Beef Kitchen

⭐⭐⭐

🐂 Yakiniku / 📍 Ebisu/Nakameguro/Shibuya

📓 Visits: 2 (Ebisu 2023, Shibuya 2024)

Beef Kitchen is a mid-market yakiniku restaurant with branches in Shibuya, Ebisu and Nakameguro.  The restaurant is most popular for its yakiniku set lunch priced at JPY 2,970 inclusive.

I visited the Ebisu branch the first time as it was the only one that took reservations for lone diners via Tabelog.

The lunch menu, reproduced above, is bilingual and pictures the contents of the meal.  Refills of rice are free but refills of kimchi/namul are charged.  At some point they introduced a 'B' yakiniku set lunch, which, for another 950 yen, buys you salad, beef tartar and a small dessert.

The price includes a drink of your choice and no service charge is taken so your 2,970 yen really is all-in, but if you need more meat you can order from an a-la-carte menu.  A copy of that from January 2023 is below but note that prices could have increased since then.

If you didn't notice I should point out the set includes pork.  On this visit the meal took just short of an hour, the kimchi arriving within 5 minutes and the last plate of meat after 35.

My second visit was to the Shibuya branch which, in addition to the set lunch above, offers some cheaper set meals at lunch time.

I arrived on a Saturday just before the restaurant opened at 12 and was first.  By the time I left the restaurant was slowly getting busier.

My choice of gyutan curry arrived after about 5 minutes.  There was a decent amount of meat.  The curry was well-balanced and moderately rich.

The restaurants are clean and accept children and all the staff are generally quite good.  Yakiniku is best when it's expensive and someone else is paying so I wouldn't go back for the yakiniku set but I would go back for the curry.  At just JPY 1,100 it's a bargain.  The number of places where you can get a sit-down lunch for ¥1,000 in central Tokyo, especially on weekends and holidays, is rapidly dwindling so it's a good choice if you're on a budget and/or don't eat much or if you're having a second lunch.

I'm not going to score it.  An average of 3.65 for the three restaurants feels about 0.1 below where I'd rate it but that's due to how Tabelog scores work.  The curry is worth 4.0.

Alternatives to Beef Kitchen are Kintan and Ushigoro.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130302/13262681/ (Ebisu)
📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1317/A131701/13054178/ (Nakameguro)
📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130301/13257752/ (Shibuya)

📱 Booking: 🟩 Easy.  I recommend arriving early or making a reservation or you may well have to queue.  If you're booking by phone or Tabelog this can be done on the day but if you're booking via TableCheck (Ebisu, Nakameguro, Shibuya) you generally need to do this a day or two in advance and you can't book just for yourself.  The curry can sell out before last orders and can't be reserved.

📍 Location:    

    Ebisu: 1-13-3 Ebisu Minami.  2 mins uphill from Ebisu Station metro Exit 1 or JR West Exit.

    Nakameguro: B1F, 2-44-8 Kamimeguro.  6 mins from Nakameguro Station East Exit 2.  B1F dedicated street-facing entrance.

     Shibuya: 2F Shibuya Stream.  Directly connected to Shibuya Station C2 exit.
Map data ©2024 Google

📅 Visit February 2024 (Shibuya)

Gyutan curry

💴 Damage: 1,100
⏱️ Time taken: 15m

📅 Visit January 2023 (Ebisu)

Lunch set

💴 Damage: 2,970
⏱️ Time taken: 55m