All-You-Can-Eat Wagyu: Ginza Steak Ginza Honten

I think I bit off more than I can chew.

After 15 hours of unpalatable airplane food, we knew we wanted our first meal in Tokyo to be special. And what’s more special and indulgent than Japanese wagyu beef?

Japanese Black Cattle — fed with beer and massaged daily with sake!
Our delightful chef plating the fish course

We opted for the 7-course meal with all-you-can-eat wagyu for 10800¥ at Ginza Steak Ginza Honten in Daiba, which we figured would be perfect for helping us conquer jetlag. Most of the dishes were cooked in front of us Teppanyaki style, aka on the flat grill you see at “Hibachi” restaurants.

The meal started off with a simple quiche accompanied by prosciutto and some thinly sliced carrot. It was good, but not the star of the meal.

Following that was a small bowl of “turnip potage”, which was mild and creamy. Kind of like a potato soup.

Crispy whitefish with rutabaga (or turnip?)

The fish dish came next — the chef grilled the whitefish right in front of us, but I can’t figure out how he got the skin to be so crispy. The fish was plated with poached rutabaga, microgreens, and a vegetable broth.

Sukiyaki, quail egg, cabbage + greens hidden underneath

The first wagyu course! The chef grilled thin slices of marbled beef for the sukiyaki and drizzled it with sweet soy sauce. This was served with some grilled cabbage and a raw quail egg. This was my favorite course of the night (perhaps because it was the first) — the beef was luscious and melted in your mouth.

This tray would easily cost more than $2k in the US

After that, the party really started. Our chef showed us a tray of 4 different cuts of wagyu. We thought we had to pick a steak to eat, but the chef corrected us and said we would be eating ALL of it!

Aitchbone steak w/ small mountain of shaved onion

Wagyu cut #1: Aitchbone. I honestly would’ve been perfectly content to leave after this course, but what’s the point of AYCE if you don’t leave stupendously full? This was a beautifully marbled cut, simply seasoned with salt and pepper to let the flavors of the beef shine. I started to feel a head rush of endorphins while eating this.

Salt and peppa’

Wagyu cut #2: Top Round Cap Off. This was a leaner cut with less marbling, yet it was still so soft and juicy. This was my favorite cut after the sukiyaki because I could eat more of it.

Accompaniments: garlic chips, cracked black pepper, ponzu soy sauce

Wagyu cut #3: Bottom round. This was Anderson’s favorite cut — so marbled, beefy, and flavorful. While delicious, each slice sent me more and more into a sweaty (non-alcoholic) drunken stupor.

A lonesome steak

Wagyu cut #4: Knuckle main muscle. At this point, I was still struggling to finish #3, so I communicated via Google translate with the chef to only cook one steak for Anderson. It was a shame to not eat more, but I didn’t want to throw up and waste such good meat.

After round 4, the chef asked if we would like seconds of anything. We shamefully declined and the chef laughed.

A small cup of tasty miso soup and a bowl of garlic rice wrapped up the savories.

Dessert was a little scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, a tiny tiramisu cake, and a cup of hot green tea, which helped settle the stomach.

We waddled back to the train station, dangerously full of some of the most expensive meat in the world. While I had no complaints about this meal, it’s definitely got me philosophizing on the principle of diminishing returns. In my opinion, the first bite of wagyu always tastes the best. After round 2, every bite just dulled the senses more, and I wasn’t able to appreciate the cow to the fullest capacity. Anderson respectfully disagrees and savored every bite. Overall, this was a great experience and a fun way to start our vacation!


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