Eat Japanese Beef at Matsuzaka Gyu Yakiniku M (Hozenji Yokocho), Osaka - Japan

Unlike me who likes to eat beef since I was a kid, my husband (Ivan) never like to eat beef. But it changed since we were going to Japan, and had a dinner at Mouriya. Actually, at the first time he didn't want to eat beef in Kobe. However since I was insisting him and told him that Kobe beef has different taste with other beef, he decided to give it a try. Ever since then, every time we're having trip to Japan, he always asked me to find a good place to eat Kobe beef.

We've tried Kobe beef that cooked in teppanyaki style twice, and both of them gave us a great experience. However, at our last trip, Ivan requested to find a restaurant that served Kobe beef in yakiniku style. Since we only stayed in Osaka and Kyoto, I was looking for a great restaurant at these cities. At the end, I found a popular restaurant in Osaka who serve a good quality beef. It's Matsuzaka Gyu Yakiniku M.

Before I write about our dinner at this restaurant, let me explain about beef in Japan. As you know, a good quality beef in Japan has marbles on its meat. This kind of beef has a very tender texture and a good taste. Generally, people will recognize this beef as Kobe beef. But not all of them is Kobe beef. Kobe beef is just a name for a "special" beef that comes from cow raised in Kobe. If it's raised in Hida, then it called Hida beef. All of these cows have been specially treated and fed to produce a good quality meat.

At Matsuzaka Gyu Yakiniku M, they serve Matsuzaka beef, which comes from cows that raised between Izumi and Miyagawa river in Matsuzaka city. At this place, every cows are fed beer to create a healthy appetite and given a body massage with a mixture of shochu. This treatment creates a smooth blood circulation throughout the body of our cows. So even it's not Kobe beef, this restaurant also serve a great quality beef with a lot of marbles on its meat.

Since we know this restaurant is very popular, we made reservation in advance at their website. They have several branches in Osaka, but we chose to have dinner at Hozenji - Yokocho branch which is more famous and also close with our BnB. We booked a table for dinner at 5PM, and came around 10 minutes earlier. At this hour, we saw many people wait at the small alley for the restaurant to be opened. Well, it's typical Japanese restaurant which has discipline in time. They'll only allow guests get in when it's exactly 5PM - which is their opening hours for dinner. I heard some people who haven't make reservation was rejected because all tables full for that hours, so I advice you to make reservation in advance.

After we got our table ready, the restaurant staff gave us the menu and told us about it. So they have 2 kind of menu. First, an ala carte menu where we can order a beef platter which consists many kind of meat and we can share it. Second, it's a full course menu where we should pay for each person, and they'll serve starts from appetizer, main course (with some parts of beef), and also dessert for each person. Since the second option sounds too much for us, we chose the first option where we could share this beef platter for all of us. We ordered Matsusaka Beef DX Platter which consists of 6 different parts of Matsuzaka Beef, and also some vegetables.

Matsusaka Beef DX Platter for 2 peoples ¥13.800

Not long after that, the waitress came again and served this plate of beef on the table. He put a "beef fat" at the cooking place so it won't be sticky. I thought he also gonna cook for us, but he's not. At this place, we need to grill the beef by ourselves. The staff only teach us how to grill the beef and how it should be cooked. It's kinda hassle for us who have toddler, but we tried to enjoy it. For seasoning, they just gave us salt and soy sauce - which more than enough to season their beef. Beyond our expectation, the beef was really great. The meat was really tender and it also tasty.

Garlic Rice in Hot Pot ¥780

To complete this beef dishes, we also ordered the side menu such as Garlic Rice in Hot Pot and also Matsusaka Beef Miso Soup. While their Miso Soup was quite tasteless, their Garlic Rice taste amazing!! Basically, this garlic rice is just a portion of rice, with some small beef cuts and also fried garlic - which put at the small hot pot (personal size). When they serve it, they'll pour a special sauce, and we need to mix it immediately. I'd said this dish was really delicious, and even Winston (a fussy eater) kept looking for this food after finished a portion.

Matsusaka Beef Miso Soup ¥680 - contains tofu, beef, ....

... and sweet potato

Well, our dinner at Matsuzaka Gyu Yakiniku M wasn't disappointed at all. We love their dishes where the beef has a great quality as well. Besides, their price also not too pricey for Japanese beef dishes. Must try when you're in Osaka.






Matsuzaka Gyu Yakiniku M (Hozenji Yokocho)
Address : 1-1-19 Namba, Chuo-ku, Osaka-city, JAPAN 542-0076 (click here for the location at Google Maps)
Phone : +81 662112917
Opening hours : Mon - Sun 5PM - 12AM (Last order 11PM) & Weekend lunch (Sat, Sun, Holiday) 12PM - 3PM (Last order 2.30PM)
Website : http://www.matsusaka-projects.com/english/

Iroha North - Sukiyaki Restaurant at Pontocho Alley, Kyoto

Dinner with kids at traditional Japanese restaurant, Iroha North - Kyoto

Still talking about food in Kyoto, this time I gonna write about a new dishes that I found when I was visiting Kyoto. Everybody knows that restaurants in Kyoto mostly serve traditional Japanese food, which different with other food that found in Tokyo and Osaka. When we were in Kyoto, we went to Pontocho Alley at Gion area. Pontocho Alley is a popular place in Kyoto where you can find rows of restaurant. At that time we're just randomly chose a restaurant which looks promising for a dinner. Based on my experience, even though it's just a random restaurant, but every food in Japan are delicious and won't disappointing. Well, the restaurant that we chose is Iroha North.

We chose Iroha North as a dinner place because they serve "soup dishes" which perfect to be eaten at the chilly night. As we stepped in to the restaurant, and old lady told us the price ¥6000 per person (kids are free) and asked whether it's ok. We thought it's a reasonable price because they also serve beef and beef in Japan is expensive. After we agreed, she told us to open our shoes and led us to the second floor. The place itself was a traditional Japanese building. They have private dining rooms which separated by a sliding wooden door. We felt excited to have a dinner at this unique place and wished they also serve a great food.

They only have a few options for the menu, and we chose sukiyaki because it's the popular dish at Iroha North. Before the food served, an old woman came into our room and served an appetizer. Seems like every peoples who works here are old women, and they are wearing kimono. Not long after that, she came again and brought her equipment to start cooking. Yup, at this place they cook it from the beginning at our table, so we could see the cooking process.

At the first step, she started by put a couple spoon of sugar, and also a soy sauce at the hotpot. When the soup start to boiled, she put some slices of beef, followed by other ingredients such as onions, spring onions, tofu, enoki mushrooms, yam noodles. She told us to wait just for a while until the beef slices cooked, and dip it into the beaten raw egg before we eat it.

While she was cooking for us, we began to smell fragrant from this delicious sukiyaki. It smells really good and we're thinking it's gonna taste good as well. And our prediction was right. This sukiyaki taste amazing. The beef slices was really tender. We tried to eat the beef with her advice (dip it at the "egg sauce"), and it's taste really good. There's no weird and fishy smell of the raw egg at all. Above all, my favorite was the soup. The soup at sukiyaki dish has sweet flavour, and their soup taste very perfect. Not forgetting their good quality Japanese rice which makes our tummy full and we're ready to explore Kyoto again.

Sukiyaki at Iroha North, Pontocho Alley - Kyoto

Orange for "dessert"

At the end, I just wanna said that I was really satisfied with all the food they served. The taste and the food quality is worth it with the price. However, I just don't like their service. It's not at the moment when they served the food, but it's from the person who welcoming us at the "front door". Since the first time we came, she kept rushing us. We have toddler which is hard to manage and we also used shoes with laces. With this condition, she should be understand that we need more time than other guests to take off our shoes and take our belongings with us. It also happened when we're going out. We need to do a lot of preparation before going out such as open our stroller, hang our shopping bags, wear our jacket, use our shoes, but she wouldn't understand. She didn't let us to sit and do all this things at the restaurant. Even she repeatedly told us to get out of the restaurant in "angry tone". To be honest, it's the first time we were treated like that by a restaurant staff. It's something that they shouldn't do with guests. Will I come back?? Maybe. I love their food and I'll come back when the kids growing up, so they won't be that annoying.

Iroha North
Address : Japan, 〒604-8015 Kyōto-fu, Kyōto-shi, Nakagyō-ku, 先斗町通四条上る鍋屋町215
Phone : +81 752210403
Opening hours : Mon - Sun 5PM - 10PM
Website : http://www.sukiyaki-iroha.com/en/sheet/

Fine Dining Kobe Beef Teppanyaki at Mouriya Gion, Kyoto

Our first visit to Mouriya in Kobe was really memorable. Since that time, we always wondering when will we come back to eat the best beef dishes we ever had. Therefore, when we had a chance to visit Japan for sakura season, we decided to visit Kansai area so we can go to Kobe again. However, since we have a very limited time, we chose to have a dinner at the new outlet of Mouriya which located in Kyoto.

In Kyoto, Mouriya located at Gion area which is known as a popular place for fancy dining in Kyoto. It's the fifth location of Mouriya, and the first one that located outside Kobe. When I stepped into the restaurant, I realized they have a very difference ambience with the one I had in Kobe. It's a fine dining restaurant with modern style. The interior was very classy and made us feel comfortable and more calm to enjoy the food. No wonder their price was higher than in Kobe.

We were lead to our table which located at the private room. The staff was showing us the menu and explain about their meat. Once we've chose, he left us with the chef who's ready to cook the beef. As usual, we're requesting to cook it in medium well. But for Winston, I asked him to make it well done.

White bean soup

Salad

Since I stepped into the restaurant, I knew Mouriya Gion has a higher quality than in Kobe, and it was proven by the side dish they served. If in Kobe the appetizer was only a simple salad with salmon, in Kyoto I got more than that. As a starter, they gave us a "White Bean Soup" which comes in creamy texture and it's very tasty. Next, was a plate of sashimi which has a very fresh ingredients. The last, they gave us a plate of salad before we started enjoy the main course, Kobe beef.

Garlic chips in the process

Side dish ready to be cooked

As usual, he cooked garlic chips as the first step. Crispy and very fragrant garlic which is the best companion for the beef. Next, he started to cook some vegetables such as zucchini and asparagus, and also other side dish (sweet potato and mushroom), to be eaten together with the beef.

Left : Rib eye | Right : Chateaubriand

Marbles at Kobe Beef

Kobe beef cooked in teppanyaki

Finally, he started to cook the highlight dish, Kobe beef. We ordered 2 kind of beef, Chateaubriand and Rib eye. They both cooked in medium well, and I think it's the best way to taste the delicacy of Kobe beef. To add more carbs, we also ordered our favorite dish in Mouriya, garlic fried rice. In Mouriya Kyoto, the fried rice was slightly different than we had in Kobe. In here, the fried rice has more toppings. But it also taste delicious and we love it.

Ingredients for garlic fried rice

Garlic fried rice at Mouriya Gion, Kyoto

Japanese rice is the best

Aurelia enjoyed the food

When we're thinking the course has ended and I asked for the bill, they served one last dish, dessert. With many dishes they served before, our tummy were really full and we thought can't finish the dessert anymore. However, looking at its beautiful presentation, we decided to give it a try. I didn't ask the name of this dessert but it taste incredible!! The combination between sweet ice cream and the fresh berries works very well and made us couldn't stop eating.

Dessert at Mouriya Gion

The point is, I got "more" in Mouriya Gion. More food, more delicacy, more service and also more pricey. I knew it's been 4 years after I had dinner at Mouriya Kobe. But I couldn't believe the price was increased twice as much as before. If in Kobe we spent ¥25.000, in Kyoto we spent almost Y60.000. But once again, Mouriya gave me a wonderful experience, and I didn't have any regret for that. I enjoy every single bites of Kobe beef that they served, which always taste delicious.

Mouriya Gion
Address : Kyoto City Kyoto City Higashiyama-ku Yamato-cho Yamato-dori Ward 4 Yamato-machi 7 Gion Maurya Building
Phone : +81 755324129
Opening Hours : Mon - Sun 11.30AM - 9.30PM
Website : https://www.mouriya.co.jp/en/gion