We previously tried Matsusaka Beef in Tokyo, Japan and fell in love with the tasty of this fatty beef with impressive marbling. In our opinion, Matsusaka also beats Kobe Beef hands down! Since we were in Osaka and my parents have been bragging and opining about this amazing melt-in-your-mouth beef, we have got to try it! WARNING: not for the faint-hearted
Where to find the best Matsusaka Beef in Osaka, Japan?
Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M is a high-end restaurant and often gets book out way in advance. Your best bet is to make a reservation before you head to Osaka online! They have multiple outlets and the experience should be the same no matter where you go. We went to the one in Hanare close to the Hozenji Shrine. That area also boosts lots of amazing restaurants such as Ikinari Steak that we've previously written on in our Tokyo must-eat guide!
This outlet is not that difficult to find and your nearest station is the Namba Station. We chose this branch because of its location and that it was extremely close to our hotel - APA Hotel Namba-Ekihigashi.
What to order at Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M?
For those who really love their beef, you can order the Matsusaka Beef DX Platter. This gives you 6 different parts of Matsusaka beef along with an assorted vegetable platter. This maximises your beef experience. However, it can be a little pricey so for first timers, we do suggest that you order the Matsusaka Beef Courses (Standard: 3,800 yen / pax; Special: 5,800 yen / pax; Premium: 7,800 yen / pax). You can find the menu here.
We recommend the Matsusaka Beef Courses as you'll be able to have a taste of the beef, along with appetisers, garlic rice, and their delicious beef sushi (only for the Special and Premium)! When we were there, we ordered the Special Beef Course (5,800 yen = $72 SGD)! We also ordered a couple of alcoholic drinks and beer. The entire meal came up to roughly $85 SGD per pax but it was well worth all the money!
We first had the appetisers (although we are not sure if it is the same ones every day), and each one of it were delicious although we didn't quite fancy cold dishes.
Then we also had a salad, along with a hot claypot of garlic rice. Their garlic rice... is AMAZING! The bacon along with the garlic mixed together with Japanese rice is so good that I kept eating it although I was already so stuffed by all the beef at the end of the meal. The portion was generous as well! This, I believe, feeds about 1.5 pax.
We also had an appetiser of marinated beef with leek and salt, which the staff carefully cook it for us as we watched... The resulting beef was tender and flavourful. It was a pity that there was only two pieces each!
This was how it looked like when it was cooked! YUMS!!!
Then came along our marbled beef sushi! The beef was slightly torched and sits on top of a bed of vinegar-ed Japanese rice which was so so good. We only had one piece each for our course and we actually contemplated ordered another few pieces (warning: 580 yen = 7.12 SGD per piece)
Then came the star of the night! Our Matsusaka Beef, just look at the marbling! The service at the restaurant was superb, the staff would ask if we wanted them to prepare it for us on the grill, or if we would like to do so ourselves. As we wanted the privacy of having the meal, we did it ourselves. However, at every point whenever they serve the dishes, they will be sure to explain the dishes to us. For the beef platter, they recommended us having the leanest meat to the fattiest, and that would be clockwise, starting from the short rib.
Every cut of the beef was carefully selected by the chef and every single piece was AMAZING. The fattiest Haneshita cut simply melted in our mouths. That was when we were convinced that it was the CUT that mattered more than the variety of beef.
The staff were very attentive to our needs and when they saw that we were done with our meal, they asked if they could clear our dishes and serve us our dessert.
For the Matsusaka Special Course we weren't able to select our dessert but we were pleasantly surprised to get a Yuzu sorbet that really helped to cleanse our palates, and they also served us some form of a tea. Our plan initially was to get our special course, and add on more beef along the way but we were so stuffed by the end of the meal that we didn't even get to add on anything!
We left with extremely full and satisfied tummies, and we would really rate this as the best meal we've had in Osaka (with the exemption of our favourite Matsuya!)
Have you tried Matsusaka Beef? How about Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M in Osaka, Japan? Share with us your views!
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