I guess…
Three desserts
Even though these are a steak house’s desserts, they’re as good as the soups were. Kobe really is something, I thought.
Apple ice cream
This dessert looks a bit low-effort, but it was refreshing and actually tasted better. You really should order a variety of things.
After eating well like this, we made our way back to Osaka, with plenty of hassle. I’ll introduce Kyoto’s good restaurants another time…