A note on the words: bagna cauda is a warm Piedmontese dip made of garlic, anchovies, and olive oil served with fresh vegetables. Wagyu refers to Japanese beef prized for its rich marbling, and kuroge wagyu is the Japanese Black breed. Shinshin is a tender cut taken from the core of the round (knuckle), and meat sauce in Japanese Italian cooking is a rich Bolognese-style ragù.
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Tanta Bocca on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. I had something to take care of around Sendagaya, and when lunchtime rolled around and I wondered where to go, I remembered: “Tanta Bocca”! If anything, it is closer to Yoyogi or Kita-sando, but it is entirely within walking distance from Sendagaya! Thinking it might be crowded since it was lunchtime, I went over and found just one party waiting ahead. Figuring this would work out, I waited.
It is scorching hot outside, so unless you can wait inside the restaurant, it is pretty brutal! (Probably room for only about one party inside).
Pasta lunch — 1,500 yen
Main lunch — 2,100 yen
Lunch course — 2,800 yen
Special course — 5,800 yen
Hmm, tough choice, but since I also wanted to have both pasta and a main, I chose the lunch course.
For the pasta, naturally I went with the wagyu meat sauce (+300 yen), and for the main, I picked the one cut of charcoal-grilled A5 kuroge wagyu (+1,500 yen).
First to come out was the bagna cauda. Very stylish!
This bagna cauda sauce is outstandingly good. It feels like it might be quite salty on its own, but when eaten together with the vegetables, it is just right.
And then it arrived: the wagyu meat sauce. This is seriously delicious. Far and away the best among all the meat sauces I have ever had! How on earth do they make this? I make meat sauce at home too, but I can never get it this deep and flavorful. The beef isn’t just ground meat; there are several chunky pieces of beef in there too. I wonder if taking the ingredients to their absolute limits yields a flavor like this… The fresh pasta also brings out the deliciousness of the meat sauce. Since I had meat coming up later I held back, but I should have ordered a large portion!
The meat this time was shinshin, reportedly the center of the round.
As soon as you put a knife into it, you can feel how tender it is. It is a cut with high moisture content. Taking a bite: delicious. The savory umami of the beef spreads out juicily. Plus, there is plenty of fat content, making it tasty. It is plenty delicious with just salt and pepper, but dipping it into wasabi or olive oil and soy sauce was also delicious. An Italian restaurant known for its meat is really great, isn’t it!
Man, completely satisfied. The meat was delicious, and above all, the wagyu meat sauce is way too good… I had visited at night once before, and the meat back then was delicious too, but I really want to come back for dinner again. It is one of my favorites among Italian spots, so do give their wagyu meat sauce a try!
Tanta Bocca (Italian / Kitasando Station, Yoyogi Station, Sendagaya Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★★☆ 4.1
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
