Have you ever tasted something so good you feel like every pore in your body explodes, causing your clothes to blow off your body and all your problems melt away? Okay, well not literally, but it sure feels that way! That something for me was Kobe beef. Before I go into the why, let's quickly go into the background of the meat.
Quick History
According to Wikipedia, Kobe beef (神戸ビーフ) is wagyu beef from the Tajima strain of Japanese Black cattle, raised in the Hyogo Prefecture. This rule was set by the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association (quite the mouthful). Within Japan, Kobe is one of the "three big beefs", called the Sandai Wagyu.
My experience
In August of 2023, my husband and I took a trip to Japan. We did a day trip out to the city of Kobe, and of course, we had to have Kobe beef there. We made reservations at Kobe Steak Ishida, a teppanyaki restaurant that serves A4 and A5 grade Kobe beef. We both went with the Select Kobe Beef Lunch Sirloin 110g option, which served the A5 cut.
For ¥11,440/person, the meal also came with mini roast beef, salad, seasonal vegetables, rice (can be upgraded to garlic rice for ¥550), dessert and coffee/tea.
The food was spectacular, but let's get to the star of the show and why we're here. The A5 Kobe beef sirloin! Now, people usually describe it as buttery and melts in your mouth but it is so much more than that. Compared to beef in Canada, it has a milder taste. The beef here has a stronger taste to match the North American palette, so already, that was different.
The marbling of the meat is what gives it a buttery texture and taste. It's completely different than just eating a chunk of fat that you usually get in a steak. You don't get that "fatty" taste or the stinginess. The fat intertwines with the meat so well and it's like one entity. The flavour is so intense that you won't need more than just a bit of salt on it.
The chef recommended we try our first bite with the salt. We were given a few dipping sauces but we just used the salt. When I took that first bite it melted on my tongue and enveloped all my senses. All my worries melted away and I just let the flavours take me away to another dimension. It's crazy that something that seems so simple can have such an effect on the senses. However, the raising of these is nowhere near simple, but that's not why we're here.
During our trip, we tried different cuts and types of wagyu beef. We even had A4 Kobe beef at Tsukiji market and it still wasn't the same. Don't get me wrong, it was amazing but nothing beats the one we had at Ishida. There are other restaurants that serve more expensive cuts, but this is all we can afford.
If you ever get to Japan, just go for it. How often are you going there anyway? It's worth it to introduce your palette to such a delicacy. It's pure happiness in every bite.
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