Meat Magistrate Nakano Gyusei — Restaurant in Tokyo

Gyu-Hitsumabushi @ Gyusei

I was initially bewildered by the concept because traditionally this dish was made using eels, however here, they use beef instead!

The inside is modern and classy, and stands out among the older buildings surrounding it. There are a few tiers, slowly getting more expensive but I decided to go for the standard one with an added omelet. This costs 1550 yen.

You’ll be served the bowl along with a tiny teapot containing dashi soup you can make a porridge with but make no mistake! This porridge is anything but bland.

A hearty beef flavor along with a fragrant sesame aroma comes with every bite. You can mix in abit of wasabi for a kick but it’s fine on it’s own. The beef is cooked very well, tender with a decent chew.

Once you reach the end, scoop some of what’s left into the smaller bowl and pour the dashi soup to add a umami-earthy flavor to the beef and rice.

However, this dish is more savoury than sweet so if you try this in hopes for a 1:1 conversion from eel to beef you might be disappointed. This is a dish with a similar concept but different taste and texture.

It’s a very novel dish and I have never seen another place do something like this, if you like beef bowls you can’t go wrong with...

I found this restaurant looking around on Google maps for places to eat in Nakano and was very interested in the beef hitsumabushi.

The staff was very welcoming and friendly. The digital vending machine was easy to use and has the option for English. They also take credit cards, which is great. The atmosphere was very chill and I liked the music selection.

The food came out quickly. My husband and I got the hitsumabushi and the rice bowl to share (so we could try both). Both exceeded my expectations and I'm not sure which one I liked more. The meat was very tender and flavorful. I really enjoyed the hitsumabushi with dashi soup. The special soy steak sauce that comes with the rice bowl was very good and I would recommend getting an egg yolk to go with it.

Overall we had a very good experience and loved the food. We will definitely come back and I will recommend this restaurant to friends visiting the...

Food was awesome and the staff were super friendly as well. They had put in the effort of explaining the various dishes even though they weren’t well versed in English.

Would definitely recommend giving it a try if you’re heading to...