While in Kobe last weekend my wife demanded I take her and my daughter to eat Kobe beef. So after that last day of our gem and mineral show we set out to hunt for the best beef in the world.
Being Kobe, there are endless places to eat Kobe beef at, so how do you decide? Enter Steakland.
Steakland is one of the more famous steak houses in Kobe. In addition to being well known their prices are very reasonable. They offer A5 Kobe beef, a special breed of black cow only raised in Hyogo state of which Kobe is a part of.
When we walked in I was a bit surprised to see it was teppanyaki. I don't even recall the last time I had eaten teppanyaki, if ever in Japan.
For those who don't know, teppanyaki is the type of dinning where the chef cooks the meal right in front of you. It was very popular in the USA with Benihana and other Japanese steak houses.
Ordering was easy as the menu isn't very big. Wagyu runs $35, Kobe beef starts at $55 and goes up to over $100 depending on the cut and portion. My wife and I just went with the basic $55 and ordered the wagyu for our daughter. Each course comes with soup, salad, rice, the main dish and coffee.
As I admired the dish of garlic chips the our food began arriving, beef broth soup & a house salad. They were just you average, simple dishes, nothing special about them.
It only took a few minutes from ordering for the beef to arrive.
I laughed at what came next, a huge chunk of butter to cook the vegetables in. My wife hates when I cook with butter instead of olive oil so I took this time to remind her, even the best steak houses use butter!
After the vegetables are cooked the meat is then prepared. On the right is the wagyu, left is Kobe gyu(beef).
The wagyu looked more presentable then the Kobe gyu because of the marbling.
A little salt and the show started.
For all three steaks we ordered them medium rare.
Then came the moment of truth...
A bit of garlic and I was ready for the legendary beef.
My first impression was the softness of the meat. It's not chewey and almost melts like an A5, actually this was A5 beef so that made sense. The flavor was very light though. I was a little surprised about this. While delicious it didn't rank up there with other A5 beefs I have had in Tokyo. That might be the cut we ordered though. It made me wonder about my daughter's wagyu. So I tried a piece of hers. The wagyu had the flavor I was looking for, but the texture was not as good as the Kobe gyu. If you combined the two you would have the ultimate beef. I believe if we had ordered the $100 Beef that would have been the result. My wife also preferred the flavor of the wagyu so we ordered one for us to split.
Butter!
It was delicious!
We finished everything off with coffee instead of desert.
I had seen a chocolate shop just across from Steakland I thought we could get desert at instead.
We finished up and when we got to the cashier we found their curry for sale for $5 each so we added two of those to the bill for a grand total of about $138. Not bad at all!
Steakland is located next to the Kobe Sannomiya station.
For more information on Steakland you can visit their website here:
https://steakland-kobe.jp/en/
Oh, and desert, Cacao Sampaka.
This place was amazing and deserves it's own review, but let me say the creme puff, shu cream, we had for desert was incredible! Rich chocolate with vanilla bean cream. It was one of the best I have ever had in Japan. I will go back there again next year for a full review and sampling of their other sweets. Until then....
Thanks for reading!
You had me a Kobe!! What a great way to start my Sunday morning breakfast and now I'm imagining myself munching a piece of wagyu instead of toast...
Ps forgot to mention, Pinmapple would like to keep the community travel focus, food reviews are best suited for the foodie communities 😁
Nothing wrong with some wagyu for breakfast, in fact I recommend it! Speaking of toast, my wife can't stand to be without rice, bread does not do it for her. Curious if you have the same needs when it comes to carbs?
Ah, crap. Will remember it from now. Is it ok to do a specific establishment or would you guys prefer it to be like a whole area?
What we're trying to avoid is for Pinmapple to become another Tasteem where people talk about food all the time. If the post is about say the history or architecture of the establishment with a focus on travel, then of course that's ok. And of course, even if you post in other communities you can still pin to the Pinmapple map. It's just when posting in the actual Pinmapple community we'd like to keep it travel focus. Hope that makes sense.
As to carbs, I think maybe it's what you're used to when growing up. Hubby says his mother used to cook them a full meal for breakfast so he had a full bowl of rice every morning when he was living at home. I find that too heavy, plus I love bread, still need to master baking the soft Japanese bread, they're delicious!!!
Great, thanks for the clarification. There are many restaurants that I want to put on Pinmapple and now I know how to do it.
Lucky you! Kobe beef in Kobe! I've had Waygu raised here in the states and cooked at home, but there are only a handful of restaurants in the US that serve Kobe.
Great to have a side by side taste comparison.
Kobe beef is wagyu, just a more exclusive type. Only around 3000 Kobe cows are farmed each year. When you get up into these higher grades of beef it comes down to preference. As I mentioned I preferred the wagyu just because it had more flavor, but I've had A5 that tasted like this wagyu and melted in your mouth. It was incredible. Thanks!
Everything looks so yummy. I had the chance to try Kobe beef when I went to Japan a few years ago, and it’s nice and tender.
Oh, good to hear. Yes, the tenderness is unmistakable. I'm sure you can get good wagyu in Hong Kong right?
Yeah, I have tried wagyu too, but definitely Kobe beef is my favourite.
Sounds like you had an incredible dining experience in Kobe, exploring the world-famous Kobe beef. The teppanyaki style must have added an exciting element to the meal, with the chef preparing the dishes right in front of you.
I did thank you. Kobe is a wonderful city and I encourage anyone traveling to Japan to consider visiting.
Teppanyaki is much more entertaining in the US. The US chefs are performers and will entertain you while they cook. The Japanese chefs here were all business, but they did their job well.
Thanks for telling us about your wonderful dining experience. The photos made me hungry!
You're welcome. I urge you to go out and try to find a good, authentic wagyu. It's beef on a whole different level.
I would say that is crazy expensive for a meal, but then again before I was married it seems like every weekend drinking trip with the guys to Nagoya resulted in tabs that high or higher. May my liver someday forgive me. Anyway, I've never yet had Kobe beef. My wife is a vegan so I don't get many chances to eat meat anyway. One of these days I'll have some.
Great writeup!
Considering the dinning experience, plus drinks & their curry, 2man for the 3 of us is not bad. Spent almost as much for 4 of us at Yaki Niku King the other night.
If you ever get a chance go to Jiro Maru in Shibuya or Shinjuku. It's stand up, counter yaki niku served by the slice. All A4 & A5 beef. The A5 I had there is the best I have ever tasted. Melted in my mouth and had full flavor. It was amazing and 400 each slice. Not bad at all.
looking delicious. Thanks for sharing
It was! You're welcome.
Thank you team and @ewkaw !
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