Matasaburo — Restaurant in Osaka

Improvements: Their website booking form has some weird requirements (Japanese name etc) probably can make it easier for non-japanese to book.

Email confirmation was personal and they chatted in English. We book the special set (~JPY40000-50000). They confirmed the menu before arrival.

We came slightly earlier than expected and they already prepared a nice private room for special set menu customers. Absolutely beautiful room with timber veneer walls, dramatic seats and table.

Our meal starts with the introduction of the main course (dry aged Hokkaido beef, hereby known as the Slab) by our wonderful host, who speaks English! Pleasantly surprised.

Starters is Beef tartare with Cavier. Beautifully arranged with flowers. Good starter, the Cavier masks the raw tastes (I don't usually like taretare but this was good).

Host proceed to bring in the grill and a huge slab of beef. Slowly grilling it over the charcoal.

As he was grilling he rested the slab. And brought out 2 pieces of what I think is Matasyka beef for Sukiyaki.

After serving the sukiyaki, he went back to grilling that slab of meat as we enjoyed the thick fat sukiyaki (slice beef in egg).

The slab continues it's slow grill. Then rested again when the host presented us with a surprise twist. Crab! Another amazing balanced taster with crab and crab roe.

The host then continued grilling the slab (like wow 40mins to grill a steak!?)

Finally. The steak is ready and sliced into half. Plated with sauces, salt and garlic. The steak melted in our mouths, dry aged to perfection with slight funk. With a touch of salt the steak was one of the best.

The finale ended with a local delight of shaved matcha and red bean.

I'm in love with this place....

We made a reservation for the special course here a few weeks before we came. It was our first dinner in Osaka, and we were put in a luxurious private room. The chairs were very comfortable, and there was a view of the street outside where we watched the sunset as we dined.

Our waiter started by introducing our steaks to us, and began the grilling/resting process while our courses were brought out. While the staff do not speak much English, they were very friendly and did their best to explain each dish to us. Google translate is helpful if you have more in-depth questions.

Our first course was a mouthwatering steak tartare with caviar, followed by a wagyu slider. The meat was incredibly tender and cooked to perfection. The following course was king crab served in a half shell, with tartar sauce made from the crab tomalley, a refreshing and subtly sweet break from our beef courses. Next was the wagyu consommé, a brief tasting introduction to our main course. The wagyu steaks were melt in your mouth, buttery soft. We ordered one of each of the two rice options. At the end, we ordered an affogato and a fruit parfait for dessert to wake us up after the incredibly rich meal.

This is a must try restaurant for any person who loves beef. We will be returning when we visit...

We booked online in advance before we arrived in Japan but there was a mistake with the booking and they actually booked us 2 days later than our actual date. However, they managed to still give us a table after waiting for around 30 mins and they were very apologetic about it.

The quality of the beef and the professionalism of the staff who cooked the beef for us was amazing. They were very thorough with the cooking method and they do it right in front of you. We had 3 different cuts of black haired wagyu, 2 of them being dry aged. They presented us with the 3 cuts of meat and grilled them right in front of us, they would then wrap it in foil and let it rest for a few minutes before grilling them again. They would repeat this process about 2 or 3 times before serving the beef to us. It was a little bit lengthy but the end result was more than worth the wait. The meat was very juicy and tender as well as being amazingly flavourful. Paired with the various kinds of toppings made it an extremely enjoyable meal.

Would definitely recommend this place to any beef lovers looking for a good steak, beware however the staff speaks limited English so it is preferred if you can speak Japanese, but you can get by with...