I’m currently in Sendai, the largest city in the Tohoku region in Northern Tokyo. There are a couple of dishes that they’re known for here, but the most popular by far is gyutan — grilled beef tongue.
There are many, many restaurants that serve this dish throughout the city, but Aji Tasuke Honten feels like the obvious choice for a few reasons:
- They’re featured in the Michelin guide — usually a pretty reliable indicator that you’re in for some tasty eats.
- They invented gyutan back in 1948.
- Do you really need a third reason?? They’re in the Michelin guide and they invented the dish.
It’s not cheap. You can either get the gyutan on its own for 1200 Yen (a bit over 14 bucks Canadian) or as a set with barley rice and oxtail soup for 1700 Yen (a bit over twenty).
I got the set, which was tasty, though I probably could have saved a few bucks and ordered the gyutan on its own — the other stuff is good, but the tongue is where it’s at.
The tongue is delicious. They cook it over hot coals, which gives it some nice char and an irresistibly smoky flavour. It’s nicely seasoned, but the pronounced beefiness is clearly the star of the show. And the texture is great — it’s nice and tender, but with a meaty bite.
The soup isn’t quite on the level of the gyudon, but it’s still pretty good — the broth has a clean beefy flavour, the oxtail is super tender, and the leeks add a nice hit of sweetness.
The barley rice is rice with barley in it. It is what it is. Both it and the soup are satisfying, but the gyudan is pretty special.
Location: 4 Chome-4-13 Ichibanchō, Aoba-ku, Sendai-shi, Miyagi-ken 980-0811
How to find it: There’s no English anywhere, so it’s not super easy to find. I knew I was in the right place when I saw the Michelin sticker.