May 15

May 15 sumibi yakiniku nakahara, tokyo.

after our week in the maldives, we headed to japan! first stop: tokyo. we only made one dinner reservation in tokyo, and it was at sumibi yakiniku nakahara, a yakiniku restaurant serving amazing wagyu beef.

we had their seven-course omakase, plus an add-on of the highly recommended "legendary" beef tongue, which we had to order a month in advance. spoiler alert: it was totally worth it. everything arrives raw for one to cook on a small bincho charcoal grill (though for the tongue and the sirloin, they offer to cook it for you to make sure it's done right).

the tongue came with three different cuts of the tongue per person. if memory serves, they were the tip, the underside and the back.

the first course of the omakase (after the beef tongue, of course) was the most beautiful slices of sirloin that cooked in a matter of seconds. it was tender and packed with flavor. quite possibly the best bite of the night, but it was so thin and barely anything that the tongue was the most satisfying.

from there we started getting two courses per plate, and it was bite after bite of the best beef i've ever had. i loved being able to try so many different cuts back to back to compare texturesand flavors.

at the end of the meal, we got a plate of various off-cuts, which was a lovely bonus. this was one of the best meals we had in japan, and i would highly recommend it. it can be hard to make reservations in japan if you don't speak japanese as most require them to be made over the phone, but we used pocket concierge for this one. you pay them directly ahead of time, but then at the restaurant you only pay for anything additional (like drinks and rice). not every restaurant is on there, and there's a slight upcharge, but it was worth the convenience for us.