yanaka tansei, yanaka

Self-service cooking is not really a thing in British restaurant culture. In Tokyo, there are endless numbers of yakiniku, shabu-shabu, sukiyaki, and okonomiyaki restaurants, many of which leave the diner in control of the cooking. Thus yakiniku (literally "grilled meat") was high on my agenda to try. I've had Korean barbecue in London, but the staff hovered constantly, lunging for our spatulas if we so much as looked at them, adjusting our pork belly every five seconds as if afraid we might flip it ourselves. I don't blame them -- they probably have a million clueless customers coming in every day, either over- or under-cooking their food -- but it's frustrating when you're actually looking for the experience.

We had planned to visit Nezu shrine, and then Yanaka Ginza, a famous street selling traditional wares, and while searching I found Yanaka Tansei nearby. It had a decent amount of reviews (yes, some English language ones), and all sounded positive.

Lunch sets are decently priced. More expensive than where we had been eating previously, but the quality of the meat spoke for itself. Our server didn't speak much English, but he was quick to hand us an English menu and was very accommodating of our ordering process. We started off with a side of cucumber kimchi and the Tansei set, which came with four slices each of prime beef shank and prime beef short rib.

After we made our order, the server brought out our personal grill and lit it, followed quickly by the sides included in the set lunch. Rice was a decent portion, the typical sticky, short-grain style, and unlimited -- you only had to ask for more. Miso soup was good, unremarkable. A surprisingly delicious salad of butter lettuce came dressed with a sweet sesame dressing. The trio dish came with spicy pickles, a light, vinegary sauce, and a nest of bean sprouts. The cucumber kimchi maintained a fabulous crunch, bright with garlicky, piquant seasoning, the perfect palate cleanser between slices of the fatty beef. 

Tansei set, clockwise from the top: short rib, shank,
tongue

The star, though, was the beef. Shank in particular was excellent, deeply flavoured and nicely marbled, without the oily quality of some wagyu. Short rib was definitely fattier, rippled through with white, but again with excellent flavour. With only ten to fifteen seconds each side on the grill, the meat melted on the tongue: savoury, nearly sweet, as good as any fillet steak. The meat came with a dab of wasabi, real sinus-clearing stuff, and a dish of sweet, spicy, dark brown sauce which was ridiculously moreish. It felt shameful to dip such quality beef in any condiment, but the sauce begged to be eaten (hell, I put it on everything: lettuce, bean sprouts, my chopsticks...). We immediately repeated an order of the Tansei set, adding on two slices of salted beef tongue.

The tongue was thicker, scored to allow for quicker cooking, and far more robust than the delicate slices of shank or short rib. We had intended to share, but it was nearly impossible to split the tongue which resisted chopstick, knife, and tooth. It certainly tasted good, its chewiness a great contrast to the softer cuts, nothing at all like leather despite its toughness. Still, we all kept coming back to the beef shank.

This was probably one of the most expensive meals of the trip. Two ¥2500 sets, an extra ¥800 for the tongue, ¥400 for the kimchi, and ¥500 for two orange juices brought us up to ¥6700 pre-tax. The final cost was probably pushing £55. But again, for a meal for three people, with superb quality ingredients, that kept us happily full till dinner time (and even then, we only had light snacks), who could complain?

Date of Visit: 07/09/2019

Address: 7-18-16 Yanaka | Ostia 1F, Taito 110-0001, Tokyo, Japan