If you’re in the capital of Japan and find the city of Kobe is too far from your travel plans to satiate your craving for the legendary premium Kobe beef, then Kobe Beef Bifteck Kawamura in the glitzy shopping district of Ginza could definitely do that for you.
Kawamura’s flagship store is in the heart of the land of Kobe beef – within Kobe itself and Sannomiya. That is where they source the marbeled beef before sending it to their restaurant in Tokyo.
I happened to meet Asite – another fine dining blogger who blogs at luxeat.com, in Tokyo. During our chat over some Japanese Matcha and Hojicha, she recommended this restaurant to me – notably for its award winning Kobe beef. (Take care not to mistake this restaurant with another similarly named Tabelog Top 50 restaurant called the “Kawamura steak house”, which is written as かわむら in Hiragana)
I went straight to Kawamura the very next day for lunch. Kawamura has long purchased top grade Champion cows at an auction – cows which comes with certificates and an individual ID number – which only 0.5% of Tajima (但馬牛) beef makes the cut. To put that in perspective, doing the math, in 2011, there are about 29 cattle for ten thousand which are awarded the top grade.
For a 120g of the coveted meat, you part with “just” 22,050 yen. But of course, you get cheaper lunch options as well. The specially selected Kobe beef lunch course is 10,500 yen, or there’s even a Tajima beef course at 6,930 yen for the price conscious.
Kobe Beef Bifteck Kawamura (ビフテキのカワムラ 銀座店)
Address : GINZA MST Building, 8th Floor, 6-5-1 Ginza, Chuou-ku, Tokyo (東京都中央区銀座6-5-1 GINZA MSTビル)
Tel : +81 3-6252-5011
Visited on: 7 August, 2013
Price: Lunch ￥2,625-22,050; Dinner￥22,050
Hours: Lunch 11:30 – 2:00pm; Dinner: 5:00～10:00pm (Closed on the first and third Monday of the month)
K's Luxe Dining Table 