Japnese BBQ Style Wagyu Beef at Matsuzakagyu

What is Matsusaka beef? How does a Japanese BBQ work? Is it worth the price? Fear not, I’ll try and help answer all these questions here!

As mentioned before, Wagyu Beef is the umbrella name given to the 4 different types of Japanese beef. Matsusaka beef in particular, is the meat from Japanese Black cattle in the Matsusaka region. Due to the strict rearing conditions, they have an incredibly high fat-to-meat ratio. This is what makes the meat simply melt in your mouth.

Note – Be careful and research the places you’re going before hand. There are a lot of signs marketing the best beef but you could be paying the tourist prices.

Location

Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M
1 Chome-1-19 Nanba, Chuo Ward, Osaka, 542-0076, Japan.

This Japanese BBQ style wagyu beef house is located right in the heart of Osaka. Its a little hard to find as its on a very narrow street but it is one of the most satisfying feels when you find it. Its like finding a secret bar.

I would highly suggest you book in advance to make sure you are guaranteed a spot. We arrived a few minutes before the restaurant opened for dinner and were likely enough to secure a table but only till the next reservation slot.

Japanese BBQ

Japanese-style yakiniku is a BBQ experience there diners grill the meat themselves. Here we were given a intimate private booth with a grill in the middle of the table.

Unlike Korean BBQ, the meat at a Japanese BBQ place meat is not marinated before hand. The meat is grilled and then dipped in a selection of sauces before eating. The meat speaks for its self.

Here a Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M, the waiter/esses explain the ideal method of cooking the meat and demonstrates this in front of you. We first oiled the grill with a block of oil or fat ( I’m not 100% sure) the grill the pieces for 30secs on each side. Just to make sure we had the timings right we took out our stop watches and timed cooking times. We wanted to do it right considering the price point.

It was a very nice intimate experience, we had our know little private booth and were able to call the staff whenever we needed a hand or had a question. Like most restaurants in Japan the staff are incredibly polite and knowledgeable on everything on the menu.

I would 100% recommend a trip here for anyone visiting Osaka. This something I would say you had to experience at least once in your life, so keep that in mind for when the bill arrives…