A note on the words: yakiniku is the Japanese style of grilling cuts of meat yourself over a burner set into the table. Bekkan, part of this restaurant’s name, is the Japanese word for an annex, a second building of the same house. Zabuton is a well-marbled cut taken from the shoulder loin, named after the flat floor cushion it resembles, and kalbi is short rib, the classic yakiniku cut. Namul is the Korean side dish of vegetables blanched and seasoned with sesame. Sangchu is lettuce served as leaves for wrapping grilled meat, and miso is fermented soybean paste. Reimen is the chilled noodle bowl in a cold broth that often closes a yakiniku meal, and bibimbap is rice topped with vegetables and meat, here served in a hot stone bowl. Wasabi is the sharp green root grated as a condiment.
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Azabu Kabuto Bekkan on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. When it comes to a slightly upscale yakiniku place in Azabu-juban that stays open late, the name is “Kabuto.” It is quite famous and I hear about it often, but I had never been myself. This time the chance came around, so off I went! There are two branches, the Azabu-juban one and the bekkan, and this time it was the bekkan. It sits a little way in from the Azabu-juban shopping street.
It was a private room, right inside the entrance. Being able to relax without worrying about anyone else is nice.
Course A, 9 dishes — 6,380 yen
Course B, 11 dishes — 8,800 yen
Saga Beef Champion Beef Course, 12 dishes — 11,000 yen
This time, let us go lavish! I picked the 11,000-yen Saga Beef Champion Beef Course!
Right then, a toast to start with, beer in hand!
Ahh! That brings you back to life.
Well, this is what comes out first, is it not!
Oh — rather like roast beef. Meat that melts away, and delicious.
The softly poached beef tongue and the wasabi go together well.
Unlike grilled tongue, this soft version is seriously good too.
This one is the top-grade marbled tongue.
Tender and delicious as well! Fine meat, this.
Marbled Saga beef zabuton.
Meat that melts away, and the fat is sweet! It is also good that it is not heavy and goes down easily. Delicious!
Do not forget the vegetables. The asparagus was delicious! We could probably have done without the potato, ha.
Sirloin, or rather, almost pure fat, ha.
Extraordinary marbling. Grill it and eat it, and the fat comes flooding out.
You cannot eat very much of it, ha. Delicious, though.
Probably the sangchu comes at this point because the sirloin is quite fatty, but
wrapping the sirloin in sangchu with a little miso is unexpectedly delicious. Even as I thought to myself that this is far too luxurious a way to eat it, ha.
And then, the king of yakiniku: kalbi!
It goes well with the sauce, and it is tender kalbi packed with savor. Is that not the very best.
At the end you can choose between reimen, stone-pot bibimbap and rice, and I went for the refreshing reimen.
The sourness is the add-your-own-vinegar style. Pour in a good splash and it briskly washes away all the fat that came before.
And then dessert arrived at the end, and that was that.
Well now — being in a private room, we talked happily and I drank rather too much! Which is to say it was that enjoyable. A yakiniku place with a bit of a sense of occasion that also stays open late is quite a rare thing. I am glad I got to try the much-talked-about Kabuto! If the right moment comes around again, I think I will remember this place and go back.
Azabu Kabuto Bekkan (Shabu-shabu / Azabu-juban Station, Akabanebashi Station, Roppongi Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
