Jo

Jo (肉割烹 上)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

🐂 Niku Kappo / 📍 Nishiazabu

📓 Visits: 2 (2019)

Jo, or Niku Kappo Jyo, is owned by the Sangue group who operate a number of yakiniku restaurants in Tokyo, including the excellent Ushigoro branches (review here).  Jo is not a yakiniku restaurant but is a niku kappo restaurant serving a multi-course menu centred around beef.  The restaurant has held one Michelin Star since the 2019 Tokyo Guide.

Originally there was a choice of two courses at dinner priced at JPY 18,000 and JPY 25,000, the difference being the quality of the cut of the steak.  The 18K course went up to 20K in March 2019 but in 2021 the 25K course became the only available dinner course.  Recently they've started doing a lunch course at JPY 15,000.  Prices exclude tax and service at 10%.  On both my visits I had the 25K dinner course.  There's flexibility in your start time but the course will be sped up or slowed down so the final dish of steak and the shokuji can be served to a group of diners simultaneously.  The drinks menu is bilingual but no English was spoken on my visits.

The restaurant is in a windowless basement, seats seven at the counter and has a private room for up to four.  There was a little bit of chat from chef on my first visit but none on my second and if he remembered me he didn't show it.  There were a couple of times when I noticed staff with heads down tapping away at their phones.  I was astonished this was tolerated.

All of the food that was served was very good or excellent.  Across the two meals the best dish was probably the signature surf and turf mini donburi, served on each occasion.  A great combination of high quality ingredients, sweet, salty and umami.  The main dish of Tajima steak is baked in a kiln.  Of course, this was delicious but you only get about 100g.  After the steak you can choose extra rice, beef curry, wonton soup or all three if you have room.  Dessert was a very simple salt ice cream and served with a choice of olive oil or a 10-year old mirin.  I sampled both over my two visits.  A very simple dessert but an amazing purity of flavour, a good-sized portion and very memorable.

I really enjoyed my first visit to Jo but I probably went back too soon.  There wasn't much difference in the menu and I wanted more than 100g of steak.  One other guest seemed to be getting an extra course.  There could be lots of reasons for that but you couldn't help but feel you were getting a second-rate experience.  The absence of interaction with the chef also put me off.  There are plenty of staff behind the counter so chef is not over-worked.  If someone's standing in front of you for the best part of two hours and hardly says a word you're not going to leave with a warm feeling.

Despite this, I would have still recommended Jo in the past but now that Setsugekka Ginza has opened (review here), is charging the same at dinner and is way way better I can no longer recommend Jo for dinner.  However, if you're on a budget or Setsugekka sounds like too much food then it might be worth going for lunch at Jo and save yourself 12K.  The lunch seems to include the donburi, steak and ice-cream which would make it very good value.  Niku kappo is a fantastic experience and you should definitely try it if you haven't.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1307/A130701/13209614/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.3

📱 Booking: 🟩 You can usually get a seat within 7 days.  Bookings for two or more via Tabelog or Tablecheck.  Bookings for one by phone only.  Same-day bookings are accepted but you need to call before around 3pm for dinner.  Lines are open from around midday.

📍 Location: B1F Barbizon73, 2-24-14 Nishi-Azabu.

Nishi-Azabu crossing.  Ushigoro is on the 1st floor and Ushigoro S is also in the basement.  12 minutes walk from Roppongi Station or take the #1 or #88 bus from Roppongi Eki Mae to Nishiazabu.  The #1 bus from Shibuya to Minami-Aoyama 7-chome is also convenient.  B1F multi-tenant building.

Map data ©2021 Google

📅 Visit September 2019

Consomme
Awabi, katsuo
Matsutake, niku shabu shabu
Amadai agemono, renkon dango
Shiro ebi, caviar, kegani, momo niku, uni donburi
Raw beef, seared beef
Tartar, cheese
Tongue, matsutake
Katsu
Tomato, caviar capellini
Momo niku temaki
Steak
Curry
Salt ice cream, mirin

💴 Damage: 33,260 (25k + 2 drinks @ 3,000 + 10% + 8%)
⏱️ Time taken: 2h

📅 Visit July 2019

Consomme; junsai
Awabi, hirame, uni
Shiro ebi, kegani, momo niku, uni donburi
Unagi temaki
Amadai agemono, tomorokoshi agemono
Raw beef, seared beef
Tartar
Katsu
Tomato capellini
Niku temaki
Truffle niku temaki
Steak, gyutan
Curry
Salt ice cream, olive oil

💴 Damage: 32,076 (25k + 2 drinks @ 2,000 + 10% + 8%)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h50m