My husband and I were in Japan last November for our 3 year anniversary. We were staying in Osaka for a few days and decided to take a day trip to Kobe to try Kobe beef. It's something we really wanted to do, but always hesitate because of the price. We figured our 3 year anniversary was a good enough excuse to splurge on expensive food such as Kobe beef, knowing we'd probably not have an experience like this often. There is a cheaper option such as Kobegyu Steakland (don't be fooled by the name, it's still a good place to eat). We were just looking for the best of the best, and we found it!
We found Moriya Honten, a Japanese steakhouse in Kobe. This place is visited by many people from all over the world. Their praise is due to their devotion to purchase a certain breed of cows, as they only select cows with a Tajima bloodline. You've probably heard of sushi chefs only buying fish from a certain vendor they trust, well there's no except for Moriya Honten when they select their cows.
Reservations can be made, especially if you'd like to eat at the chef's table, but walk-ins are acceptable. My husband and I did a walk-in at about 1p.m. on a weekday. We didn't have to wait to be seated, as we were immediately escorted to a table upstairs, next to the chef's bar area. They served us tea as we started to read over the menu. Be prepared to let your wallet loose because it can get pretty expensive. I got the Fillet Steak and my husband got the Sirloin Steak. These meals came with soup, some sides and a choice of tea or coffee at the end (I'm starting to realize that Japan likes to drink coffee with their meals).
The food not only tasted amazing, but the presentation was very clean. They let you see your meat before it would be cooked. I don't know many places in general that will do that. It was interesting to see the marbling of the steak. You pay for what you get, and you'll be getting something you've never tasted before. It was great that the soup and sides were delicious, but for this place to actually get me to like steak was a surprise. Like I said before, I'm not a steak eater but I'd eat steak if it was this quality again.
The waitress explained to us the best way to enjoy our meal. She said that first we should eat a piece alone, to enjoy the full flavor of the meat. Then, she said we could experiment with the different seasonings they provided on our plate to see which flavor we liked the best. There was garlic, salt and pepper. My favorite was trying the steak with a piece of garlic. They also had dipping sauces available for your veggies if you wanted to use that for your steak too.
It was a great meal that I will always remember. Now I have a steak that I can enjoy, I just have to take a plane to Japan to have it.
Thank you for reading my blog. If you get the chance to have Kobe beef you should definitely give it a try. I can't wait until my next Kobe beef meal in the future. For more Japan related content please follow me on social media: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And of our follow my blog with the blue follow button. Until next time!