Japan 2013: Kobe Steak!!!! - 400th Post!! :)

400th Post!!!!! Four and half years, 400 posts, and hundreds and hundreds of restaurants and cities. Wheeeeeeee! Thanks to all the people who read my little blog. :D

This will be a special post. Since I got to check off something on my bucket list, I got to visit a new city, and it's also the last post of my Japan trip!

This year's trip to Japan, we added Kobe to the list of cities to visit. This will be a new one for me since I've been to the other 3 cities. And how can you go to Kobe and not get Kobe beef?!?! I knew it was going to be a very expensive meal, but hey... when you're in kobe... haha.

I found this place from doing Google searches and also TripAdvisor. We had the hotel front desk call and make a reservation for us.

Wakkoqu - Kobe Steak
Kitano location

 

 

We arrived super early. (Due to the rain we didn't have many options of things to do to kill time.) But the restaurant was pretty empty so they were able to seat us immediately. It was a very small place. The front room only had 1 large round table and then a row of seats in front of a long teppanyaki. We were seated in front of the teppanyaki (which is basically an iron plate or griddle). We had our own personal chef. His English was very limited but he was super nice.

We ordered the following set courses. And he split everything for us so we got to try both types of cuts of meat.

Tenderloin 230g (230g tenderloin, appetizer, rice, coffee) 11,000Yen~

KOBE Sirloin 250g (250g special course sirloin, appetizer, rice, coffee) 13,700Yen~

While we were ordering and waiting for our food. The chef is already prepping for the steaks. He started with garlic slices on the stove, crisping them up. We also got a plate of different condiments and seasoning: mustard, sea salt, cracked black pepper, and the crispy garlic. We also got little dishes of soy sauce and vinegar. All those can be paired in any combination with the meat.

 

 

 

We started with appetizers while the chef starts cooking the meat. We were presented with the cuts before he started butchering and cooking it. Drooling.... (front piece is the sirloin, tenderloin in the back)

Smoked Salmon. I personally don't like smoked salmon, but it was tender and buttery. My bf loved it.

Seafood Gelee. This was mine. I had no idea what to expect because I actually didn't understand what the chef was saying when he told me about the dish. hahha. It's quite pretty! It's a cold dish and the flavors were light. I think there's little fish, uni, crab and maybe scallops in the layers? A refreshing start to the meal. I don't think I've had anything like this before.

Then we got salads. Fresh, loved the light dressing.

We watched the chef as he preps the meat on the stove. The shape knife cut through the meat like it's butter. Clean strokes, the chef works very efficiently. He starts cutting off the fat surrounding the steaks. I was so anxious watching him because I didn't know what he was going to do with the fat. I was so afraid he was going to throw it away because I'd TOTALLY eat it. hahaha. But there was no waste, he used every part of the steak. The fat was rendered down and he used it to cook all the veggies in. OMG GOOD!

 

The meat was seasoned simply with salt and pepper. You could get the natural flavor of the meat. OMFG! It literally melts in your mouth. It IS like butter. And the flavor of the meat was fantastic!! I tried a few combinations with the condiments and a garlic chip with black pepper and sometimes a bit of mustard was my favorite bite.

 

 

 

 

The meat was cooked to PERFECTION. The veggies were definitely just the sides.. they let the meat shine! And we were given one piece of cooked fat. NOM!! :P

 

 

 

The meal was also complimented with rice and pickled veggies. The acid from the pickled veggies paired really well with the buttery meat. Lightened things up a bit.

The last bit of the rendered fat and scraps of meat were used to sautee bean sprouts. YUMMM!

 

It was FANTABULOUS!!! Definitely the best beef I've ever had in my life. We enjoyed it thoroughly. Both cleaned our plates! I think the chef was also very pleased that we loved it so much. :)

The meal ended with coffee. Most of you know.. I don't drink coffee. At. All. But for the price I'm paying and the "whole experience", I doused the coffee with sugar and milk! And it wasn't too bad. It actually was a nice finish to this wonderful steak dinner.

 

One of the best meals ever. I'm glad I got to share it with someone that appreciated it even more than I did!! haha :) If you ever visit Kobe, definitely have a real Kobe steak meal!!!

Overall Experience:

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~