Kobe, Japan – More than Just Kobe Beef

Kobe Beef is world-renowned as being some of the best beef in the world 🐃. Kobe Beef has beautiful marbling, which is the fat that gives it a lot of its flavor Trying authentic and true Kobe Beef is high on many foodies to do list, including mine. I’ve lived in Japan going on 4 years now, up until our trip to Kobe, I’ve never had Kobe Beef and was very much looking forward to trying this wonderful type of beef 🐂. 

So what is Kobe Beef? How is it raised? and Why is Kobe Beef so expensive? 

Kobe Beef is a type of Wagyu. Wagyu refers to specific breeds of cattle in Japan that are raised for their beef. Basically, all Kobe Beef is Wagyu, but not all Wagyu is Kobe Beef! Kobe Beef is produced from Tajima cattle which is a strain of cattle raised in the Japanese prefecture of Hyogo. 

I believe there are some common misconceptions and myths regarding Kobe Beef and how this strain of Tajima cattle are raised. I grew up thinking, the Tajima cattle drank beer, got daily massages, and lived better lives then I do. This is not entirely true. Yes, the Tajima cattle are incredibly well cared for and consume higher quality food then most other cattle breeds. The farmers do their best to provide a stress-free environment for the cattle and do not pump them with hormones and other artificial crap. The farmers intent is to keep the breeding and life cycle process as natural as possible. To learn more about Wagyu and Kobe Beef, I found a good article from article from finewagyu. 

Typically, Kobe Beef is the most expensive beef. So why is Kobe Beef so expensive? Several factors play into this, such as the care of the cattle, the food they receive, the natural environment and pace in which they grow up, and the quality of the meat that is produced. 

The Hotel Monterey Kobe, where we stayed provided us with a few restaurant recommendations in Kobe that served an authentic Kobe Beef dining experience. We opted to go with a famous restaurant not far from the hotel called Mouriya. Prior to coming, I was well aware of the price of Kobe Beef and was willing to spend some serious money on this potential once in a lifetime experience. 

Mouriya was certainly a fine dining experience. The restaurant was small and each group got a personal chef that cooked the beef teppanyaki style on an iron stove top right in front of us. 

For dinner, Mouriya had a A and B set meal. The customer can select a cut of meat, the size, and specific course. I planned on going all out and ordered the 120g Premium A5 Sirloin Steak. Jill ordered the A5 Rib Road Steak 150g, and my dad had the 200g Premium A5 Sirloin Steak. 

We each got the A set, which included an appetizer and grilled vegetables. The appetizer was a dish of roast beef which was fabulous. The vegetables started off with very finely cut garlic where the chef flipped each one over very carefully for several minutes to the point where they became like garlic chips. The vegetables was an assortment of mushrooms bean sprouts, and sweet potato, all which were phenomenal.  

Finally, the chef started preparing the steaks, he carefully trimmed the steak and cooked it to perfection before placing it on the plates in front of us. Finally, the three of us got to sink our teeth into the world’s best beef. Like Hida Beef we had in Takayama, the Kobe Beef literally melts in your mouth like butter. The texture and flavor of Kobe Beef was unlike anything I’ve had, it was just perfect. Jill and my dad were equally as satisfied with their steaks. The Kobe Beef paired with the vegetables has got to be one of the best meals I’ve ever had. The set meal at Mouriya was well worth the price. I would gladly come back to Kobe and spend the money on Kobe Beef.