Kobe Beef WANOMIYA Namba Midosuji Store — Restaurant in Osaka

This was definitely an experience to savour. I walked in shortly after 1pm, as I'd seen the "100% Kobe beef" sign and it piqued my curiosity. At the time, I was the only customer in the restaurant, so I could indulge myself in every moment. Ai-san led me to my seat at the counter and talked me through the available options in English.

Having never tried Kobe beef, I decided to keep it simple.

I ordered the 120g steak, which was put on display alongside its accompanying greens, with a trophy in the background. After the obligatory photo-op, the vegetables were halved, grilled, and neatly arranged on my dish.

While this was going on, Ai-san served me the drink I'd ordered and brought the sauces to the table. Nothing fancy or overpowering, just a miso paste, wasabi, and slices of garlic, along with some soy sauce and salt.

The steak was then methodically seared by Shuku-san to medium rare. I was served a fifth of the steak, which he had portioned into chopstick-friendly pieces. Shuku-san recommended that I try the first piece by itself with no additions, then with a combination of wasabi and soy sauce, both of which I tried.

I tried all the condiments in various combinations with each bite-sized portion, and found the miso quite exquisite. In fact, I enjoyed it by itself. For me, it was tough to decide on a best sauce, but it was between the soy-wasabi combination and just salt.

In the meantime, two other groups had arrived, so the restaurant had become a little more lively, but Ai-san and Shuku-san still took the time to make small talk with me while I finished off the next fifth of steak.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at this restaurant, and I will be glad to return should I ever go...

We had the pleasure of trying out the world renown Kobe beef at this long established institution.

We were warmly welcomed and were talked through the different cut options. We chose the 300g of Grade A5 Kobe sirloin cut (their most premium cut) shared between two and got good pairing recommendations for the accompanying lager and ale options. As a complimentary offer, they included the Kobe sushi’s for free to our order as starters .

We were sealed in front of the chefs so could see how they meticulously prepared our cuts.

We were seated on the long table directly in front of the chefs so could see them meticulously preparing our cuts.

For the first session, Chef Dragon served us half of our chosen cut in small portions and walked us through to try the different dipping sauces, etc. - this was a great warm-up experience, before giving us the freedom for the second half.

Cut quality was next level and exceptional - soo rich, buttery and extremely tender that it literally melts in one’s mouth. No chewing required!!

Awesome selection of sides and dips - soup made out of Kobe stock was soo soothing!

It is a very calm, intimate ambience inside when we visited and it is great being up close and interacting with the chefs. Certainly a good break from the crowds in nearby Dotonbori.

A lifetime experience indeed - highly recommend grabbing it given the...

Absolutely not recommend! It’s a tourist trap.

It was really overpriced. We 3 adults ordered 450g + 180g sirloin steak. 1 draft beer 1 bowl beef fried rice 2 sets of soup+salad+rice =¥9x k (over USD600)

Service was so so. The “chef” spoke English fluently. She recommended the most expensive beef in the beginning, told us that was the tender one among three on the menu. We picked the sirloin marked the cheapest but “No 1” on the menu. It was 450g for ¥6x k.

The chef looked so amateur. She pan fried very carefully on real low heat. (I suppose experienced chef should cook on higher heat sizzling steak in swiftly motions.) She was so focused on the steak. Forgot our hot tea, our rice … and NO beef sushi as it hand written on a card outside the restaurant. Rice came late and they were too soft… it was not acceptable at all. Japanese don’t cook rice that badly. And the beef fried rice was not fired in front of us. No “fried” aroma .. it’s like beef steam rice. It was cooked at the back.

The lettuce on the pan were pan fried at last. It was charcoaled. I was already planning the next place to eat and did not take a photo of the charcoaled lettuce… and even forgot about the beef sushi until I’ve just looked back the photos before writing this comment.

Again, absolutely NOT...