Travel by photos – Top Kobe beef dinner at Mouriya Sannomiya, Japan

One of the major plan in my Japan travel itinerary is to have an authentic Kobe beef dinner. As Kobe beefs are strictly prohibited from exporting out of Japan, this is the best opportunity for me to taste it in Japan. And the best place to try the freshest and original Kobe beef is of course in Kobe itself. I started to search around the internet and found Mouriya, which acclaimed as the best place to try the top grade Kobe beef steak, since 1885, and there we went on our 3rd day in Osaka. So here is my review.

If you are interested to know the process of making these sirloin and tenderloin steak shown above… into those small chunk of a Kobe beef plate, please read on.

We departed from Osaka JR train station and reached Sannomiya station by JR train. The whole trip took us 30 minutes and cost us nothing cause we have our JR rail pass with us. Sannomiya is the main tourist area of Kobe. Most attractions of Kobe are accessible from Sannomiya. Because of this, there are too many restaurants scattered around here serving especially Kobe beef.

We had our location map saved in my iphone so we headed straight down the street to Ikuta road 100m away from the station. Mouriya Kobe beef steak restaurant is right at the corner of the road. Unfortunately we did not reserve our seats in advance so they have to move us to their branch outlet. Guess what? Mouriya Sannomiya branch reastaurant is just opposite the road! 🙂

The restaurant is on the first floor of this building.

We were the earliest patrons arrived at 6PM so the whole place was empty at first. Half an hour later it was quickly filled up.

6 of us sat along the counter. 6 large plates were placed on the counter. We ordered 5 Kobe beef steak and 1 seafood dinner set. There are 2 grades and 3 parts of Kobe beef options to choose from. We ordered 2 sets of A5 Kobe beef sirloin steak, 2 sets of A4 Kobe beef tenderloin steak and 1 set of A4 Kobe beef sirloin steak. Kobe beef is beef from the black Tajima-ushi breed of Wagyū cattle, raised according to strict tradition in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It ranks top among all breeds of wagyu cattle raised in Japan. Wagyu cattles, after being slaughtered, are certified with different grades, according to their quality in terms of fat distribution, marbled texture, meat tenderness and size. A5 is the top grade followed by A4, and with only these grades the wagyu beefs from Hyogo can be classified as Kobe beef.

These are side dishes for our main course. Don’t expect it to be a person’s portion. It will be shared by 5 of us who were having Kobe steak. They really measured them precisely! No more no less.

Our chef started to cook for us. Look at him! I tell you what, he kept looking down at the food and so concentrate on what he was preparing that we hardly saw him looking around, even for frying these garlics! Thanks to the effective exhaust system, we didn’t feel uneasy under this smokey environment. In fact, we didn’t smell any stint from our shirt after the dinner either. Big kudos to Mouriya!

While the chef still preparing for our main course, we were served the Hors d’oeuvres, or the appetizer, which is smoked bacon and it’s delicious.

Here we had our Kobe beef readied to be pan-grilled. Look at the marble texture. There were 3 different grades of Kobe beef shown. The front and top cut is A5 sirloin steak. Underneath is A4 sirloin cut. Further back is a chuck of A4 tenderloin cut. All are top grade Kobe beef with superior texture and tastes. All these added up to around 700g and shared by 5 of us, each of us have 150g portion. Not a big portion at all and is certainly expensive.

After the smoked ham, we were served the corn soup and choice of either bun or rice. Nothing spectacular here but fairly good base before our main course.

Look at the chef! He was still looking down at what he was grilling. This time was the side dish. Can you notice the garlic he had just done up and put aside? They are perfectly fried to golden colour, and this is what I meant by concentration. The other chef next to him was preparing the grilled seafood platter for one of us who doesn’t take beef.

The main show of the night: Cooking Kobe beef in Teppanyaki style. The chef cut our beefs into small chucks and started to fry or grill them on the stainless steel gridlle. He is still looking down…

Below are a series of images showing the sequencing from cutting, frying, flipping, grilling and distributing of Kobe beef.

It was a fantastic session looking at how our Kobe beefs were cooked and prepared. I was amazed to see how tender the chef treated the foods he was cooking, like he was taking gentle care to his lovers. You may call this as concentration. I call it Professional.

We finally had our perfect 6 sided grilled, half done Kobe beef readied! The beefs were served in a few portions so we could eat it slowly and perfectly hot until the last chuck! Another kudos to them! I had roughly 10-12 pieces of them. If you notice it in the above photo, a pinch of salt, peppers and wasabi were there in our plate. The chef recommended us to eat the beef with them together but I preferred to eat it alone in order to taste its original and marvelous taste. I had been hearing from guides and TV shows how soft and tasty of Kobe beef and how it virtually melted in our mouth and so on… and it really melted in my mouth! 🙂

A combination of salmons, scallops, squids and prawns, the seafood platter tasted as good. It came with mido soup, pickles and rice.

Another side dish of Pickles were also served, with preserved melon, tomatoes, vegetables and nuts.

After the meal, I had a cup of coffee which come with the dinners set. Wouldn’t it better to have a glass of red wine instead?

The Dinner Set price for top A5 Kobe beef with BMS value of 8-10 is ¥10,900 while A4 Kobe beef with BMS Value of 6 to 7 is ¥9,800. They are certainly not the cheapest you could find in Kobe especially Sannomiya, but are still good value for those who wish to try the top grade authentic Kobe Beef in a refreshing and cosy environment, and able to witness the whole cooking process right in front of you.

Click the above to view all my Japan trip photos in slideshow. Check out my Flickr page if you wish to view them in high resolution. All photos were taken with my Nikon D7000 and my favourite Ultra wide angle lens.

View Larger Map

Check out the location for Mouriya Sannomiya restaurant shown above. Visit their official website here to learn more on their history and have a glance of its menu.Who would have thought that we traveled all the way from Osaka to Kobe just to have our Kobe beef dinner, and went back to Osaka after that to continue our shopping spree!

What’s my verdict?

• Atmosphere: Excellent    √ √ √ √ √
• Service: Good     √ √ √ √
• Food: Excellent    √ √ √ √ √
• Accessability: Good    √ √ √ √
  
• Value for money: Fair     √ √ √
  

• Overall Travel Score : 84% (Very Good)
  

• Verdict:  They are certainly much cheaper options out there, but by combining relaxing and cosy environment, great service and top Kobe beef and experiencing the whole cooking process right in front of you, Mouriya restaurant is surely my pick ! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo blog