Baratei — Restaurant in Kumamoto

We came without making a prior reservation. Bad mistake on our part as they are usually full with bookings 3 weeks out. However, the lady manager was kind amd managed to squeeze us in for a 90-min-long sitting which is more than enough time to enjoy the food.

And what food! The A5 Kumamoto black beef tenderloin is ideal for teppanyaki-steak-style cooking and rivals the more famous Matsuzaka and Kobe beef in marbling and texture. When added to the skill of the chef, and the multi-course servings, the meal exceeds ecen lofty expectations. Baratei has been around for many decades, so the quality of the beef and chefs are certainly warranted and disappointed in absolutely no way.

Thus, the biggest surprise of the night was their ice cream. Plain vanilla but oh Lordy what a vanilla! It's a natural beigey colour and the scoop retains it's texture even after cutting through with a spoon - no melting like you see with mass-produced brands. The flavour is simply the purest, creamiest vanilla you will ever taste. They make the ice cream in-house to a secret recipe and when the flavour is as simple as vanilla, you can't hide any defects in execution. This is simply the most perfect vanilla ice cream i have ever had, and i've had a lot.

After Steak Yoshiike in Hakone, Baratei is now joint-second on my steakhouse list under the overall experience category (quality, price, volume & service).

Limpeh...

I dined at this place from a One Piece fan's point of view. If you are a fan of the anime you absolutely must dine here. Oda-sensei used to work at their sister restaurant that has since closed, but the chef who used to tell him off still works here! We were absolutely blessed to have Tasaki-san cook for us both times, and the food was absolutely amazing. The vegetables, Miyazaki meat and the abalone were cooked to perfection, but my favourite has got to be the yakigohan. No other fried rice will ever compare to his again, and I look forward to the day I can return to Kumamoto again to eat it. And because we had mentioned we were there for One Piece, Tasaki-san even brought out Oda-sensei's autographs, along with Yamaguchi-sensei's autograph. We were absolutely gobsmacked as well by his gift to us the second time we went there. Dining at the Baratei is truly an experience and one that I will...

We enjoyed a fantastic meal here. They have English menu and the staff do spoke a little bit of English so we had no problem ordering at all. The chef was very skillful and we were able to enjoy super well cooked abalone and high quality wagyu. Other courses were well executed as well. The service was great and overall good value for money. I'd recommend this place to anyone who'd want to enjoy a fancy teppanyaki meal...