Every time we are in Japan, we make a point to visit a particular restaurant – Gyukatsu Motomura. This restaurant has locations all over Japan and on our last visit we went to visit a Gyukatasu Motomura in Osaka. Since there’s several locations, this location in particular is the one by the Namba BIC Camera and is underground. However, all of the things we talk about in this post is applicable to all the stores in Japan.
THE BASICS
Gyukatsu Motomura is famous for their beef cutlets which is lightly breaded and served to you undercooked so you can cook on hot stone grills yourself.
Each person at the table will get their own hot stone grill and don’t worry! The server will light your grill for you.
There are English menus available so it’s very easy to order even if you don’t speak Japanese. We posted Gyukatsu Motomura Japan’s English menu from their website here for you. What it doesn’t mention that they also offer an option of getting an extra set of meat for 800 yen. So you can start with the 130 gram meal and just add it on if it’s not enough. It doesn’t make the meal any more expensive which is nice!
THE FOOD
We decided to each get the 130 gram set meal with no grated yam. We’ve had the set with grated yam (extra 100 yen) before and unless you really like yams, you’re not missing much. As you can see, your set meal comes with: meat, salad, soup and rice.
We’ve always wondered about why Gyukatsu Motomura Japan is so successful and we think it’s the combo of tasty beef + the fun DIY portion of it. Getting to grill the meat yourself is such a novel thing to do at a restaurant. FYI, the meat is so fatty and tender you’ll be dreaming about it for years. Although the price isn’t very high, we feel this beef is very high quality.
You can see the first picture the meat is slightly raw in the middle which allows you to cook it yourself. Note that if you’re an elderly person or child, the meat will be fully cooked when served to you.
We personally like cooking only two pieces of meat on each stone grill at a time because we can eat it when it’s piping hot. When it starts cooking, oils will naturally pool on the stone. This helps with sizzling the beef and searing it to keep all the juices in. The result is a juicy flavorful piece of beef!
Included in your set meal is the rice and miso soup. The miso soup wasn’t as good as the one we had at Katsukura so I only ate this one bowl. However, if you wanted a refill of the soup (or cabbage) you can get it for an additional 100 yen. Your first refill of rice is free and Howie took full advantage of that! Gyukatsu Motomura Japan also offers hot or cold tea for free – just ask them if you don’t see them.
EATING THERE
There’s many locations of Gyukatsu Motomura all over Japan. We’ve found the locations in popular tourist locations like Shibuya or Shinjuku to be packed at all times of the day. Gyukatsu Motomura does not take reservations ahead of time so you have to show up and queue. However, our best tip if you want to go with no lineup is to go early and go to slightly off the beaten track locations.
For this location, we went 5 minutes before opening and there were no one there. In fact, people only started showing up about halfway through our meal and the place was nowhere near full. We’ve also gone at odd ours to different locations such as 4pm or an hour before closing. When we do that, we always get seated right away.
OVERALL
We hope you will check out Gyukatsu Motomura as it’s one of our favorite restaurants in Japan. It’s safe for most traveller’s budgets yet the meat is super delicious. Follow our tips above on how to get the most out of dining at Gyukatsu Motomura and you’ll have a delicious time!
If you’re looking for all our posts about Japan, be sure to check them out here!
