A note on the words: teppanyaki is a Japanese dining style where meat and vegetables are prepared on a flat iron griddle directly before the guests. Wagyu refers to Japanese beef prized for its rich marbling, melt-in-the-mouth texture, and sweet aroma, while hamburg steak, known as hambagu in Japan, is a tender ground-meat patty seasoned and griddled, served on a plate rather than inside a bun.
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Steak & Wine Osawa on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. Now, the place I dropped into today was “Osawa”, a teppanyaki restaurant situated at the foot of Sanpunzaka, a notoriously steep slope, roughly midway between Akasaka Station and Nogizaka Station… I think? I had been curious about it for a while but never had the chance to go, and finally visited! Inside, seating surrounds a counter equipped with an iron griddle. Further in the back, there also seemed to be a single table.
At first I thought it might have a somewhat intimidating threshold, perhaps? But they offer a regular lunch menu, so it might actually be quite easy to walk into.
Wagyu steak bowl — 2,631 yen
Wagyu hamburg steak — 1,684 yen
Wagyu curry rice — 1,368 yen
Salmon sauteed in butter — 1,368 yen
Garlic rice topped with omelette — 1,368 yen
Special wagyu steak — 4,105 yen
Hmm, which one should I go with, I wondered.
Since I came all the way to a teppanyaki place, wagyu steak came to mind! But that is somewhat pricey,
so I decided to first see how things went with the wagyu hamburg steak.
After a short while, the seared hamburg steak was placed onto the iron griddle. This felt like the final stage of cooking.
While it was warming up there, they briskly stir-fried vegetables like bean sprouts.
You can add a fried egg for an extra 100 yen, so I asked for that too, and waited while watching the egg cook beautifully on the griddle. Once the vegetables were finished stir-frying, they plunged the hamburg steak right into sauce that had been warmed in advance. Then they arranged it all on a silver platter. It is truly fun being able to watch this whole cooking process unfold!
Then, the salad and soup made their appearance.
Oh, that looks delicious!
They mentioned you can have refills of rice. That is always welcome!
At the very end they asked, “Would you like garlic chips on it?” so I said yes, and there they sit, tucked neatly on the left side, ha.
First, a bite of the hamburg steak.
A very finely ground patty, and the texture is remarkably smooth. And the sauce is delicious too.
The rich, flavorful sauce combines with the savory richness of the wagyu to make it fantastic. Wagyu really does have a whole different depth of umami, doesn’t it? It has that distinct, unmistakable wagyu quality and tastes great.
The fried egg was also cooked beautifully; breaking the yolk a little, I tried dipping the hamburg steak into it.
This too was delicious. Including the sauce, it is seasoned to go wonderfully with rice.
The stir-fried vegetables are crunchy and tasty too. There is a dedicated dipping sauce for the stir-fried vegetables, and this sauce is very good.
Drizzling the sauce generously over the bean sprouts and eating them atop the rice is the absolute best. Honestly, having the stir-fried vegetables as their own item on the menu might not be a bad idea at all, ha.
And then, wrapping up with coffee.
All in all, it was a truly delicious hamburg steak lunch. 1,700 yen for this — no, in Akasaka that is cheap.
There are plenty of places that charge 2,000 yen or more yet are far more mediocre than this, so I may have discovered a truly great spot.
It was simply delicious, so next time I might come in the evening for steak. It was wonderful! I will definitely be back.
Steak & Wine Osawa (Steak / Akasaka Station, Nogizaka Station, Akasaka-mitsuke Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
