Kobe Beef KOJYU — Restaurant in Kobe

I came in 20 minutes before their opening time at 5pm. Initially I was worried that I needed a reservation due to how popular it was but thankfully the chef at the door happily told me that they had a seat available. He was so nice and I was lucky I could get a spot in English after he figured out I couldn't speak much Japanese 😄

When I got back, the restaurant was almost full, and a very friendly maitre'd took my coat and put it on a designated rack and even provided a personal bag holder and a bar seat. A chef came out and introduced me the menu and all their available cuts, then the very sweet English speaking maitre'd introduced me the menu and recommended items. She recommended the Prime Sirloin, and sake and I thought it was a great choice with the rice set I ordered later.

You'll have a personal chef prepare the meat, grilled vegetables in front of you. My chef was Giri (ギリ) and I was impressed by her ability to grill and cut the meat, make small talk in English and even taken a photo with me and my meal 🥘! Talk about good service. Giri also grilled the vegetables and meat, presented condiments tray (ginger and 2 varieties of soy) and a palette of beef miso (fantastic), wasabi (side track on probably how fresh the wasabi tastes, the best way I can describe it is it is very earthy and has a wild taste) and a dash of salt. She even taught me how to eat it properly, guiding me step by step on how to enjoy it with the condiments: for the beef it was soy+wasabi, ginger+salt, and vegetables with the beef miso paste (I hope I remembered that one correctly 😅).

The meat is fantastic and melts in your mouth and I chose medium rare. The grilled vegetables were a nice way to balance the meatiness of the beef. I ordered the salad with the meal but the beef and grilled vegetables stole the spotlight from how delicious they were.

The miso soup is also beefy and very unique, a great way to finish a fantastic meal. Giri also poured me a cup of hot house tea and chatted for a little before paying and going.

Thanks...

Highly recommend koujyu as the go to play for your Kobe beef experience!! If you’re in Kobe for Kobe beef, an authentic experience, delicious and well prepared food and not to mention a life cooking view in front of you - then this is the place to go!

The whole team is so courteous, helpful and deliver an exemplary experience. Cooking skills are highly regarded amongst all the chefs and you can see the consistency in care for their ingredients in whichever member of the team to serve you. I’d like to mention in particular our chef Matsuoka, who, from the moment the elevator doors opened greeted us so warmly. We had no prior reservation but he was able to kindly fit us in and was our special chef. He toured us through easily from start to finish - from handling the meat, cooking the vegetables, frying up the beautiful steak with utmost consideration and recommending tasteful flavour combinations of trying the beef. It was definitely an experience but worth trying especially if you do like a good steak. Cost wise definitely expenny, I didn’t realise how much Kobe beef would be but how often are you in Kobe to experience that? Although you might leave with a wallet lighter, you’ll have your belly full, taste buds working over time and expectations met for an authentic experience. I also loved my plum wine, delishhhh chefs kiss. Thank you Matsuoka, you were an awesome host and anyone who gets to experience Kobe beef through you will be blessed! What a privilege to try such a delight under...

We arrived in Kobe the same day we came to this restaurant and after looking at some of the reviews we noticed that sometimes you can get in without a reservation. For us, it was our lucky day. If we had arrived 2 minutes later, then we wouldn't have had the chance. We chose 2 cuts of kobe beef along with the A set and the recommended wine. The pairings were all fantastic and we ate at such a lovely pace that we were able to continue to enjoy the experience the entire time. We started our night with wine and a salad first. Next, our chef Giri began cooking the main course. We ordered our steak to be cooked at level 4, medium rare. She roasted onions, peppers, zucchini, and mushrooms. She also prepared wasabi, miso, salt, a pickled garlic sauce, and soy (shoyu) that were served with the steak. Giri went over different combinations to try with each bite of steak. After Giri was finished with the cooking she fried some last pieces of onion, meat, and bean sprouts. This we mainly ate with the rice. The soup served also had beef fat pidces in it and felt so coze and delicious. This was such a pleasant experience and we highly recommend this place. In the future we would make a reservation to be safe. We ordered 2 - 110 gram pieces with the A set and wine for 2 people and paid just over ¥60,000. To us, this was extremely well priced and also filled us up perfectly to where we could have a little dessert not too long after we...