A note on the words: yakiniku is Japanese-style grilled barbecue cooked tabletop, rosu refers to cuts of beef loin or rib roast, karubi is boneless beef short rib, nakaochi karubi is the flavorful meat cut from between the ribs, and dashi is a delicate Japanese soup stock, here used as a dipping broth in place of the usual tare sauce.
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Tendan Akasaka ten on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. “Tendan” is a yakiniku restaurant in Akasaka. Unlike ordinary yakiniku, this shop, originating in Kyoto, serves its grilled meat with dashi broth. What is it like to eat yakiniku with dashi instead of sauce? Curious, I decided to go for lunch. I had no idea how crowded it would get, so I went in right at 11:30 when they opened to make sure I got a table, ha. Naturally I got in right after opening, but by the time I left a line had formed, so arriving early was definitely the right call.
Whether it was because I came early or not I’m not sure, but they guided me to a spacious private room, which was very comfortable.
Premium beef loin lunch — 1,650 yen
Tendan loin lunch — 1,650 yen
Top-grade beef loin lunch — 4,620 yen
Karubi lunch — 1,650 yen
Mille-feuille loin lunch — 2,200 yen
Which one should I choose? It looks like the items with marks on the menu are the shop’s recommendations, so:
one of the jo-loin lunch, Tendan loin lunch, karubi lunch, jo-loin and karubi lunch, or mille-feuille loin lunch. What on earth is “mille-feuille loin”? The slightly higher price point makes me curious too! So, I opted for the mille-feuille loin.
The mille-feuille loin lunch arrived.
This is the dashi you dip the meat into, rather than a dipping sauce.
I see, so this is the mille-feuille loin!?
Three thin slices of loin are stacked together. They told me to be careful not to overcook it, but I wondered if I should grill it just like this as a stack. For now I laid it down and quickly seared both sides on the surface. While the meat sandwiched inside still had just a bit of red left, I dunked it right into the dashi. Eating it just like that — incredibly delicious! Loin. Wait, what is this, it really is delicious, ha.
The moment it enters your mouth, it feels like it melts softly away. The dashi washes away excess fat, leaving zero greasiness. Only the rich savor of the meat spreads through the mouth, making it quite light and very easy to eat. “Wow, yakiniku isn’t about sauce after all!” it makes you think. It goes wonderfully with rice too, truly supreme. You can really get hooked on dashi yakiniku.
This one is the Tendan loin lunch.
Two slices of loin that are a bit thicker and larger than the mille-feuille loin. This one looked delicious too!
Feeling like trying some karubi as well, I ordered a half portion of nakaochi karubi. Grilling this well and eating it dipped in dashi, it too can be eaten lightly. That said, to be honest it doesn’t have the impact of the loin. At Tendan, it’s all about the loin.
Dashi yakiniku — isn’t it great! To my surprise, the lunch set offers free refills on salad, rice, and soup. Even salad comes with free refills, so at 2,200 yen it’s a bargain. I slightly regret not visiting sooner. It’s definitely become a restaurant I want to return to.
Tendan Akasaka ten (Yakiniku / Akasaka Station, Akasaka-mitsuke Station, Tameike-sanno Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
